Volume 136 No. 7

The Springfield Student October 21, 2021

Est. 1910 scstudentmedia.com // @TheSpfldStudent

Volume 136 No. 7

Winners/Finalists for five Society of Professional Journalist (SPJ) awards in 2021

Making a Difference The Habitat for Humanity club lives the Springfield College mission of Humanics See page 8 (Photo courtesy of Nikki Bindell)

inside Page 6

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President Cooper and Dr. Hill presented the College’s progress in its ‘racial awakening’ journey

Junior Colby Wilson has made a name for himself on campus through several leadership positions

The second annual ‘SEAT at the Table’ series addressing social justice issues kicked off Sunday

And more...

October 21, 2021

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Campus News

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Kicking off SEAT at the Table 2021 Xavier Gibson, Lexie Blake, Brianna D’Haiti, Charisse Del Vecchio and Felicia Lundquist made remarks to open SEAT at the Table. (Springfiled College)

___ By Hayden Choate ___ @ChoateHayden

The second S.E.A.T. at the Table event kicked off this week at Springfield College, with a week scheduled of many sessions discussing a variety of different social justice topics.

This began on Sunday with a land acknowledgement and opening remarks from three student speakers.

Last year, the first annual S.E.A.T. at the Table week was held completely on Zoom, but the community was excited to be able to connect in person after a year of everything being online.

Felicia Lundquist, Director of Multicultural Affairs began the session Sunday morning with a land acknowledgement, which recognizes that the land being stood on today was originally inhabited by or belonged to indigenous people.

“We acknowledge that Springfield College stands on the traditional homelands of the indigenious Algonkian people known as Agawam,” Lundquist stated.

“We acknowledge the mem-

ory of these Indigenous nations, who after having inhabited this land for more than 10,000 years, were displaced in the 1600s to 1700s

by English colonial settlers who exploited Native generosity and provoked warfare.”

After the land acknowledgement, Lundquist and Charisse DelVecchio, a Graduate Associate in the office of Multicultural Affairs acknowledged all the people and groups that helped make S.E.A.T. at the Table possible this year.

Three student speakers, Brianna D’Haiti, Lexie Blake and Xavier Gibson were all nominated to speak by the Collaborative Council.

D’Haiti, a senior at Springfield College, was the first student speaker on Sunday morning.

“Justice, equity and inclusion, three little words that should be easy to find, but it’s not so easy,” D’Haiti said. “We live in a world where it’s easier to tell you what justice, equality and inclusion aren’t than versus

what they are.”

She stressed the importance of knowing the real meaning of these words.

“We live in a world where people think inclusion is having someone of a different race live on their street,” D’Haiti said. “But no, it’s so much more than that. It’s welcoming the person into your home and getting to know them.”

D’Haiti finished her remarks with what she hopes everyone in the Springfield College community gets out of S.E.A.T. at the Table week.

“My dream for Springfield College is for it to be a place that I can call home because it is constantly pushing the envelope and working hard to make this a campus where everyone is embraced and loved and they feel like they belong and that is the reason this week is so important.”

The next student speaker was senior Lexie Blake, President of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance.

Blake talked about how four years ago. she would

not have seen herself being in a leadership role, let alone speaking publicly.

“I may not be able to take the bad out of the world but I can work to change how we educate ourselves and each other on a smaller scale,” Blake said in her remarks. “If I can impact even the most immediate people around me they will do the same, and that’s how we can create our own cycles of light to break through the systematic cycles of darkness that plague the world around us.”

Blake told three powerful stories and ended with why change is something that should be looked at in a positive manner.

“Change can be scary for anyone, but change is necessary,” Blake said. “It also looks different for all of us. I think today and during this really important S.E.A.T. at the Table event, change is allowing ourselves to be open and flexible when it comes to people and situations we don’t really understand.”

The last student speak-

er at the opening event was Xavier Gibson, a second-year student in the Doctoral Physical Therapy program at Springfield.

Gibson talked about his vision for justice, equality and inclusion at Springfield College and what makes up a good leader.

“Most people will say something along the lines of someone who is reliable, confident, a good communicator, someone with passion and drive and the list goes on,” Gibson said. “However, I would like to take the time to highlight three qualities that separate good leaders from those that are great.

One, those who can emphasize, two those who possess humility and three those whose actions are rooted in integrity.”

This session of opening remarks started the week which will move forward into the remaining sessions of the important learning experience. Sessions for S.E.A.T. at the Table will continue over Zoom and in-person through Sunday, October 24.

