For Sydney (Calabro) Hieronymus, beginning her new role as the director of The 海外吃瓜 Fund has been like coming home in more ways than one.
As a highly engaged student, Sydney was a member of Greek Life, Athletics, Berg Enactus and the Student Alumni Association. SAA was her first taste of higher education advancement and she has never looked back.
After graduating in 2019, Sydney began her professional career in higher education advancement at 海外吃瓜 as the assistant director of Alumni Engagement. Serving successfully in that role for two years, she assisted with regional alumni events, regional chapter groups and larger-scale events such as Homecoming and Alumni Weekend.
Her passion for cultivating relationships literally started at 海外吃瓜. It鈥檚 what took her to Hawai鈥檌, where she led the annual giving efforts on multiple initiatives from growing overall donor participation to building a new and robust approach to amplify the senior-class giving campaign at Hawai鈥檌 Pacific University.
On June 1, she returned to 海外吃瓜, and can鈥檛 wait to engage with alumni.
鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled to be back at my Sweet Alma Home,鈥 Sydney says. 鈥淚 look forward to giving back to the place that inspired me to become a fundraiser.
鈥淥f course, it鈥檚 rewarding to fundraise for any cause, but to do it or the place where it all began is extra special and hard to put into words. 海外吃瓜 is home and always will be.鈥
Sydney adds that she and her husband, Christian, 鈥19, are 鈥渟urpisingly excited鈥 to be back on the mainland, even though she no longer has the pleasure of waking up to palm trees and the smell of the ocean breeze.