UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - A palpable sense of positive energy filled the Greg Sutliff auditorium inside Penn State's Lewis Katz Building Monday evening. In a unique opportunity for Penn State's female student-athletes, the Nittany Lions welcomed ESPNW for its Campus Conversations series.
As noted by Penn State director of athletics Sandy Barbour in her opening comments to the room packed with Nittany Lion student-athletes, it was a night devoted to connection and collaboration.
Moderated by ESPN columnist and feature writer Kate Fagan, Penn State welcomed five distinguished alumna to the stage for a question and answer session to open the evening. Among the group of accomplished Nittany Lions were Nike's Kelsey Amy, IMB's Pamela Beshoory and ESPN's Cassandra Watson, as well as honorable associate judge Toni E. Clarke and managing partner of her own HR consultancy, Elizabeth King.
The panelist portion of the night covered everything from transitions and resume tips, with each Nittany Lion alumna sharing a piece of advice she would give to her 22-year-old self.
Like many of the panelists, for Watson, returning to campus to share her experiences from a 22-year career with ESPN is simply great.
A common theme in the message from all the panelists came in navigating transitions. Whether it's high school to college or even the task of what's next after Penn State, each Nittany Lion had a different piece to offer the packed room.
"I think the most important thing about transitions is not defining yourself by your current role," King said. "Whether that's a student-athlete or a business systems analyst or whatever, define yourself by who you really are and then as the transition happens, you're not mourning the loss of whatever it was that you were before."
Finding and cultivating that identity was a main takeaway for Penn State track and field senior Megan McCloskey.
"While you maintain that student-athlete identity, it's something that can really shine through as a benefit and something that separates you from others," McCloskey said. "It's also kind of about finding that identity outside of athletics that allows you to define yourself and be memorable and to make those connections and show your personality and who you truly are. Whether that is athletics that has shaped that, you're going to be someone else when you graduate and you can mold that into what you want to be and make that memorable."
Following the stage session, the group of student-athletes divided into groups to get right to work on those connections and bonds. Led by the panelists as well as ESPNW founder Laura Gentile and Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics' Kathy Drysdale and Renee Messina, the student-athletes closed out the night in small group sessions, covering a range of topics from career planning to navigating everyday challenges.
Penn State is one of five schools selected to this spring's ESPNW Campus Conversations series. For Gentile though, there was something certainly unique about the Happy Valley stop.
"I'm not just saying this because I'm here but the spirit at this event, at Penn State was amazing. Usually by 9 p.m., 9:30 p.m., the athletes are kind of fading. No way. The energy just kept ramping up throughout the night." - Laura Gentile, Senior VP Business Operations and Content Strategy, Founder of ESPNW