On November 29, approximately 50 alumni from Mercy College and Westchester Community College (WCC) attended a holiday-themed networking event at Vintage Lounge and Restaurant in White Plains. Many attendees were alumni of both schools. Members of Mercy’s Alumni Advisory Council and the admissions team were also present.
“Everyone was very welcoming,” says Joseph Jacob, M.B.A ’18. He spoke with two WCC alumni who were considering applying to graduate school at Mercy. They were interested to hear about Jacob’s career, which has taken a unique path through construction, higher education, software development and real estate.
Alison Christmas ’88 — who is a member of Mercy’s Alumni Advisory Council and a WCC alum — reflected, “I enjoyed meeting alumni from WCC as well as Mercy. I haven’t been to any events involving WCC since I graduated. It was nice to see where people are in their careers and in life.”
Alexis McGrath Rothenberg, M.B.A ’17 and Mercy’s Director of Alumni Relations and Special Events, explains that the event aimed to connect the alumni of both schools and create a broader networking opportunity. She also notes that the event provided a way for Mercy to reconnect with alums: “At Mercy, we have over 64,000 alumni, and the vast majority live in the tristate area, so we like to give alums a reason to re-engage and remember why they fell in love with Mercy in the first place.”
Michelle Schleibaum, WCC’s Director of Alumni Engagement, adds, “We wanted to provide an event where we could celebrate both institutions. And this was also a great opportunity to recognize that WCC alumni go on to four-year institutions after their time with us.”
Mercy and WCC are particularly closely connected because many WCC students transfer to Mercy after earning their associate degree. There is even an agreement to guarantee that students can transfer up to 75 WCC credits to Mercy as long as they meet some basic requirements, and there are also two full scholarships to Mercy that are reserved for WCC students.
Rothenberg and Schleibaum were very pleased with the event’s turnout and the responses from attendees, so they plan to make this an annual event. Jacob and Christmas both said they would attend a similar event next year.