Alumna Christina (Vosters) Foley said she believes in giving back to the Penn State Women's Golf Team—a team that has provided her with such a strong sense of gratitude for her Penn State experience.
Foley has done exactly that through Varsity 'S' Club—a program consisting of former University Park varsity student-athletes, managers, mascots, cheerleaders and dance team members—which fosters a sense of community and engagement across generations.
Foley said giving back to the teams is important to help influence the future of a team that one wants to succeed. There is also a sense of responsibility a former athlete has to give their team the support they need.
"I give back and I want to contribute, whether its monetarily or through Varsity 'S' engagement, because I have a strong sense of gratitude for the experience that I had," Foley said. "I think it's really important to show that."
Foley started golfing at the age of 14 and was the only girl on an all-boys team in middle school and in high school, until she was able to recruit other girls onto the team. Her ability to recruit those to support and love golf would be a relevant theme for her as a current, supportive alumna.
When she was recruited by Penn State, Foley said she "absolutely knew" that was the place she wanted to be. Having a consistent coach was something she was looking for.
"Coach St. Pierre was just awesome throughout my tenure while I was at Penn State," Foley said. "Coach Andy came on board, and talk about a dynamic duo—three years with both of them—it was just incredible."
After Foley graduated from Penn State in 2014 with a degree in economics, she played in the LPGA Symetra Tour for about two years—as playing professionally was always a goal of hers.
Foley, now a current surgical sales executive at KARL STORZ Endoscopy in the Central Pennsylvania Region, has a history of fundraising for the Blue & White. When she decided her time traveling around the country with the LPGA was coming to an end, she accepted a position at Penn State as Assistant Director of Annual Leadership Gifts.
Through that position, Foley was able to connect with other Penn State alumni for annual gift fundraising. While Foley said that position was a "great steppingstone" to her current occupation, it also helped pave the path for her work with Varsity 'S.'
Foley's work with Varsity 'S' started about five years ago, when Women's Golf Coach, Denise St. Pierre, reached out for her to be the captain of alumni engagement. It was a fitting role for Foley, since she was already working at the university for fundraising.
The first major project Foley led was fundraising a transportation van for the girls' golf team for tournaments.
"I would say that's our biggest accomplishment, in terms of having a milestone project that was achieved while I was at Varsity 'S,' and something the golf team really needed," Foley said.
As she reflected on her tenure in Happy Valley, Foley said her team would use white rental vans to drive to tournaments—sometimes 13 to 18 hours away. When her team would see other schools with "incredible" transportation vans, she said it seemed excessive.
Now, she has seen how vital a transportation van is for a team, especially to be able to travel comfortably to-and-from tournaments and back to the classrooms. With the new van, team members were able to work on schoolwork on the road with more ease.
"We were able to fundraise for that in my first year and a half, and we've gotten really great reviews of having that value of that travel van for the team," Foley said. "I think it honestly helps with their performance."
While the former golfer's focus is fundraising for the golf team, alumni engagement and awareness are also key factors to benefit the current team and maintaining alumni relations.
At the beginning of each year, according to Foley, her and Coach St. Pierre discuss what is most important for the team to have, and then a brainstorm of different ways to fundraise those priorities would follow.
Foley said she believes one of the most important ways the women's golf team fosters the alumni engagement is through coach St. Pierre and assistant coach Andrew Breon's detailed, honest updates and stories about the team and athletes on social media platforms and through emails to alumni.
"I think it's important for the alumni, from an engagement standpoint, to know the good and the bad," Foley said.
According to Foley, she knows how important the student-alumni connection is because of her own experience.
"We were even playing in Ireland, and we had a Penn State alumnus come out to watch us," Foley said. "We were just so floored."
"Only the breadth of Penn Staters is just unbelievable," Foley said.
Not only would Penn State golf fans and alumni travel great lengths to cheer the team on at tournaments, a lot of alumni and friends of the women's golf program were scholarship donors. The donors would also continue to stay heavily involved with the team and their sponsors.
"You're meeting a resource for life, but they are also really good people, and no matter what, they just want to see you succeed and do the best you can," Foley said.
One of the most memorable experiences Foley said she had while on the golf team was the close bond her team had—and still has.
"We still are really good friends," Foley said. "Five years later, we are still going to each other's weddings. We're still reaching out and talking."
"And that's, more than anything, really special."
While Foley has been engaging with other alumni, she also tries to get her team heavily involved.
"We'll do the best we can, but probably the most impactful thing we can do is starting now," Foley said. "Moving forward, we really do engage the team, so that 20 years from now, all of those teams are engaged. If we can do a better job at starting the engagement process right now, then I think, going forward, it's only going to improve from a Varsity 'S' standpoint."
Foley's four years at Penn State has impacted her in all different aspects of her careers. A connecting factor is the ability to handle pressure—a skill she learned from the game of golf.
Learning how to have strong work ethic and people skills have also been beneficial as a medical device sales representative.
"I absolutely love what I do now," Foley said. "Its high pressure. It's incredibly rewarding. The fact that I am able to do something where I'm impacting, quite literally, the care of a patient in a hospital or surgical center is amazing."
"There are so many transferrable skills that I've taken from my time at Penn State," Foley said.
Even though Foley said she misses her time at Penn State, she is happy that she always can stay connected through Varsity 'S.'
"I've enjoyed staying involved with the team," Foley said. "I love connecting with alumni, and anything I can do to promote a team, a sport and a school that I've really cherished and appreciated. I'm glad to do that any day."