Campus News

October 21, 2021

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Someone to talk to Colby Wilson didn’t want to attend NSO as a first-year, but he did. And now he is a leader.

_ By Garrett Cote _ @garrett_cote

The word “leader” is defined in the dictionary as “a person who leads a group, organization, or country,” and is so often loosely thrown around. What actually makes somebody a good leader? What qualities do they have that others do not?

As for Springfield College junior Colby Wilson, the definition just scratches the surface.

In addition to being on the E-Board for New Student Orientation, the Tewksbury, Mass. native is the Vice President for the Men of Excellence (MOE), a jump leader for his track and field team (essentially has the duties of a captain), and is the track and field representative for the Student Athlete Leadership Team (S.A.L.T.).

“It’s less about being a role model and more about being someone people can come to talk to about anything,”

Wilson said of his leadership positions.

“Whether they want to join a club, get involved on campus, or even just talk in general.

Everything I’ve done in my three years [at Springfield College] has prepared me to be a resource for others, I look at it as helping whoever to become true Springfield College people.”

For someone who had little-to-no interest in taking any leadership roles after high school, Wilson has excelled from the get-go in college, using his confident and calm approach to attract his peers.

“I would have never seen myself doing these things here,” began Wilson. “I didn’t even want to participate in NSO freshman year, and now I’m a leader because I ended up loving it so much. I knew the week after I finished NSO I wanted to get involved.”

Colby Wilson leading his group at New Student Orientation for the Class of 2025. (Photo Courtesy of Springfield College)

With Wilson leading the charge, the current group of NSO leaders are now in the process of sifting through interview forms to determine who next fall’s leaders will be.

MOE, on the other hand, recently held a domestic violence event that was put together

by the E-Board and was open to all members of the Springfield College community.

Wilson has been a positive influence on the track team, especially to the younger groups of first-years and sophomores who still have yet to compete. His roommate and teammate,

Mason Tosch, believes Wilson has grown and developed over his time on Alden Street.

“Colby has picked up on how everybody responds to certain situations, you can tell he’s learned a lot from being on the team,” Tosch said. “He knows who likes to be talked to

Campus News

October 21, 2021

on meet days and who doesn’t, and he encourages everyone to never worry about what numbers they put up, just to go out and compete as hard as they can.”

Scott and Betsy Wilson, Colby’s parents, gave their son, a sport management major, pieces of advice that has, and always will, stick with him. Their support and encouragement is the reason Wilson is in the position he is in today.

“My dad is a coach, so he’s always helping people on and off the field,” said Wilson. “Seeing how he has developed relationships with people is something I’ve always admired and paid close attention to.

He’s also a selectman in my town and is on the school committee, he’s just super involved in my town. Seeing what he has done made

“

me want to be more like him and get more involved.”

“Before I came to school, my mom told me to be open to everything and try new things. She was the one who told me to go into NSO with an open mind and maybe I’d end up liking it and we see how that ended up. They both definitely helped to shape my mindset,” he continued.

Although Wilson can be talkative and outgoing, he occasionally keeps to himself in a more reserved manner when necessary. His older brother Tyler, a senior at Penn State, has shown Colby that it’s ok to be more introverted in certain situations.

“We’re honestly pretty opposite,” said Colby. “I’ve used his way of going about things sometimes. I’m more vocal and extroverted

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Colby Wilson (left) with members of the Men of Excellence Club. (Photo Courtesy of Colby Wilson)

when talking to people, but he keeps to himself and does things on his own, he carries himself lowkey. Seeing how he’s able to be independent and not rely on others to get stuff done, I’ve used that in certain aspects of my life for sure.”

Considering all of the people who have impacted Wilson, it is no understatement that he

It’s less about being a role model and more about being someone people can come talk to about anything.”

- Colby Wilson -

has returned the favor.

Everyone who has ever encountered Wilson or has had a conversation with him would agree that a budding personality like his resonates and sticks.

“Colby has a great foundation. He knows how to take what someone is trying to say and say it in a smarter, better way towards people.

He really gets the most out of everyone he’s around,” Tosch added.

Wilson and MOE have planned a collaborative event with the Springfield College Police Department. From starting as someone who was showing up to meetings and taking in the information to now putting events into action, he has thrived in his new position as VP of the club.

S.A.L.T. just did a Division III social media campaign week for diversity, equity, and inclusion - the sub-

committee Wilson is in -- where he recorded a video talking about his maturation process at Springfield in a letter he wrote to his former self.

