St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Hosts Annual Student-Athlete Career Night
2/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | General
WATCH: Video Recap
QUEENS, N.Y. - On Monday, Feb. 1, more than 100 student athletes and 30 potential employers congregated in the D'Angelo Center Ballroom on St. John's Queens campus for a night of professional networking and knowledge sharing.
The event, co-hosted by Student Development for Athletes and University Career Services featured a keynote address, dinner, roundtable discussions and networking opportunities between student-athletes and professionals from varied industries.
The night began with opening remarks from Associate Provost Dr. Nancy Kaplan, who oversees Student Development for Athletes.
"I strongly believe, as I know many of us from St. John's do, our students represented tonight, from all of our 17 teams along with band, cheer and dance, are among the very finest students that we have here at St. John's," said Kaplan. "Not only are they accomplished in their sport or craft, they have proven to be excellent students who are hard-working, driven and determined."
After Kaplan extolled the virtues of Red Storm student-athletes, Interim Athletic Director Joseph Oliva, Esq., echoed many of those sentiments.
"It's a special group of young men and women in this room," Oliva said to the assembled employers in reference to St. John's student-athletes. "Our student-athletes outperform our student body in the classroom; their GPA on average is actually higher. 31 of our student-athletes last year had a perfect 4.0 GPA."
Following introductory remarks from Denise Hopkins, Executive Director of University Career Services, student-athletes listened to the night's keynote address from alumnus Larry Dunn, '79 SVC, Senior Vice President of Advertising at Newsday Inc.
Dunn, who possesses decades of experience in media and advertising, shared his inspiring personal story with the student-athletes, in addition to doling out sage advice that has guided him throughout his professional career. Above all, Dunn praised the virtues of perseverance, setting goals and maintaining humility.
"You as athletes hold yourselves accountable," said Dunn. "You are at a higher level and you have a God-given gift that your peers don't have."
But Dunn also recognized these gifts alone are not enough to succeed in the business world.
"All great leaders have this ability to be humble," uttered Dunn. "Live your life as you want to be remembered. Life is not a dress rehearsal; we only get one shot at this."
After Dunn's address, dinner was served and the student's began the first of three separate roundtable discussions with prospective employers.
St. John's student-athletes have demonstrated their motivation and achievement both on and off the field, excelling in leadership positions and making them strong candidates for employment. Here at St. John's, Student-Athlete Career Night is just the beginning as the student-athletes start to plan their future careers.