“I initially thought I might want to run track and cross country like I did in high school, but I had a disagreement with the head coach on how long my hair should be,” says Policastro, who had shoulder-length hair by the end of freshman year. “So the next day my soon-to-be best friend and I took a total flyer on the rugby team. And it could not have worked out better.”
By his senior year, Policastro was voted captain of the club team.
“I took on the sport as a challenge to myself, and I really, really loved it. To be embraced by a bunch of guys who played football in high school, as a guy who used to run track and cross country—because those two worlds are totally different—was incredible,” he says.
“My teammates are some of my best friends to this day. I have gone to visit them literally all over the world.”
Now a lawyer in his hometown of Chicago (with much shorter hair), Policastro is still leading his Fordham peers. For the past five years, he has headed the local Fordham alumni chapter.
“We really try to be both a social group and a career-oriented group as well,” he says. “I see myself as an event organizer and someone who brings people together at networking events and career panels.”
Lately Policastro has been focused on helping recent graduates find their career paths, but he believes the chapter’s events are useful for all alumni—in any industry, at any stage of their careers
“I think that being able to get together with a like-minded group of individuals like Fordham alumni can have such positive impacts on your personal and professional development—it’s practically a no brainer.”
Policastro is a natural at bringing people together according to Courtney Conway, FCRH ’05.
“It makes sense that Matt would be in charge of the Chicago chapter. He keeps in touch with everyone from Fordham, everyone from his rugby team, and he is always introducing people at events and finding a common thread,” says Conway, who has known Policastro since his pre-Fordham days in Chicago and now helps him run the alumni chapter.
Policastro’s ability to make connections helps people make the transition both to and from Fordham. He is also a member of the Fordham Alumni Support Team (FAST), so he often represents Fordham at college fairs in and around the Chicago area and hosts regional receptions for newly admitted students.
“I enjoy letting these students see Fordham through my eyes,” he says. “I know what it was like to go to Fordham from Chicago, and I can tell them what a welcoming place it is.”
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At Fordham College at Lincoln Center, she was a member of the Lincoln Center Society, a group of student ambassadors who help prospective students get to know the University. She led tours of campus and answered questions about Fordham from high school students and their parents. Now she’s a member of the Fordham Alumni Support Team (FAST), a national network of alumni who support the recruitment efforts of the Office of Undergraduate Admission.
“Students can go online all they want to read about Fordham—class ranks, SAT scores—but if they tour the school or talk with me, they can make a more personal connection. I talk about what it was like to go to Fordham, live in the dorms, be a part of the community,” says Fisk, an executive assistant in government relations for Hewlett-Packard in Washington, D.C. “That’s a lot of what FAST is about.”
John Donahue, FCRH ’10, an admission counselor in Fordham’s Office of Undergraduate Admission, says that during the most recent admission cycle, FAST members met with prospective students at 37 college fairs in Texas, Louisiana, California, Illinois, Virginia, Ohio, and elsewhere.
“Alumni really help us be in more places than we can be as a staff,” says Donahue. “They bring a different perspective and often that perspective is something that a student can struggle to find. Sometimes it rings more true for someone to hear from an alumnus. It can be a powerful conversation.”
“I had a great experience at Fordham, and I want to give back because of what it gave to me,” says Fisk. “I love sharing my story with prospective students.”Fisk attends college fairs in the D.C. area, where she speaks to high school students and their parents about Fordham. She also attends the Fordham Alumni Chapter of D.C.’s annual regional reception, where prospective students can speak with an admission counselor and meet alumni who work in a variety of fields.
The Springfield, Mo., native began her Fordham story after meeting an alumnus. During high school, Fisk spent a summer at Northwestern University in a theater arts program. She took a class taught by Broadway producer John Johnson, FCLC ’02, who would go on to win a 2013 Tony Award for his work on the play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. “I talked with him and heard about his experience. He loved Fordham and said to go on a tour,” Fisk says. “After visiting campus, I knew it was where I wanted to go.”
At Fordham, she studied political science and secured several internships in New York City and Washington, D.C., including positions at the congressional office of U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, NBC’s Nightly News with Brian Williams, and MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
Fisk headed back to her hometown after graduation to be director of campaign operations for former Missouri state treasurer Sarah Steelman, who was seeking election to the U.S. Senate. Steelman lost the primary election, but Fisk took that campaign experience to Tampa, Fla., in August 2012, and worked as a production coordinator at the Republican National Convention.
“It was an amazing experience to see it and understand it from the inside,” Fisk says. “Everything I had learned in my political science courses at Fordham, I got to see at [the convention]live and not just from CSPAN on my TV.”
In October 2012, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she’s found a job and community to fit her education and interests. In her position with Hewlett-Packard, Fisk supports the government relations team’s lobbying efforts in the United States and Latin America. Fisk also spends time playing bingo with local military veterans as a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a volunteer women’s service organization.
“She’s a really good example of what people can do with their Fordham education,” says Donahue.
For more information on FAST, please contact John Donahue at [email protected].
– Rachel Buttner
]]>Forty Rose Hill and 10 Lincoln Center students engaged in animated conversations with their peers and made new friends, while Fordham alumni shared their college experiences and thoughts about Fordham with the students’ parents. People ate and lingered, groups shifted and generations mixed. For incoming students and their parents, it was a great initiation into the Fordham community.
Nine prizes, including Fordham T-shirts and hats, were raffled off.
Dawn-Marie Yardis, FCRH ’78, leader of the Fordham Alumni Support Team (FAST) for the Northern New Jersey Alumni Chapter, coordinated the event and created a festive atmosphere with maroon and white balloons and 22 tables covered in maroon tablecloths.
Fordham’s undergraduate admission and alumni relations offices co-sponsored the event, which was part of the University’s summer send-off program. Every summer, the University works with Fordham parents and alumni to host receptions across the country for incoming freshmen and their parents.
The regional events provide a unique opportunity for incoming students to meet fellow students in their neighborhood and for their parents to get to know each other.
—Sean McCooe, FCRH ’80, President, Fordham Alumni Chapter of Northern New Jersey