“I feel like being a leader is just a big part of what Springfield College is,” said Wilson. “I know it’s sort of a cliche thing people say, but it’s really true and it’s a huge aspect of what this school is. Once I got here and spent some time here, I felt like it was right to get involved in the things I’m passionate about.”

To pile together a list of tasks Wilson has completed since the fall of 2019, his first semester on Alden Street, would be rather time consuming. He has and continues to embody the Pride way of life, and that is exactly why Colby Wilson has become a household name.

Campus News

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SC’s racial awakening As part of SEAT at the Table, President Mary-Beth Cooper and Dr. Calvin Hill presented on Springfield College’s journey of dealing with race issues on campus and in the world.

__ By Collin Atwood __ @collinatwood17

During the fall semester of 2020, the SEAT at the Table events were introduced to the Springfield College campus.

Charisse DelVecchio, a graduate student at the time, came up with the idea so the College could start having serious conversations about diversity on campus.

SEAT at the Table made its return for the 2021 fall semester on Oct. 17 to continue the important week-long conferences that revolve around diversity and inclusion.

On Oct. 19, the weeklong event continued with a day full of informative workshops. There were a wide variety of topics talked about, from contemporary music in politics to linguistic discrimination.

The second event of the day was titled “The Springfield College Journey of Racial Awakening” which was hosted by Springfield College President, Mary-Beth Cooper and Vice President for Inclusion and Community Engagement, Dr. Calvin Hill.

President Mary-Beth Cooper and Vice President Dr. Calvin Hill presented the College’s historical confrontations with race issues. (Photo Courtesy of Springfield College)

During this event, Cooper and Hill took the audience back in time to see how Springfield College’s commitment to diversity and inclusion has progressed over the years. They conducted intense research to give the guests at the event a realistic idea of how the campus community has changed.

Before talking about how Springfield College

has become more diverse and inclusive over the years, Hill went over how education itself has become more inclusive.

“With post-reconstruction we saw the rise of our nation’s historically Black colleges and universities,” Hill said. He mentions a few well known ones such as Howard University, Hampton University and Fisk University.

Hill went on to talk about the Civil Rights Act and how it affected the enrollment of Black students. To keep receiving federal funds, colleges and universities had to document who was and who was not attending their school.

This gave schools a reason to start opening their doors to students of color.

“Between 1964 and

1970 we saw a large proportion of our county’s Black students attending predominantly white universities, so this was really positive,” Hill said.

Over the years, Springfield College was becoming more and more diverse and many students were making their voices be heard. President Cooper says that the events in the 1960’s are comparable to what happened on campus in 2020.

“I think the comparison between 1964 and 2020 is really comparable because it is groups that are wanting to have a voice, to have a seat at the table, to also be heard and to challenge, in particular, the government,” Cooper said.

She adds that we have to make sure it is not another 50 years before our campus revisits this discussion because not much has changed over that time period.

Part of the reason that President Cooper may sense some similarities between the two dates is because in 1969 there were a list of demands made, similar to the demands that were made in 2020 by social justice groups on cam-

October 21, 2021

News Campus

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The ‘Springfield College’s journey of racial awakening lecture was hosted on Zoom. (Photo Courtesy of Springfield College)

pus.

Hill and Cooper talk about the demands and how Springfield College responded to them.

The first two demands were about Black student’s access to Springfield College. The first demand stated that the students wanted there to be 200 or more Black students in the upcoming class which was the class of 1973. Hill stated that we still do not get that many Black students to this day. “We have not reached that level.”

Hill then brings up a quote from Springfield College’s first full-time President, Laurence Locke Dogget: “The College has never hesitated to offer equal educational and technical advantages to students of all races without any reservation.”

The second demand was “we demand a Black man in the Admissions Office immediately to direct the year round

recruitment of Black students by Black students.”

In response, the College hired Nolan Thaxton to work part-time in the admissions office as the demanded “Black man.”

“The students weren’t thrilled with that. Nolan Thatxton should have been, from their thoughts, a faculty member because he was a doctoral student,” Hill said.

He added that the students wanted him to be engaged in the education of the students on campus and not just the admissions department.

From there, the College went on to hire Earnest Jones to recruit students of color.

“In many respects this was one of the ways that the College responded to that 1969 list of demands,” Hill said.

The third demand on the list was about more financial aid and scholarship opportunities for

Black students. While Springfield College could not meet every single financial need, they gave the students a list of scholarships that were out there so the student knew where to go for these awards.

