As six put-together, yet laid back-looking University of Massachusetts alumni took the stage on Thursday at 6:05 p.m., audience members quieted in anticipation. The communication graduates assembled to share their various success stories since their UMass years.

With the Herter auditorium nearly half-filled with students and scattered professors, Communication Department Chair Lisa Henderson kicked off the event by reading a poem by Mary Oliver. Next, Henderson introduced Career Night Coordinator and Communication professor Martin Norden, calling him the evening’s “Master of Ceremonies.” Norden explained the event title’s use of the word, “alumni/ae,” saying he wanted to be gender neutral. He also introduced the panelists individually, opening the stage for the presenters.

Jessica Atwood was the first alum to speak, looking relaxed in casual wear. A graduate in 1995, Atwood took part time graduate classes through UMass to complete her master’s degree in business administration. The primary focus of her career since achieving her degree has been to improve broadband access in Western Massachusetts.

In 2006, Atwood formed WesternMA Connect, Inc., a non-profit organization. At that time, one-third of the towns in Western Massachusetts had no cable, broadband or DSL, Atwood said. WesternMA Connect, Inc. has helped to change this, but, according to Atwood, some towns today still only get dial up service. Atwood was incredibly informative and fast-winded while sharing her journey, finishing up her blurb in under five minutes.

The second panelist, Liz Coffey, began by mentioning that she had coincidentally lived in the same dorm as Atwood. Coffey drew laughs from the crowd as she jokingly referred to it as the “hippy, slacker dorm.”

Coffey attributed the variety of film classes she took while attending UMass and the films she watched in her spare time to influencing her decision to pursue a career in film. After graduating from UMass, Coffey worked as a video store clerk, renting two or three movies a night and watching the VHS tapes into the wee morning hours. Through a friend, Coffey got a new job working as a projectionist at a movie theater. After 10 years of learning everything there is to know about film, Coffey decided to move on from projection. Through another friend, she got an internship in Rochester, N.Y. as a film preservationist.

Coffey found networking to be vital in her job quest, helping her find several film archive openings.

“I always thought it sounded unpleasant, like you have to make this false relationship with somebody,” she said. “In reality, it seemed like I would make friends with somebody, then they would get me a job.”

She has worked in Maine and Rhode Island, and is currently the Film Conservator for the Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge.

The next guest, Gregg de Domenico, claimed he was disappointed that film was not a major option of study when he attended UMass. His relative worked as a television producer and she advised him to work from the bottom up, so that’s exactly what de Domenico did. He walked up to the film set of “15 Minutes,” starring Robert De Niro and Edward Burns, and knew it was for him. After that, de Domenico worked as a projection assistant at a commercial production company in New York after hearing about the job from a friend at UMass.

From the start, de Domenico knew, “A: I didn’t want to work in a f***ing office, and B: I didn’t want to work 9 to 5.”

            Gathering experience while eventually working with star directors like Steven Soderbergh, de Domenico acquired the skills to work on projects of his own.

Recently, de Domenico has shot two feature-length documentaries in the past several years, saying, “You can’t get that kind of experience in film school, you can only get that on a set.”

Patrick Sabbs had a different state of mind than the previous panelists, wearing a suit and working traditional hours.

Sabbs started out by getting a television internship at WWLP 22 in Springfield. He worked “back when we still typed on typewriters. Anybody know what a typewriter is?” he jokingly asked the audience.

Sabbs reflected on his time as studio camera operator, classifying the position as hectic but a blast. After working his way up from assistant director to director, then weekend news director, Sabbs got married and laid down roots in the area. He went to law school, creating an unthinkable schedule for himself. He worked at the TV station from 3 p.m. until midnight, then studied until 3 a.m., and then woke up three hours later to walk the dog and drive to school. Sabbs had classes until 2:30 p.m., at which point he drove straight to work and repeated the process all over again.

After nearly driving himself crazy with this schedule, Sabbs’ hard work paid off. He now prosecutes sexual assault cases in the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office.

Sabbs claims that “I’m not a rich attorney, but I’m surrounded by rich attorneys.”

Following Sabbs was George G. Smith, who got the crowd’s attention by starting his speech with, “I think I’m the only corporate whore up here.” A Syracuse, N.Y. native, Smith decided to pack his bags and move out west. There he found a job at a small shoe company just starting out called Crocs.

“You all laugh, but you know someone that owns a pair,” said Smith. The social media enthusiast pitched the idea of online marketing to the shoe company, and, in little time, the online sales were wildly beating the rest of the company’s sales. At 26-years-old, Smith was in Crocs board meetings and being referred to by his boss as a “whipper snapper.”

Since then, Smith has worked as the digital strategist for Wal-Mart and is currently working for PepsiCo.

“I work a 9-to-5 job, but I also got to spend three weekends ago hanging out with Snoop Doggy Dogg,” gloated Smith.

Smith ended by affirming networking’s importance, saying, “The people you’re sitting next to now are probably going to be the most important people in your life, because they will connect you.”

The last of the panelists was the most recent to graduate, named the baby of the group by her fellow speakers. Hillary Tweed graduated in 2007 and found out she was accepted into the United States Peace Corps, scheduled to leave two months later in July. After three months of training in the West Indies, Tweed was placed in Dominica, a small island in the Caribbean.

While in Dominica, Tweed taught at a primary and secondary school in the village where she resided. She taught her students basic math skills and provided them with a source of motivation and therapy. Tweed also worked with the village council, analyzing functional community dynamics and dilemmas facing the village.

After returning to the U.S. in 2009, it took Tweed six months to get another job. Through her mother’s co-worker, she found a public policy job working as a lobbyist in Hartford, Conn.

After Norden thanked the panelists and audience for coming, a reception was held outside the auditorium with free Antonio’s pizza and Pepsi products. The panelists hung around to chat with inquisitive students and old professors, while others ran for the buffet line.

Kate Evans can be reached at [email protected].