It sometimes surprises people how much the work of an alumni association is focused on future alumni—i.e., our students. From our FastStart mentoring program to scholarships to all the great programs supported by our Lion Ambassadors and Blue & White Society, we spend a lot of time thinking about, and working with, current Penn State students.

In my first four months as interim head of the Penn State Alumni Association, the chance to spend more time with some of those students has been the best part of the gig. One of the first opportunities came in February, when I had the chance to meet Kristen Donahoe (above), the alumni engagement director for THON 2025. Kristen was our contact for all the ways the association supports THON, and she was an awesome partner. 

More recently, I got to sit down with Olivia Fisher and Innaya Michel, the association’s two interns through the Division of Development and Alumni Relations’ annual summer internship program. Olivia and Innaya are part of a larger cohort that offers students the chance to learn about, and meaningfully contribute to, the work done across the division in support of the university.

And then of course, there are the magazine’s terrific interns, Sarah Grosch and Steph Oliver ’25 Com. Like Olivia, Sarah is a member of the Lion Ambassadors’ executive board, and so a familiar face around the Hintz Family Alumni Center. Steph, meanwhile, just graduated in May, and is off to start her career as a social media intern with Hearst Newspapers. We know she’ll do great, and we miss her already.

Every interaction with students like these is a reminder of how lucky we are to be here, at a university full of smart, committed young people with big dreams and a  desire to leave this place better than they found it. These are, for a lot of reasons, challenging times in higher education, but our students have never been better—or more deserving of our best.

Ryan Jones ’95 Com  |  Editor
ryanjones@psu.edu

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