Today our campus has two BIPOC Scholarships. The Jesse Parks Scholarship came in 1986 and the William Beckett Teacher Preparation Scholarship came in 2014.

Next, Hill touched on the demands that called for a change in the curriculum. Part of the demands were that the students wanted a Black studies program.

“We didn’t find any evidence that we established a Black studies program, but what the college did do is, they began to offer courses,” Hill said.

This was a big step in Springfield College’s racial awakening due to

the publicity they were receiving. In 1969 the Springfield Daily News published an article about how Springfield College was adding new courses in response to the list of demands.

The last demand stated that “we demand more Black representatives on the Board of Trustees.” Before getting into the demand, President Cooper explains what a Trustee does.

“The trustees, from my perspective as the President, are a very important group for the institution because they are making decisions on who gets tenure at the institution, what the tuition rates will be...oftentimes students and others don’t understand the power of trustees.” Cooper said.

Hill and Cooper stated that more research needs to be done to determine exactly how the College responded to this demand at the time, but

from 1968 to 1974 there were at least three Black trustees.

During these years, Springfield College had two governing boards which were the Board of Trustees and the Corporators. It is unclear if the demands were talking about the trustees or the corporators, but there were people of color on both during the time of the demands.

At Springfield College we now have 30 members on our Board of trustees and five of them are people of color.

Although this presentation was about how we progressed in the past, Cooper and Hill made it clear that this is also about how we can do better moving forward.

“We are very committed to this journey and being successful,” Cooper said.

Campus News

October 21, 2021

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Commitment to service The Habitat for Humanity club at Springfield College has provided homes for families in the local area and beyond. __ By Cait Kemp __ @caitlinkemp09

Springfield College is all about service to others, and encourages that to all students from the moment they step on campus. There are unlimited opportunities to get involved in the community to volunteer and provide enthusiasm and excitement to help and share your skills with people who need it.

The Habitat for Humanity club is a perfect example of this. Students are given the chance to work directly with the Greater Springfield branch of Habitat for Humanity to get into local towns and help to build the houses for the program.

According to their official website, Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization that helps homeowners to create a sustainable lifestyle, encouraging them to work alongside volunteers to build affordable housing for them. There are Habitat for Humanity organizations in all 50 states as well as 70 countries around the world.

The organization was founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller, who developed the idea of partnership housing,

which became the basic function of Habitat for Humanity. As mentioned before, people looking to get a house must participate in the building of the house, creating a community of volunteerism, hard work, and pride for these people and the towns they live in.

President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter had a lot of involvement in it during their years in the White House, which brought much popularity and notoriety to the organization.

It has now helped over 35 million people to build a sustainable life while teaching the important quality of hard work to earn what you have in life.

The Habitat for Humanity club participated in what they call a “Day Build” this past Saturday.

Through the Greater Springfield chapter they were able to volunteer their time at a local build and help to put siding on a house in Springfield.

Club President senior Nikki Bindell has been a part of the club since her freshman year when she capitalized on the opportunity that was in front of her.

“I’ve wanted to be a

The Habitat for Humanity club. (Photo Courtesy of Nikki Bindell)

part of Habitat for a long time, even throughout high school but I never inquired about it really,” said Bindell. Once she saw the table for it at the club fair her freshman year at Springfield, she knew it was her chance to finally get involved.

“I did a few Day Builds freshman year, and then I did the spring break trip which really cemented it into importance to me,” said Bindell. “We went to Monroe, North Carolina... we worked with the group down there, there was 12 of us and we basically just shingled a roof which was pretty cool.”

Bindell organizes and plans the volunteer events with John O’Farrell, the head of the chapter in

Springfield. O’Farrell is a Springfield College alumnus, and took the values of serving others into his life even after leaving Alden Street.

Like O’Farrell, Bindell plans to continue this work after graduation. She is a sports biology major, but plans on entering into a year of AmeriCorps through Habitat for Humanity.

“I’ve worked with my hands ever since I was a kid, my great-grandfather was very hands-on so I get it from him,” said Bindell. “I just loved the ideas of building things and helping people, so [Habitat for Humanity] just combined the two things that I most loved doing.”

The club is run by

Bindell as President along with Vice President Kaylie Langer, Secretary Gillian Dube, and Treasurer Nadia Ghareeb. Along with these officers there are about 25 members who get involved with the Day Builds and group bonding activities that the club hosts.

Bindell is planning to organize more Day Builds in the future, and wants to get more people involved, such as the sports teams on campus.

