10 minute read
SIENA’S SUMMER MENTORING PROGRAM RETURNS
BACK ON TRACK
SIENA’S SUMMER MENTORING PROGRAM RETURNS
Advertisement
Nearly 60 years ago, Jim Snyder arrived on the Siena campus. Feeling there was a need to keep Albany-area children engaged during the summer, he started a program that would match them with Siena students. It was then the Siena Mentoring Program was born. The Program would then expand to the fall and spring semesters, matching thousands of “littles” to Siena “bigs” over the years. The Siena community lost Jim in 2014, but the program continued to grow and evolve. Fr. Sean O’Brien, O.F.M. led the program until the pandemic put a halt to nearly everything on campus. Now in the post-COVID world, the program is led by Assistant Director of Mission Engagement Will Figueroa. For the first time since 2019, the summer program welcomed 21 children, ages 6-13, back to our Siena community and the anticipation couldn’t have been higher. For the littles, some were itching to return to some kind of normalcy. For the bigs, they had the chance to make a difference. “It was phenomenal to see everyone come together. For some of the littles, their families are suffering financially,” Will says. “It’s a real blessing to give them a place to be for 4 to 6 weeks every summer that offers them a loving and nurturing environment free of cost.” The four bigs recruited for the summer were brand new to the program. Jadhan Pierre ’23, Fortune Iheanetu ’25, Joshua Pinchinat ’24, and Gabriel Dellivigne ’24 were able to get past the early jitters and have a summer to remember. “As they got their feet wet, I was able to step back and let them run the show,” Will says. “I had a structure set up for them and they
were able to slide right in.” The Mentoring Program for the 2022-2023 academic year starts back up in October. With the exception of a few weeks off campus in the spring, this is the first time since early 2020 where littles are coming back and fully engaging with Siena bigs during the school year. Will has been hard at work this summer recruiting students for the fall. The idea is to recruit as many bigs as possible and match them in one-to-one relationships with littles. Those matches are made possible through a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region, who will help recruit families as part of the program. Will credits endowments such as “The Class of ‘68 High School Mentoring Program Endowment” and “The Dennis L. Winger ‘69 and Barbara L. Waldman Endowed Fund” as the life force behind the current iteration of the program. To no surprise, many of the donors funding those endowments are Siena alumni who served as bigs under Jim Snyder many years ago. It’s because of this funding the program continues to give life-changing opportunities to both littles from Albany and their Siena bigs. But the program cannot expand without an increase in support. Whether you’re a former big — or little — or you’d like to help the program grow, please contact the Siena Development Office at (518) 783-2432 or email us at development@siena. edu to support the Mentoring Program. The world has more Saints today thanks to people like Jim Snyder, Will Figueroa, and YOU!
SAINTS BEHIND THE SCENES
This summer, the Siena Annual Fund kicked off a brand-new video series showcasing some of the people who represent the heart of Siena. “Saints Behind the Scenes” introduces us to various members of the community, along with a few interesting facts about who they are and what they do.
John Bond
Meet John Bond, the associate director of Admissions. He and the rest of the Admissions team are excited to be moving into their new home in Patricia Gioia Hall as they welcome 900+ students to the Class of 2026.
Lindsay Green
Meet Lindsay Green, the director of Accessibility. She is excited her office now has a group of student leaders who will help integrate our students into life at Siena.
Greg (Hammer) Dashnaw
Meet Greg Dashnaw, the head athletic trainer. This year is Greg’s 40th year at Siena. When he first came to campus the football team nicknamed him “Hammer.” He never thought it would stick; but to this day, he only answers to Hammer.
Yasmin Fisher ’10
Meet Yasmin Fisher, the director of the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) at Siena. Yasmin is a HEOP graduate herself and is grateful to lead a program that means so much to her.
Miguel Alvarado ’05
Miguel Alvarado is the assistant director of Financial Aid. He has been writing music for nearly 20 years and works with current students in the writing process.
Angie Turman Corchado ’15
Angie Turman Corchado is the assistant director of International Student Services. She helps serve more than 150 international students at Siena from 45 different countries.
To learn more, head to @sienaannualfund on Instagram. New videos are posted every Monday!
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: BOB MACK ’91
Bob Mack’s story is a VERY Siena story. He grew up in Schenectady, New York with two siblings, Mary ’90 and John ’95, in addition to a number of cousins and family friends. Although Bob’s father Paul and uncle Peter both attended Siena rival Manhattan College, his parents were Siena basketball season ticket holders for many years. In honor of their parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, Mary, Bob, and John created the Paul and Martha Mack Family Scholarship to provide financial assistance to Siena students from Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons High School in Schenectady, a Catholic high school the entire Mack family graduated from.
