SuffieldConnect: May '20

Suffield’s Offices of Alumni Development and College Counseling hosted the year’s final college to career virtual discussions on May 7 and May 21. The program invites Suffield alums to speak with interested students about their careers, college major choices, and experiences at Suffield. As part of the junior Leadership curriculum, students are asked to attend three out of eight sessions offered per academic year. The goal of the events is to expose current students to life beyond Suffield and provide guidance from alumni professionals working in specific fields.

Jay O’Brien ’13 is a reporter for CBS 12 News based in South Florida who studied television and journalism at Ithaca College. He provided advice on making the most of opportunities, working hard, and pursuing passionate interests: “At Ithaca I found television and journalism and it led me to where I am today. Where you go to college and what you open yourself up to can really impact your life. I was a television and radio major. There are some people who have their lives all planned out already at Suffield; I was not one of those people. I followed what I was passionate about and fell into the job I love. Yes, connections really help and get you in the door, but don’t convince yourself your connections are an excuse for not caring or having grit.”

Russ Hearn ’01 is a security solution architect for Cisco who attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). He spoke about how his love for working with computers helped him discover a career path: “RPI is an engineer driven school and so there is not much diversity in terms of the kinds of friends to make. I didn’t really love it but knew I was in a good place and enjoyed investigating how computers and computer networks were connected, especially during my time at Suffield. If you can learn how something works then you can figure out how to fix it. It was not until my senior year at RPI when I discovered my path to becoming a network engineer. And in this field, I am fortunate not to have had to return to school for a graduate degree.”

Juniors preparing for the college application process are heavily supported by their college counselors and alumni mentors. While it is an extremely important decision in their adolescent lives, the mentoring sessions provide insight into many unanswered questions. It was made very clear that communication is a key to success and that there is more than one way to accomplish a rewarding future.