Joining the Habitat for Humanity club is the perfect way to use the skills learned at Springfield College and take action in the community to truly make a difference in the world.

That is what service is all about.

October 21, 2021

Sports

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Gabby Inkel

Gabby Inkel (4) looks downfield in a game against MIT on Sept. 25. (Joe Arruda/The Student)

Gabby Inkel dominated the Twitter poll for the fourth Springfield Student Athlete of the Week award, earning almost 62 percent of the vote.

The field hockey senior had a career game last Saturday, propelling the Pride to a 4-0 win, their fourth of the season.

Inkel, primarily a defensive player, scored her first career goal in the matchup against Clark University and added another as well as an assist.

The win was the Pride’s first in conference play, as they sit at 1-5 in the NEWMAC to this point.

Sara Labadorf, women’s volleyball’s setter, earned 20 percent of the vote after tallying 89 assists, 24 digs and five aces in three matches for the Pride throughout the week. Since a four-game losing streak, the women’s volleyball team has won seven straight as of Wednesday.

Labadorf has been nominated twice for The Student’s Athlete of the Week honor.

Rielly Malz represented the women’s tennis team in the poll this week after collecting two wins in the Pride’s match against Nichols last Wednesday. In singles, Malz collected a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win. Malz paired up with Taylor Suozzo for an 8-2 win in their doubles match.

Malz also added two wins to the team’s total last Thursday to help it defeat Division II American International College, 8-1. Malz dominated again in singles (60, 6-0) and in doubles with Suozzo (8-1).

Rounding out the women’s nominees is women’s cross country’s Kathryn Bonanno. Bonanno was the Pride’s top finisher on Saturday with a time of 24:24.5 in the 6k at the Connecticut College Invitational.

Isaiah Cashwell-Doe On the men’s side, Isaiah Cashwell-Doe edged Clayton Knibbs and D’Aunte Moore by a narrow margin in The Student’s Twitter poll. Collecting 35 percent of the vote, the star running back took home the honor after being nominated for the second straight week.

Cashwell-Doe, a senior, tallied 144 rushing yards and two touchdowns on just five carries in football’s game at Norwich last Saturday. The Pride dominated as a team and collected a 56-7 win, their second in conference play.

Moore, a cornerback, was also nominated for his performance in the Norwich game. The senior secured the ball twice on defense for the Pride, one being a fumble recovery and the other an interception. Both forced turnovers were the firsts of his college career.

Knibbs, men’s soccer’s goalkeeper, tallied five saves in the team’s 1-0 shutout win over Coast Guard last Saturday. That game was the sixth shutout victory for the Pride this year. With just four games remaining on the schedule the Pride hold a 3-2 record in the NEWMAC, and an 8-4 record overall.

Golf senior Corey Roya rounds out the nominees after finishing in a three-way tie on Sunday at the Blazer Invitational with 155 strokes as the team took fourth overall. Roya has been competitive for Isaiah Cashwell-Doe carries the ball in a 46-24 victory over the Pride since his first year on campus.

Rowan on Sept. 11. (Photo courtesy of Springfield Athletics) Be sure to follow The Student on Twitter @TheSpfldStudent to place your vote in next week’s Women’s and Men’s Springfield Student Athlete of the Week awards.

October 14, 2021

Sports

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(Gillian Dube/The Student)

(Lucy Hamilton/The Student)

(Lucy Hamilton/The Student)

(Danielle Schmelling/The Student)

(Gillian Dube/The Student)

This week on Alden Street (Gillian Dube/The Student)

Saturday, Oct. 23 ––– Women’s Soccer vs. Brandeis, 1 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 26––– Men’s Soccer vs. Castleton, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 27––– Women’s Soccer vs. Clark, 7 p.m.

October 14, 2021

Sports

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October 14, 2021

Sports

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Long-lasting success Moira Long has made a significant impact over her 10 years of coaching the Springfield College women’s volleyball team.

__ By Jac St. Jean __ @jacsaintj

Out of the 24 varsity sports teams offered at Springfield College, eight of them are head-coached by women. One female coach who has added to the near 50 year winning-season streak since her start in 2011 is Coach Moira Long of the women’s volleyball team.

In 2011, Coach Long skyrocketed the team in her debut season to an NCAA Division III New England Championship, and a run all the way to the quarterfinals of the DIII National Championship.

However, volleyball was not Long’s first love in the world of sports. She played soccer growing up in Billerica, Mass. and in the seventh grade she was encouraged to play volleyball by her history teacher.

