Amidst the clamor of game day, the students, faculty and alumni of Communicative Sciences and Disorders met on the lawn of the Oyer Building Saturday, September 9th for the fifth annual department tailgate.
A Beautiful Day for Football
Groups gathered around picnic tables, caught up in the shade and battled it out over flag football and cornhole. Dressed in green and white, tailgaters ranged from current students and professors to seasoned alumni.
“I haven’t seen my professors since graduation, and I wanted to come say hi and see some familiar faces,” said Callen Gavigan, who graduated from CSD in 2017 and now works as a speech pathologist at Beaumont Hospital. “It’s a gorgeous day.”
The department certainly has a tight-knit community. The individuals that make up CSD are a friendly and down-to-earth bunch. The staff is so friendly, in fact, that they even drew out their students on the weekend.
“I like seeing a lot of the professors outside the classroom,” said Kelly Jones, who recently graduated from Lyman Briggs with a minor in CSD and is now taking on the master’s program full-time. “It’s a reminder that they’re real people and have families too. I really like how approachable all the staff are and how accommodating everyone is.”
An Informal Job Fair
With returning alumni eager to see students succeed, the tailgate also functions as an informal job fair. Juliane Brinkman ’14, a speech language pathologist at Origami Brain Injury Rehabilitation Center, frequently takes on student interns from the department.
“Since I live locally, I work locally, and I have some students from the CSD program who come to intern with me,” said Brinkman. “It’s always nice to have the opportunity to see past interns, to meet potential future interns and just keep communication open with the faculty.”
Rosemarie Roberts ’85, who works at Hope Network Neuro Rehabilitation in East Lansing, has stayed in close touch with the department and also takes on student interns every semester.
“I’m impressed with the quality of the education that I see the students getting,” said Roberts. “They never let us down in terms of being able to handle the academic demands that we throw at them.”
Whether you’re just curious about the department or graduated decades ago, the annual tailgate is definitely a great way to network with professionals from the field.
By Kaitlin Dudlets