Full Great Women Great Danes Interview Transcript
UAlbany's Great Women Great Danes is a new series that will be published during Women's History Month. The series will feature Great Danes, past and present, and celebrate the women of UAlbany.
Q: As a student-athlete, you were a successful softball player, can you tell me about your experience?
A: My experiences as a softball player and student at UAlbany was amazing and I actually always look back on it and think about how much I loved it here and how much I miss it and you know, it wasn’t always easy, but it was always worth it, for sure. I made some of my best friends here at UAlbany and realized a lot about myself and the type of person I could be … coming in as a quiet freshman and not really sure where I belonged on our team or in this big school and I eventually made my way on the team and became a leader and reached all these new heights I never thought I’d be able to do.
Q: It seems like with each year, you gained more and more awards, what was it like to be continuously rewarded for your achievements?
A: It was never about the awards for me, really, it was nice to be recognized but I didn’t do the things I did like getting involved with SAAC or trying to become a leader on the team, that was never my goal to get awards or anything like that. But, it did mean a lot to me to know that people were recognizing the hard work I was putting in, and the awards kind of just came with that.
Q: You really did have a slew of academic service awards, so not only were you doing that stuff, but you were doing it enough to be awarded. What was it like balancing everything, being not only a student-athlete, but you also graduated with a 3.95 GPA for your undergrad and 4.0 for your master’s, what was it like balancing everything? How did you do it?
A: That was a great question - it was a lot at times trying to balance everything. As a student-athlete you’re spread thin throughout most of the day - you’re studying all the time, going to class, going to practice and on top of that you’re trying to find time for yourself in there. But I feel like I was able to kind of manage it as the years went on, after freshman year I kind of got settled and found my niche a little bit, started to get really close with my teammates and we were able to kind of work together, we were always studying together in study hall … our coaches were super supportive of us and wanted us to get involved in the community so we were always doing new community service acts together as a team and working with SAAC and we were always trying to get involved. I think if you love something you make time for it and that’s what I tried to do during my career here.
Q: You graduated with your bachelor’s in three years and completed your master’s in two, which turned out perfect with the extra year of eligibility with COVID, did you come into college planning on doing that 3+2?
A: Not at all. Originally, I went in undecided, actually. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do and I thought coming to UAlbany was perfect. There’s so many great programs here and I settled on business, and luckily I worked pretty hard in high school to so a lot of my credits had transferred over and I was able to get basically a whole year done ahead of time. Then, as I’m going through my business program, I loved all the courses but I didn’t really know if that was really what I wanted to do and I decided that after doing a little bit of substitute teaching and working with our team in a bunch of youth settings and getting to coach youth softball players I thought that teaching was what I really wanted to do. I decided to finish out my bachelor’s, get that all taken care of, and then go right into getting my education master’s and it worked out great. That’s what I’m doing now, and I absolutely love it.
Q: So, you’re a student, you have incredible grades, you are a softball player, a starter on the team, playing almost every game of your career, you’re involved in all of these community service programs, highly awarded academically and community service wise. In what was supposed to be your last year at UAlbany, you were named the 2020 America East Woman of the Year. What did that feel like?
A: Being named the 2020 America East Woman of the Year was an unreal feeling. I honestly was very shocked by it at the time - it was right after COVID hit and we had just found out that our season was canceled and at the time, it was the end of the world for us … we didn’t really know what was going to happen next and I didn’t know if I’d even get to play that final year of softball. When we finally heard that it was going to be coming back and then getting the news that I was up for that award, everything seemed to kind of being getting back to where it should be and I was just absolutely honored they’d select me out of all of the thousands of people in the America East. It was a really, really big deal to me and just showed that my hard work had been paying off. I had such a good support system around me here at UAlbany with the administration, my coaches, my teammates, everybody, and it was an award for me, but it wasn’t just for me, it was for everybody that helped me get to that point.
Q: What do you do now?
A: I am a special education teacher, so I teach elementary students with different disabilities. I have my own classroom and every day is a challenge in our room, but we have great kids. It really makes it worth it seeing them grow every day.
Q: Did you go immediately to teaching after you graduated?
A: Yeah, I was very lucky. With COVID, I was able to take that fifth year of eligibility and was able to do my student teaching while I was playing in my season, which I didn’t think I was going to be able to do. I was very lucky [because] the school I student taught in is actually the school I’m working at and I had already known them since I was subbing there and working in the summer program there, and my principle was very flexible with me, and I was able to kind of do all of it at once. My coaches were understanding at the time because we had just lost that year of the season and I think we all just wanted to get out on the field. I was going to do anything it took to get back out there that fifth year. And then, right after the season ended, I got hired at the school I student taught at and I’m in my second year there.
Q: I hear you coach as well?
A: I do, yes. I am the varsity assistant for our high school team in our school district and last year I coached a travel team, too. So, that’s been one of my favorite parts since [I stopped] playing softball, getting to continue and coach younger girls.
Q: Is that something you want to continue to do?
A: For sure - coaching has helped me continue to show my love for the game. I think a lot of former student-athletes would feel similarly [because] it’s hard when you’re not playing anymore. This is kind of a huge part of your life and then all of a sudden, you’re done. So for me, it’s been the perfect transition off of not playing … to continue to coach. I just absolutely love getting to see my players start to make progress and finally figure out the skill we’ve been working on for weeks and then translating it to the game, it’s just such a great feeling. I definitely want to continue coaching in the future.
Q: Some people say they didn’t originally want to be a coach and end up having that as their full-time job – is that something you are interested in?
A: I’ve thought about it, just going to coaching, but I think for me, I also like being in the classroom and, similar to coaching, getting to see my students make progress every day and getting to build relationships with different teachers in my building and different professionals - I think that’s pretty special, too. I love both parts of it and I’m planning on continuing to do both into the future.
Q: What does it mean that young females may look up to you because of what you have done and what you are currently doing?
A: I think for me that’s one of the biggest parts of this. Hopefully I can be an inspiration to young girls. Like we talked about, it was a lot in college - I tried to do a lot different things and stay busy and try to make a difference on my team and in the community and ,hopefully, being from this area I’ve been able to inspire some younger girls to try and do the same and to just know that you can do anything you set your mind to … it’s going to take a lot of hard work but hopefully you have a good support system around you and you can do anything you put your mind to.
Q: How did the women around you help you become the person you are today?
A: I’m very fortunate that I have a really awesome role model built into my family - my mom has been one of my biggest inspirations all throughout my life and continues to be. She’s been a trailblazer in her field, so watching her as I grew up was the perfect example of who I wanted to be when I grew up and still want to be. So, I have her, and coming to UAlbany, I had my amazing coaching staff - Coach [Chris] Cannata, Coach G [Kate Gentile], our two female coaches, and Coach Rachel [Jones], our strength coach. All of these amazing women have guided me to where I am today and taught me how to be a hard worker, how to put the time in, and, really, how to be a dedicated person to whatever I put my mind to … so I’ll say there’s been so many women in my life that helped me get to this point.
Q: What does Women’s History Month mean to you?
A: Women’s History Month … I think it is a very important thing. It just puts women out in a great light. It lets women showcase all of the amazing things they’ve done. It allows young girls to see all of these amazing role models that they can live up to be. So, I feel great about being chosen to be in this interview and being one of those women that can help guide young girls into being who they want to be when they grow up.
For more interviews from the Women's History Month #GreatWomenGreatDanes series, click here.