After only a year, Long fell in love and started to play club volleyball in eighth grade, and went on to play through high school and into college.

“It was pretty shocking, I think, to everyone that I chose volleyball,” Long stated. “None of my friends played volleyball. I didn’t know anyone.”

Long attributes the team

aspect of volleyball to her love for the sport, and a major reason why she chose it over soccer.

“I think it comes down to team culture,” Long explained. “On a volleyball court, you cannot be successful without someone else, so that’s what I love about it. Someone’s got to pass, somebody’s got to set, somebody’s got to swing… there’s a lot of cheering, there’s a lot of high-fiving… I gravitated towards that culture of volleyball, and the enthusiasm that comes along with it.”

Long headed to Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, where she would be a four-year starter on the volleyball team, and graduate in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She also coached the men’s volleyball club at Marist with some of her teammates, not thinking at the time she could make it into a career.

After graduating, Long moved to Washington, D.C. to put her degree to work, but left after only six weeks. It was then that she traveled to Springfield College and obtained a

Moira Long has led the women’s volleyball team to an 18-4 record in 2021 as of Oct. 20. (Photo Courtesy of Springfield College)

master’s degree in Sports Management in 1997.

This was also the beginning of her coaching career, as she took the role of a graduate assistant coach under the direction of head coach Joel Dearing. Long credits Dearing as a mentor to her, and someone that pushed Long to her eventual head coaching position at the Birthplace. “[He] said to me at one point, ‘What are you doing with your life? What do you want to do?’”, Long described. “I said, ‘I really don’t know,’ and he said, ‘How about you do what I

do?’ and I was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s brilliant!’”

Long began searching for coaching positions after grad school, and began her head coaching career at Dickinson College.

Long’s one-year stint at Dickinson marks her only losing-record season in her 24-year career as a head coach.

After that year, Long headed north to Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, where she would make the women’s volleyball team one of the top programs in New England. In her thirteen years at Plymouth, Long

would lead the Panthers to a Little East Conference title and a trip to the NCAA Championships in 2004, along with a record-setting year in 2009 with a record of 32-6.

Despite only attending Springfield for two years in a master’s program, Long stayed in contact with the college while at Plymouth.

“In the meantime, I kind of stayed in touch with Springfield,” Long expressed. “I always brought my teams back here to compete, and I was close with Coach [Dearing] and knew that when he

October 14, 2021 retired he wanted me to take over for him.”

In 2011, Long returned to the Pride and took the head coaching position of the women’s volleyball team after her mentor coach Dearing retired. “[Joel Dearing] is a man who always said ‘start with the end in mind,’” Long stated. “He always had the end in mind for me even before I knew what the end was… and I always knew this is where my heart was. This is where I would love to be.”

When Long took over the position, many of the players were concerned about how Long would change the team that Dearing led for twenty-two years.

“Ultimately I didn’t really need to change a lot because I was a product of his system.” Long continued, “So when I came, I think it was an easy transition for them.”

Long continues Dearing’s legacy to this day.

This year marks her tenth season as head coach, and to this day continues a winning-season streak that the program has held since 1972.

In Long’s decade-long tenure with the Pride, she has produced 22 AVCA All-American, 24 AVCA All New England and 22 NEWMAC All-Conference student-athletes.

Winning is most certainly important to Long, but what is more important is her connections with her past, present, and future players.

Two student-athletes

who can attest to this are graduate student Camryn Bancroft and senior Ashley Tanner. Both women grew up on Long Island, New York, only seven minutes away from each other, and played on the same club volleyball team before being recruited by Long to come to Springfield. Bancroft was persuaded to look into Springfield by another Long Island-native, Daniela Detore ‘20.

“It kind of was like a ripple effect since Daniela Detore,” Bancroft expressed. “She is from the town Ashley’s from, ESM, but we [all] played club together… she’s a year older than me and I’m a year older than Ashley.”

Bancroft returned the favor to Tanner after her first year and brought her into the sisterhood of Springfield College Women’s Volleyball.

“I talked to [Bancroft] about the school,” Tanner explained. “Then I stayed overnight with her, met the team, met [Coach Long], loved it, loved her, and from that moment I knew I was going to come here.”

Right off the bat when recruits come here, Long makes sure the athletes she’s recruiting feel welcomed to the team, and has fostered a culture of women who want to get to know each other so they can work together on the court. Incoming firstyear students are buddied up with current players so that they can make connections prior to arriving

Sports

on Alden Street.

