Double Dels Joan and Mike Carragher were one of three groups of alumni who hosted a dinner for students participating in UD Alternative Break.

Alumni and student connections

Article by Christy Selagy Photos courtesy of Joan Carragher, Ralph Hall and Jackson Tomasco May 30, 2024

Alumni host dinners for students on service trips during UD Alternative Break

Double Dels Joan and Mike Carragher, Class of 1984, were excited when they heard about an opportunity to connect with University of Delaware students in-person. Their home in Boston isn’t exactly close to campus, so any interaction with UD is a treat. But there was something particularly intriguing about this opportunity.

A group of students would be taking part in a service trip to Boston as part of UD’s Alternative Break program, Director of Volunteer Programs Marianne Lazarski, Class of 1992, told the Carraghers. She asked if they would be interested in hosting the students for dinner.

In a time where meaningful connections can seem hard to come by, opportunities like this provide important resources, relationships and experiences for students and alumni. It was an easy “yes" for the Carraghers.

“It’s a great way to do something for our alma mater,” Joan said. “We loved Delaware, so it was kind of a unique way to give back. We’d definitely do it again because we just love meeting young people and fellow Delaware students.”

Career paths were one of the main topics of conversation throughout the evening, and engineering students were especially interested in hearing from Mike, who is currently the president and CEO of VHB, Inc., a civil engineering consulting and design firm with locations across the Eastern Seaboard.

Joan said the dinner at their house was unlike other networking events for college students. The opportunity to meet alumni in a relaxed setting, as opposed to at a more formal event, seemed to make the students comfortable.

“They were just the best of the best,” Joan said. “They were really engaging as a group and so impressive with their goals and lives. With all the negativity in the world, I felt so hopeful after I met them.”

Alumni Ralph Hall, Carmie Morris and Lucas Pensinger live in North Carolina — over 400 miles from UD — so in-person volunteer opportunities aren’t plentiful. When the three Blue Hens heard a group of students would be on a service trip in nearby New Bern, they were thrilled.

Alumni Ralph Hall, Carmie Morris and Lucas Pensinger were thrilled to find fellow Blue Hens in their small community in North Carolina.

“I had a great time talking to students, reminiscing about my time back in college, seeing what was still around and hearing about their college experience,” said Morris, who graduated in 2008.

Like the Carraghers, Hall, Morris and Pensinger also appreciated the chance to network with students in a casual setting. Indeed, it was an opportunity they wished they’d had as students — relaxed networking with people in different industries without pressure to discuss grades or specific post-college plans.

“When I was an undergrad and then when I went on to grad school, connections were very deliberate and were very concentrated in my field,” said Pensinger, who graduated in 2017. “Pretty much only one person at the dinner was studying to be in a similar field to me. It was cool to be making those connections, but not in quite as deliberate and quite as high-pressure of a way.”

That one student was Brian Chansky, a senior marine sciences major, who called the dinner “one of the best surprises” of the trip. He enjoyed meeting and talking with all the alumni, especially Pensinger. It was the first time in Chansky’s four years as a student alumni ambassador that he met an alum from his major.

That wasn’t the only benefit of the dinner, of course. As one of only two seniors on his trip, Chansky was excited to connect younger students with alumni to help broaden their UD experience. And enjoying good food and casual conversation with the alumni felt like the perfect way for Chansky and his group to kick off their service trip.

“It kind of really set the tone for us, like being open and learning from everything,” Chansky said. “They’re all really awesome people, and just hearing what their experiences are and what their advice for us is was just a really awesome experience. It was fun hearing what their experiences were when they were students, and then us all telling them what it’s like now. They were all different ages, too, so it's cool to hear how the experience has changed over time.”

In early May, Chansky received an offer for a job located in the Carolinas and looks forward to reaching out to Pensinger soon.

Students weren’t the only ones who benefited from the opportunity to connect. As any Blue Hen living far from campus can attest, finding other alumni nearby is exciting.

Hall, Morris and Pensinger plan to keep in touch. In fact, Hall, an avid sailor, recently accompanied Morris on a sailing lesson, and Pensinger’s wife is the pastor at a church less than a mile from Hall’s house.

“My guess is we're going to be crossing paths just in the normal course of our days,” said Hall, a member of the Classes of 1974 and 1977. “It's funny, just a strange coincidence. It's a small community here, really. I would say the dinner was a really fun experience.”

Alumni Mary Berger, Julie Irick, and David and Katherine Cockey treated students to a dinner featuring several Maine specialties.

Almost 1,000 miles north of New Bern, alumni Mary Berger, Julie Irick, and Double Dels David and Katherine Cockey organized a dinner in Orland, Maine, that featured quintessential Maine delicacies like Moxie soda, whoopie pies and fish chowder.

Berger, Irick and the Cockeys were struck by how eager the students were to hear about the local community and issues related to their service trip.

“We had a very in-depth conversation for a while about the opioid crisis in Maine,” said Irick, a 1998 graduate. “In my mind, students don’t want to hear about this place where they don’t live, but they were asking questions and wanted to hear about it. They wanted to learn and wanted to immerse themselves in what they were doing.”

The students were also eager to hear what campus was like when Berger, Irick and the Cockeys attended. They were especially interested in hearing about UD in the 1960s from Berger, a 1966 alumna who had happily traveled two hours for the dinner.

That interest went both ways, as the Maine Blue Hens enjoyed hearing about changes to campus and new programs.

“I was so impressed with the diversity of the majors,” Berger said. “Some of them made me think, ‘Oh, man, I wish I could have majored in that!’ It was a wonderful experience. They’re wonderful people to be sent out into the world.”

Alumni who want to learn more about hosting students for dinners or other ways to get involved at UD may reach out to Marianne Lazarski at mlazar@udel.edu or 302-831-4459.