Bob has traveled the world since graduating as an accounting major from Siena College in 1991. His first job was in public accounting with the Albany, New York office of KPMG. After earning his CPA, he left KPMG in 1993 and joined Ingersoll Rand, a company that would loom large in his career. After a few years at Ingersoll Rand, Bob moved from the internal audit world to the operating side of the house and held various roles in sales, marketing, strategy, and business development. Along the way, he had the opportunity to earn his MBA at Duke University, and briefly left the company to pursue a dot-com start up opportunity.
Upon returning to Ingersoll Rand in late 2000, he moved up the corporate ladder into roles of increasing responsibility, culminating with a move to corporate headquarters in 2010 to lead the M&A function. In that role, Bob led the spin-off of the company’s security business, participated in activism defense, and completed numerous large and small acquisitions. Bob is well-traveled, having spent significant time in China, Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia, Western Europe, Russia, and Latin and South America. Bob moved with Ingersoll Rand to the Lake Norman, North Carolina area in 2001 and continues to maintain his primary residence there with his wife of 10 years, Jillian Trask-Mack.
In 2016, Bob left Ingersoll Rand and moved to Polaris, Inc. as the SVP for corporate development and strategy and president, adjacent markets. In 2018, after acquiring several well-known boat brands, Bob added the marine segment to his management responsibilities. He became Polaris, Inc’s interim CFO in January 2021 and was named CFO and EVP, finance and corporate development in May 2021 and continues in that role. Bob joined the board of West Marine in 2018 as its audit committee chair, and remained in that role until the company was sold in 2021.
Bob has served on the Siena Board of Advisors and attended, as well as hosted, many Siena Alumni events and basketball games. In 2021, he was given the Distinguished Alumni Award for Career Achievement. Bob continues to travel extensively and gets together with his friends and roommates from Siena whenever he can.
SIENA COLLEGE HOMECOMING 2022
NOVEMBER 11-13
Get ready for our second annual Homecoming Weekend! We are excited that it will include the return of the Albany Cup for our men and women’s basketball teams. Cheer on our Saints as they take on UAlbany as you connect with Siena friends throughout the weekend!
Check out the schedule of events below and take advantage of our $75 Bernie Bundle.
Thursday, November 10 at 5:30 PM 12th Annual Veterans Recognition Dinner
Siena College, Maloney Great Room
Friday, November 11 at 7 PM Homecoming Weekend Welcome Party, featuring Grand Central Station
Frog Alley Brewery ($50 value)
City Beer Hall ($15 value)
MVP Arena ($15 value)
Sunday, November 13 at 11 AM Homecoming Mass & Reception
Siena College
UHY Center ($10 value)
Register TODAY at siena.edu/homecoming to secure your Homecoming reservations. We look forward to seeing you!
Register and learn more at siena.edu/homecoming!
ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT EVENTS
These past few months we connected with the Siena Alumni Community near and far! Check out some of the awesome events we celebrated and visit siena.edu/alumni/events for all upcoming events.
Monthly Meet-Up | Craft and Draft
Collar City Candle, owned and operated by Josh and Jamie (Cohen) ’08 Wallbank joined us on campus in May for a crafty candle making event.
Siena Night at Fenway Park
Our Boston alumni gathered at Fenway Park in June where the Red Sox defeated the Detroit Tigers.
Monthly Meet-Up | Fort Orange Brewing
Our friends at Fort Orange Brewing hosted Capital Region alumni at the brewery this past June.
Siena Night at “the Joe”
President Gibson ’86 threw the first pitch at the ValleyCats Siena Alumni Game in July!
Yoga on the Lawn
GYST Yoga, owned and operated by Kaitlyn MacLeod ’09, hosted a yoga class at Siena on one of the hottest days in July!
Siena in the Hamptons
Our Long Island friends had so much fun in July at our Siena in the Hamptons event.
Saints, Set, Spike | Pick-Up Volleyball with Siena
Our friends at Impact Athletic Center in Clifton Park, NY hosted a volleyball night on the sand courts! A friendly competition between Saints was had, followed by pizza and drinks!
Summer Sweat
Saints from all over the country competed in our Summer Sweat Series, starting with a 30-minute bike, followed by a 5k run/walk, and finishing with a 30-minute swim!