“Our team is really big on connections, we make that a big focus,” Tanner said. “A lot of times we rank how close we are with each other, and if you feel less connected with that one person that week you make it a point to ask, ‘Do you want to go Cheney together?’, ‘Do you want to go to the Union?’, or ‘Let’s get coffee.’”

Long, Bancroft, and Tanner also recalled the post-game of their match last week against Roger Williams. A few alumni of the volleyball team were in attendance, and after the Pride won, the former players complimented the players on their cohesiveness even before seeing Coach Long again.

“Our alumni are really invested in our success, but not just in our wins and losses,” Long proclaimed.

“They’re invested in staying connected and passing along their experiences to our players now.”

This philosophy is one that was planted since Long’s first arrival at Springfield. From being mentored by Dearing, Long is now mentoring Bancroft in the same way.

“I view coach more as a mentor, personally,” Bancroft expressed. “I want to go into the coaching career and she’s always been the person that helps you grow, not just as a volleyball player, but as a person.

“Thinking about myself as a first-year compared to now, I have so much

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Moira Long develops her student-athletes athletically while also preparing them for life after sport. (Photo Courtesy of Springfield Athletics)

growth and maturity over the four years. She just really harps on ‘it’s not about you, it’s about the team’... and that it’s a legacy thing.”

“She’s really special,” Tanner added. “She shows up for us every single day, we can go to her for literally anything.”

Long’s determination and commitment to her team shined brighter than ever in the 2018 season, when she still decided to coach the team in the beginning of August despite recovering from brain surgery in July.

“You shouldn’t have brain surgery and then decide you’re gonna coach for a volleyball team for a season,” Long advised.

“It’s pretty stupid, but I’m pretty stubborn.”

Despite Long’s short recovery from brain surgery, the team achieved a record of 24-8 that year, and inspired Bancroft, Tanner, and the rest of the team.

“Obviously her strength is insane,” Tanner stated. “One strives to be as

strong as she is… after she had her brain surgery she would write in a notebook ‘I will do this today’ and she would get up and do it. She kept saying ‘I will be ready for the season’ and she came back ready for us.”

The women’s volleyball team continues to use the, “I will,” motto that Long used, and even turned it into, “We will,” to further strengthen the pack mentality that is deeply rooted in the program.

Described as a “life coach” by many of her current and former players, Coach Long has not only carried on the legacy of those who came before her like Coach Dearing, but she has paved her own way on Alden Street and garnered an amazing culture of strong women who embrace the Springfield College philosophy, honor the legacy before them, and strive to leave an impact on and off the court.

October 21, 2021

Sports

PAGE 14

Keeping it professional When Springfield women’s soccer player Madison Daly is not on the pitch, she is running an online business where she sells clothes under the title “CT Thrifts.” ___ By Hayden Choate ___ @ChoateHayden

When Springfield College women’s soccer sophomore defender Madison Daly possesses the ball on the field, she hears her teammates calling for her to pass it to them. Only instead of saying, Madison or Madi, they are yelling two letters.

“CT! CT!” A nickname that is for the abbreviation for Connecticut, but not because that is her home state.

Daly has a popular second-hand clothing business that she runs on instagram called “CT Thrifts” which has earned her the nickname.

“We all just kind of picked up on calling her ‘CT’ this season, especially because there are a lot of Madison’s on our team ironically,” her teammate Karly Suppicich said. “Personally, I can’t remember the last time I called her Madi or Madison because yelling ‘CT’ down the hall or in the middle of a game just feels right.”

The nickname goes back to high school when Daly first began her thrift account. Initially, she was nervous about her friends finding out about it at first.

“I remember being so nervous when I first started it. I didn’t even tell my best friend because I was embarrassed I was going to fail,” Daly said. “In my hometown everyone calls me that, I could be in the grocery store and I’d hear someone be like ‘CT!” and it’s funny because I just did it because I live in Connecticut, and I always forget it literally means Connecticut.”

Daly began her business when she was a junior in high school.

Combining a passionate hobby that she has been doing since she was young with an idea she had one day.

“When I was younger I used to go thrifting with my grandma all the time and it was just something fun I always did with her,” Daly said.

“No one was as into it as

Along with running an online thrift store, Daly plays defense for the women’s soccer team.

(Photo courtesy of Springfield Athletics)

I was and I would just go thrifting by myself and one day I remember I found this Champion hoodie and I thought I wouldn’t wear this but somebody else would.”

After having the idea of selling the clothes she would find at different thrift stores, it took a little trial and error at first.

