COLLEGE BEATS | SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Noah Huard (left) and Mike Austin, who own and operate Stag Pack, developed a unique commemorative gift pack that was sent to all 2020 Fredonia graduates.
Alumni create Commencement gift packs to honor Class of 2020 graduates Fredonia’s Class of 2020 missed out on a traditional Commencement due to the coronavirus, but two alumni — both former baseball players from over a dozen years ago — stepped up to the plate to help the university honor the graduates with unique gift packages. More than 1,300 Commencement gift boxes, developed and assembled by Stag Pack LLC, a Buffalo, N.Y. - based packaging firm founded by Mike Austin and Noah Huard, were shipped to every ’20 graduate. The SUNY Fredonia Cabinet wanted to recognize the graduates with special gift packs since not all of them would be able to attend a ceremonial stage walk held in King Concert Hall in June, explained Commencement Committee Co-chair Denise Szalkowski. “We thought the next best thing would be to send out letters of congratulations from dignitaries along with gifts,” Ms. Szalkowski added. How to accomplish this, though, loomed as a potent challenge that had to be met. 22 Statement | FALL 2021
That’s where Messrs. Austin and Huard, 2007 graduates, and their company that specializes in personalized gift packs for businesses, non-profits and special events, collaborated with Commencement Committee Co-chair Raleigh Hawk and Ms. Szalkowski to create the keepsakes. Austin, who has a B.S. in Communication: Public Relations, and Huard, a B.S. in Business Administration: Management, started Stag Pack as a side gig six years ago, as both had full-time jobs elsewhere. Austin was a trainer with ComDoc, now part of Xerox, and Huard was a project manager for John W. Danforth Company, a Buffalo-based construction firm. “They proposed a package, saying they had done memento packs like this in the past,” Mr. Hawk recalled, and a few conference calls later, “we came up with something that would work.” Each pack contained four letters of congratulations — from Fredonia President Stephen H. Kolison Jr., New York State Senator (57th District) George M. Borrello,
Fredonia Alumni Association President Greg Gibbs and SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras. The traditional Fredonia diploma cover, a padfolio (a leather-bound notebook imprinted with the Fredonia logo), a Fredonia pen and magnet, and a Commencement program that lists every graduate were also included. “What’s special about the program that year is a QR code imprinted in the program,” Szalkowski added. When the student scans this code, it takes them to the Commencement address by Dr. Thomas J. Quatroche Jr., president and CEO of Erie County Medical Center and a ‘92 Fredonia graduate, who would have given last year’s Commencement address in Steele Hall. Stag Pack provided the padfolios and pens, embossed with the Fredonia name and logo, and crafted custom boxes — white and blazoned with a blue “Fredonia Class of 2020” sticker — and took care of very challenging shipping logistics. The Fredonia logo also appears inside the box.
