Dalton Charest
Equinox Staff
Another graduation ceremony will be accompanying the Keene State College seniors of 2013 this May and the classrooms of Morrison will not be the only spaces in need of filling a void with young and inspired freshmen.
Look no farther than the sporting fields of KSC that will also be welcoming those same students into a gauntlet to prove their worth. But the senior athletes who leave the campus this spring are approaching the end of careers that those freshmen will only hear about.
Baseball, softball, lacrosse or track and field, it doesn’t matter. All senior athletes face the same fate as they approach that white-staged podium in the Huntress quad, but their accolades on the sporting fields for their respective teams will never be forgotten.
Whether they are national champions who will be taking up a job in their respected field or moving onto bigger and better things for their athletic careers, they all will still be graduating wearing nearly identical caps and gowns. This doesn’t mean that they’ll never miss the ‘college life’, though.
“I’m just going to miss the whole environment that involves being a college student and being on campus,” Janel Haggerty said. Haggerty recently won the indoor pentathlon national championship, the first track and field athlete to win the grand prize since 2010.
“Being here and doing your own thing without your parents or having to follow any rules,” Haggerty continued. “It’s just you’re kind of making your own rules and setting your own boundaries, really figuring out who you are and what you value and is important to you.”
Senior Glenn Guilmette, who competes in the javelin for the men’s track and field program, looks at graduation and the absence of collegiate competition with a different perspective.
Michelle Berthiaume / Sports Editor
Top: Janel Haggerty competes in the 100 meter hurdle race at a meet at UMass-Amherst on Saturday, April 13.
Bottom: Nicole Curry looks for a teammate to pass to in a game against Colby Sawyer College on April 2 at the Owl Athletic Complex.
“I’m going to miss a lot of the teammates, competing at a collegiate level and no longer being able to compete against all these guys,” Guilmette said. “It’s fun and exhilarating you know. I’m going to miss that the most.”
Haggerty said she will hopefully be attending grad school in the fall for her Psychology degree, but in the meantime will pursue a job. Guilmette will also be pursuing grad school but looks to compete for the Greater Boston track team post-graduation.
Senior captain of the women’s lacrosse team, Nicole Curry, has competed with teammate Lauren Brown since the very beginning of their freshman year. Over the last two seasons, the two have been at the helm of virtually transforming their team when graduation took its toll, having almost their entire team graduate when they were just freshman.
“I’m just going to miss lacrosse in general, going out there every day for practice or a game no matter what it may be,” Curry said. “Winning two {Little East Conference} championships was pretty amazing.”
“I’ve definitely improved each year during my time playing at Keene,” Brown said. “I definitely have learned from each team year and year out. I think I’m just going to miss the social aspect about it where you’re just surrounded by your group of friends for a good amount of time during the day and on and off the field we always hang out. It’s just like that little bubble we live in is going to be hard to deal with when we do leave Keene and is something that will definitely be missed.”
Both Curry and Brown are hoping to be taking up a job after graduation and eventually graduate school. Curry said a coaching position and her return to KSC would certainly not be out of question and is up for consideration.
Athletes like Eric Perrault, who plays for the KSC Men’s Baseball team, has high hopes for a future career in the game. Despite two years being sidelined with an injury, Perrault has taken up rehab and is back in competition for the Owl’s this Spring. He said he hopes that following graduation, his talks with at least 15 different major league teams will supplement in him getting drafted this June. Though the high life in the major leagues may lie ahead of Perrault, he said his time here in college is something he’ll never forget.
“I’m probably going to just miss the atmosphere with the guys and the team creating a lot of good friendships with the guys that you’ll probably be able to have for the rest of your lives,” Perrault said.
On the other diamond is softball. A sport in which senior Nicole Dupuis competes in and loves, she has high hopes for the program post-graduation and said she hopes to educate her younger teammates the same way her elders did when she first started her career as an Owl.
“The past four years I’d say has been pretty successful,” Dupuis said. “I came in and worked hard. The catcher in front of me really taught me a lot and gave me a good insight that really helped me out. I’ve had greater coaches along the way that have allowed me to really go out there and do my best. It’s a privilege to be on the team.”
“I have confidence in our two catchers that are there now really working hard and showing great progress so I think the future is bright here,” Dupuis added.
Dupuis, who is an environmental studies major, will be taking up work at a special education school and hopes to continue coaching and being affiliated with softball.
No matter where the seniors will end up post-graduation, the athletes who wore the red, white and black uniforms with the words Keene State printed across the chest will always have that Owl pride that remains in all athletes post-graduation.
Whether it is helping assist in special education, advancing their education even further in the classrooms of grad school or pitching on the mound of Fenway Park someday, the adventure that Keene State College has allowed these athletes to both live and accomplish is undeniable. They’ll always remember the small, rural town of Keene, N.H. and the college it harbors for the catalyst role that allowed them to continue playing the games they love so much.
Dalton Charest can be contacted at
dcharest@keene-equinox.com