“I kind of just started brainstorming ideas, I started selling on Poshmark but it wasn’t what I wanted it to be.

I kind of wanted to make my own thing so I started an Instagram account,” Daly said.

Rather than having to look through a whole website and deal with a cart, shoppers can buy things by simply commenting on one of Daly’s posts-- a process that people loved from the start.

“It was wicked successful because it was so new and everyone was like, ‘Oh this is so cool, I’ve never seen some-

thing like this right on Instagram,’ so honestly I never had to build it up,” Daly said.

Suppicich, who is not only her teammate and friend but is also a frequent customer, learned about the account before she knew Daly when she was in high school as well.

“All my friends were buying stuff from her and I was like I just have to check this out,” Suppicich said. “Sometimes I probably buy too

October 21, 2021

Daly is very active with her business on Instagram. (Photo from the Instagram account @ctthriftss)

much and I can’t look at her page for a week to save myself some money.”

The way it works is Daly will set one day where she goes to about five or six different stores. She then takes pictures of the items and makes them into drafts so she can post them when she does a ‘drop’ of all the clothes she bought.

“So today I’ll go thrifting, then when I get back I’ll take all of

my pictures, go to practice then after practice I’ll make all my drafts so I’ll filter them and put a caption. I save them so then later after dinner I post them, then bidding goes on for 24 hours but you can BIN (buy it now) an item for full price at anytime,” Daly said.

Balancing school, being a full-time athlete, and running her own business is tough, but Daly makes sure that she sticks to a routine to

Sports

be successful.

“I think setting one day to kind of do it, and my class schedule I made sure I didn’t have a lot with soccer to begin with even though school comes first. I made sure I’d have time to do that too because it’s like my job, I don’t have a job that is my job. One day to thrift and post a drop then another day to ship all the orders out.”

“Somehow she always manages to find time for it and keep the quality of what she puts on her page just as high as well,” Suppicich said.

Being able to keep the balance became very tough-- one day Daly had a game, then did a drop of clothes she was selling.

A few weeks ago, Daly put out a post that CT thrifts would be doing a clothing drop at 10PM, but before her team played Babson in a 7PM night game. The game went into double-overtime with Daly playing the entire 110 minutes and the game ending around 9:30 giving her almost 30 minutes to do her drop.

“I remember I looked at the time, and all my teammates are into it and they all buy stuff and we were like, “Oh my god, it’s 9:30 I have a drop at 10:00,’” Daly said.

“I took all my pictures but I hadn’t made any drafts and that

takes me like an hour so we were all sitting in the locker room, they were all helping me and they’re like, ‘What do you want this to be priced at?’”

Even though her business is young, like other businesses, she had to adapt to challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even though online shopping was reaching new heights, not being able to go to thrift stores was a big problem.

“My biggest thing was thrift stores were closed and I didn’t know what I was going to do so I started buying [clothes] from people on Zeepop and Poshmark or Facebook Marketplace… they will sell lots of clothes, [and] I’ll buy 50 hoodies for 50 bucks,” Daly said.

“For months until the thrift stores opened, I was basically online everyday on my computer ordering things. I’d have the mailman come with a wheelbarrow of packages, but I think I gained a lot of followers from that because people were so bored and a lot of people found my account.”

A business major with a marketing minor, Daly hopes she can not only grow CT Thrifts but also is working on starting her own clothing brand.

“My dream is to have my own clothing brand

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which I’ve kind of started. I have another account called Preloved club,” Daly said.

“I’ll thrift like blank stuff and I’ve been saving huge Ikea bags in my basements with blank stuff so that I can start putting my logo.

It’s like a heart that says preloved club then on the back its in big letters I’m writing ‘shop sustainably’.”

Daly was also nervous about others finding out about her account when she first got to Springfield, but now is happy that she sees people wearing her stuff all over campus.

“I was kind of nervous. I remember a girl on my soccer team bidded on something and I didn’t really talk. I was so quiet last year and I was like, ‘I don’t want them to know it’s me,’” Daly said. “I remember being so insecure about it, and now I’m proud of how it turned out.

I’ll be in Cheney and I’ll see someone wearing something and I’ll be like, ‘Oh my god, that’s from me!’”

To buy clothes from Daly, her thrifting Instagram is @ctthriftss.

SPORTS The Springfield Student

VOL. 136 NO. 7

Adding to her Legacy See page 12

Springfield women’s soccer player’s online business

This edition’s Athletes of the Week inside!

(Photo Courtesy of Springfield College)

OCTOBER 21, 2021