Lehigh Athletics Holds Career Networking Event

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – This time of year (late December and early January) allows student-athletes (and all students) to take a break from the rigors of classes. But for upperclassmen, many are using this time to get closer to securing that first job post-graduation. Lehigh Athletics is here to help. Last month, more than a half dozen recent Lehigh Athletics alumni returned to campus for a special "Life after Lehigh" Career Networking event held in the Rauch Business Center. The evening program was meant to give current student-athletes who attended an opportunity to meet young alumni, and ask questions, in a professional, yet relaxed setting.

"We had a number of very young alumni who just went into their fields come back and share how they used their experiences going into the workplace," said junior Anna Francisco from the swimming and diving team. "All of us can take something from what we heard as we go into our final years at Lehigh and career search."

Young alumni who attended were Ashley Blanks (women's soccer), Taj Blount-Oden (track and field), Nate Brown (wrestling), Morgan Decker (softball), Donovan Harris (football), Courtney Patterson (swimming and diving) and Chris Ruhl (football). For the complete list of their current positions, please see below.

"Lehigh Athletics had such an impact on all of these alumni that they're willing to take time out of their workdays, come back and share their experiences with us," said Francisco.

One of the alums is Blount-Oden, currently an applications engineer at SKF USA Inc.

"I help make sure things rotate properly," he said. "I'm the technical arm between our company and our products, which is mainly bearings, lubrication and seals to our end users – our customers.

"I was definitely excited to share any bit of information that I could about my own story and experience," Blount-Oden continued. "I also knew how much of a benefit it was as a student to hear young alumni and alums in general come back and talk about their experiences. Everybody wants to be understood and I feel like as a student-athlete and alumnus, we have a platform and a family we can share our experiences with. It's not easy. We all know that, so anything I can do to make it a little bit easier, I'm always happy to help."

Gallery: (12/26/2019) Career Networking Event

Ashley Blanks: Biological Sciences and Spanish and Latin American Studies
- Sport: Soccer
- Currently: Biology teacher at Conestoga High School
Taj Blount-Oden: Mechanical Engineering
- Sport: Track and Field
- Currently: Applications Engineer at SKF USA Inc.
Nate Brown: Behavioral Neuroscience
- Sport: Wrestling
- Currently: IoT Executive at Siemens Company
Morgan Decker: Behavioral Neuroscience
- Sport: Softball
- Currently: Pursuing Master's of Science, Physical Assistant at DeSales University
Donovan Harris: Theatre
- Sport: Football
- Currently: Pursuing a Master's Degree in Technical Entrepreneurship
Courtney Patterson: Economics
- Sport: Swimming and Diving
- Currently: Senior Associate in the Economic Valuation Services at KPMG
Chris Ruhl: Mechanical Engineering
- Sport: Football
- Currently: PhD student at Lehigh University

Lehigh University Athletics

Lehigh Athletics Holds Career Networking Event

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