Last Thursday evening we hosted the first ever Clark College Alumni Business Tour. The Clark College Foundation’s Alumni Association conceived the tour to highlight Penguin-owned and/or operated businesses in a variety of disciplines and emerging markets. This event was also about connecting with fellow Penguins - Clark College staff, alumni and students - to tell your “Clark Story”. On top of that, it coincided with National Engineers Week and several students from the engineering program at Clark attended to learn more about MacKay Sposito and the work we do.    

Since this was the first event of its type, the Alumni Association wasn’t sure how many people were going to show up. I got a little worried when Vivian from the Clark College Foundation told me that over 700 emails were sent out to fellow Penguins. I thought, that’s a lot of Penguins! And I was appreciating the fact that the Alumni Association had committed to bringing the refreshments.

Thankfully, we didn’t have hundreds of people show up. It was a much more manageable group of 15 consisting of alumni, staff, and current students. After some brief introductions I told my “Clark Story”. When I attended Clark back in the early 80’s (I know – it was a long time ago) I appreciated the smaller class sizes, great instructors, easy access, and lower cost.   

I gave a brief presentation to the group about MacKay Sposito, including our roots and evolution to what we are today. I talked about our market areas and shared several project photos of sites we have worked across the company and the region. For the size of the group, I fielded a lot of questions, mostly from the students. Many of them related to the career of engineering and how it evolves once you get out of school and into the workplace. 

After Q&A, we did a tour of the office and then had some social time to chat some more and partake of the treats the Alumni Association brought along. There was a big plate of cookies from the Clark College bakery. I definitely frequented that place when I was on campus and it was good to see (and taste) that story continue. 

To see additonal photos of the event, please visit the Clark College Alumni Facebook page.