Creating belonging within a campus community.
One of the things I care most about within a university is helping people feel that they belong there. Universities are stronger when students feel connected to the people, communities, and opportunities around them, but finding that sense of connection is not always easy, particularly during transitions into college or graduate school. Throughout my time at UNH, Penn State, and now Princeton, athletics has been one of the main ways I have contributed to that sense of community. From student organizations and first-year welcome events to mentorship and my current work with Princeton Football, the goal has remained similar: bringing people together, supporting students, and helping them find a place within the broader university community.
Using sport as a vehicle for belonging and community
Photo Credit:
Penn State Athletics Photography 2023
Sport has often been described as a great unifier, and I have seen firsthand how athletics can bring people together within a university. At Penn State, I served as President (2022–23), Executive Officer (2023–25), and Co-Advisor (2025–26) of the Roar Zone, a student organization responsible for the student fan experience at men’s and women’s ice hockey. While supporting Penn State Athletics was at the center of the organization, my broader goal was to use sport as a way to foster community across campus.
Over several years, I helped lead a group of approximately 1,000 primarily undergraduate students from across the University. We worked extensively with Penn State Athletics marketing and promotions, ticketing, communications, fan experience, event operations, game-day personnel, University administrators, and students. My work included coordinating game-day experiences, traditions, membership activities, student engagement initiatives, and communication between students and Athletics.
That work extended well beyond hockey. I had the opportunity to speak in front of Penn State’s incoming first-year class and maintained an active presence throughout first-year welcome week and at events across the academic year. Those experiences gave us a chance to reach students early in their Penn State experience and show that athletics could be one way to become involved in a university of more than forty thousand students. Rather than operating only as a student cheering section, The Roar Zone served as a bridge between students and the people responsible for creating the athletics experience around them.
I also worked deliberately to strengthen student support for women’s ice hockey. Men’s hockey has historically attracted greater attention and larger crowds, but we treated support for women’s hockey as part of the organization’s identity rather than an occasional addition.
As I progressed through graduate school, I transitioned from President and Executive Officer into a Co-Advisor role, working with the next generation of student leaders to preserve institutional knowledge while giving them the freedom to continue developing the organization themselves. What began as student leadership ultimately became an opportunity to mentor other leaders and help sustain the community.
My involvement in this work began earlier at the University of New Hampshire, where I served as Vice President (2018–19) and President (2019–21) of the Cat Pack Captains, a student organization focused on school spirit and student engagement across UNH Athletics. In that role, I worked with Athletics administration, Residential Life, Admissions, Campus Recreation, and other University administrators. Each year, I helped with undergraduate first-year move-in and welcome programming, including welcoming approximately 3,000 incoming students and speaking to the first-year class. I also participated in open houses and admitted-student events throughout the year.
My final year at UNH took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many of the usual ways students met people and built community disappeared. We moved much of our work online, adapted how the organization operated, and worked with University administrators to advocate for students and maintain opportunities for connection. Those experiences at UNH and Penn State shaped how I think about the role athletics can play within a university. Sport can connect people who may otherwise have little overlap in their academic programs or day-to-day lives and can help make a large university feel smaller. At Princeton, that work has shifted from building communities around athletics to working more directly with student-athletes themselves.​​
Princeton University Athletics
Mentorship
At Princeton, I currently work with Princeton Football in an Athletics Fellow capacity while the formal University appointment is being finalized. The Fellows program connects members of Princeton’s academic community with varsity teams as mentors and resources for student-athletes. It gives me a new way to continue work that has been central to my university experience: using athletics to build community, support students, and strengthen their connection to the broader university.
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That approach aligns closely with what I hope to contribute as a Fellow. Mentorship has played a major role in my own career. Many of the opportunities that shaped my path came from people who took the time to offer advice, introduce me to new possibilities, and help me think beyond whatever I was focused on at the time. Through Princeton Football, I hope to be part of that same kind of network for student-athletes and help connect them with academic, research, and professional opportunities they may not otherwise encounter.
With Princeton Football, I hope to be an additional resource for student-athletes as they navigate being both Princeton students and Division I athletes. That can include conversations about academics, research, career opportunities, graduate school, or helping students identify people and resources across the University that may be useful to them.
Driving attention to adaptive athletics
One of the pleasures that I have had in my role with Men's Hockey at Penn State is that I have been able to work with the Happy Valley Coyotes Sled Hockey team.
Over the last three years, the Penn State Men's Ice Hockey program has organized a large fundraiser to support the adaptive hockey program, where players use sit-down sleds rather than traditional skates.
Since 2023, the Coyotes have played in an annual fundraising exhibition game. I have had the wonderful opportunity to lead the fan experience at each game. I get the pleasure of interfacing with the community and members of the Coyotes team each year at the event. Since we began assisting the efforts of the PSU Men's hockey team, we have been highly successful in drawing and maintaining a strong passionate crowd each year.
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The event started as a fundraiser—but it has become so much more since its inception—transforming into one of the highlights of every Penn State hockey season. This event gives the adaptive hockey players the opportunity to play in front of a passionate crowd and show off their skills. I am proud to see how much the event has grown each season and I look forward to seeing it grow even more.