Catching up with Katie Flippen '09

This week we heard from 2009 Generals Lax Alum about how she's enjoying post-college life just down the road in Charlottesville:

1.Where have you been living in your first full year as a W&L grad?

Katie: I have been living in Charlottesville, Va. for a year now, and I’m enjoying it so much. Charlottesville is a really laid back city, so it’s been super easy living here in terms of being close to family and friends, as well as low cost of living and minimal stress! I recently moved to the downtown mall (it’s a bricked in pedestrian mall with lots of boutique-type shops), and I love it. I walk to work, walk to the gym, and live around the corner from a small little grocery. I rarely drive my car, and I absolutely adore my new apartment and my roommate- UVA ’09 grad, Augusta, so I am very happy.
2. Where do you work?

Katie: Since August of last year I have been with SNL Financial (SNL). It is a sector-focused research firm, and I recently took a position in the client services/ account management group. I travel to our clients—mostly banks, in the case of my accounts— and maintain the SNL relationship. I do things like help our clients use SNL’s product to map their bank branches to figuring out how their competitors are raising capital. It’s been a steep learning curve, but a really fascinating time to be in the Financial Institutions space.

One fun fact: The director of my group at SNL, Ellen Ritsch Boyle, was a W&L lacrosse player! She graduated in 2001, and I have enjoyed talking with her when I catch her in the office… about the cold winter days on the practice fields and even how bummed we are about the fire at the Southern Inn. Don’t worry, I genuinely tried to get her to play in the Alumni game in October, but she just had her first child and not enough time on her hands… 3. Are you enjoying your job?

Katie: I love my job! I started as an analyst in the research group and have recently been able to transition into the account management position, which is so much better suited for my personality. I love going places and meeting new people. I have no sales goals, so I just basically travel around the Southeast (my regional assignment—Currently, I’m in Atlanta) and meet our clients to make sure that SNL services suit the client’s needs. It’s challenging trying to figure out how our products can be solutions to so many different people’s workflows!
4. Do you have any future career or school plans?

Katie: My future plans are continuing to work for SNL. I’m so happy with how things are going that I can see myself staying in this job for a number of years. It may be that I move to Richmond in a year or two to work on my MBA. But, at this point, I’m just speculating… 5. What do you like to do in your free time?

Katie: I’ve participated in some social sports leagues, like a sand volleyball team I was on this summer and my favorite weekly class at the gym: Body Pump (ha!) Charlottesville has so much to offer in terms of the outdoors, so I spend a lot of time at the Farmer’s market or wine tasting or hiking… I also travel a bunch to DC and back to Norfolk/ Virginia Beach to see family and friends. 6. What has been the biggest adjustment from life as a student to life after college?

Katie: Hmmm—for me, a big adjustment has been sticking to a routine. At W&L, I was so busy with so many different teams, clubs, and activities, that now my work and social life has been relatively steady and consistent. I felt like at W&L, a group meeting for a class would randomly crop up on a Tuesday night or a game got rescheduled due to bad weather on a Thursday afternoon… etc. Now, I enjoy having some more control of my schedule, but I miss my hectic, busy W&L days too. I keep myself very occupied by cooking dinner and going running with my roommate, going to concerts, and traveling. Now I can sleep in on Saturday mornings instead of rushing to the bus in the Liberty Hall parking lot!
7. What do you miss most about W&L and Lexington?

Katie: What don’t I miss about W&L and Lexington!?!? I really miss being outside for practice in the spring time and the beautiful campus and Blue Sky, Southern Inn, the Bistro…! I also resent Charlottesville / James River because you have to pay $20 to RENT a tube for hot days when you just need to float down the river! Charlottesville and Lexington are not too much differentexcept for size. Charlottesville is also a college town with UVA being right down the road, but it’s more urban. I’m still minutes from the mountains and great outdoors but have all of the benefits of living downtown!

8. Have you kept in touch with your fellow Generals Lax alums?

Katie: I keep in touch with everyone that I can! I am extremely excited to be back in a few short weeks for the Alumni game and am so eager to see everyone. I recently saw Colleen in early August, which was HUGE since she moved across the country… and it had been a year since I saw her last. I was lucky enough to catch up with the entire Evans family for the evening. I also made it up to DC for Kelsi’s birthday about a month ago, and we partied with J-Got, Britto, and Cav! Mr. and Mrs. Robinson as well as Kelsi’s older bro and sis were in town—so I felt like I was just back with my extended lacrosse family. I miss everyone tremendously!

Maddie McKaig '12 Gets a Cat!

As mentioned by Colleen in the last post, Junior Maddie McKaig has a new addition to her W&L home. Meet Mr. Waffles!
1.When and how did Mr. Waffles come into your life?

Maddie: Mr. Waffles came into my life about two weeks before school started. I have wanted a kitty for awhile now, and when I got surgery this summer I had a lot of time to sit around and research cats. I adopted him through a local organization in Annapolis that had rescued him from Baltimore when he was only a few days old.

2.How has your life changed since the new addition?

Maddie: Being a mother is not easy. Waffles likes to wake me up early by pouncing on my face. I have to feed him twice a day, clean the litter box once a day, clip his nails, give him medicine when he's sick, and make sure he has lots of fun play time. Of course, all this work is well worth it since Mr. Waffles brings so much joy to my life.

3.What kind of cat is he?

Maddie: Great question. I'm pretty sure he is an American short-hair orange tabby cat.

4.What is Mr. Waffles’ favorite activity?

Maddie: Well, my favorite Waffles activity is when he takes a nap on my window sill. His favorite activity is probably trying to catch his own tail or climb up the side of the couch.

5.Where did you get the inspiration for his name?

Maddie: I found his name when I was looking at online pet adoption websites and one of the cats was named Mr. Waffles and I fell in love. He of course has several nicknames including, Waffy, Raffles, and Mista.

6.What does he like to eat?

Maddie: Mr. Waffles is on a strict kitty food diet, except for when my roommate Emily decides to feed him some of her Wendy's frosty.

7.Who is his favorite babysitter?

Maddie: Waffles is very lucky to have several aunts and uncles to look after him. I think Alli is actually his favorite though because she really loves him just as much as I do. We're starting to think that she may be mildly allergic to him, but this never stops her from coming over and playing with him.

8.Can we expect him on the sidelines at Generals Women’s Lax games?

Maddie: I would love to have him on the sidelines! He is an indoor cat, so he might get a little spooked but maybe when he's older I'll let Emily bring him to a game.

Catching up with Colleen Evans '09

Today marks the first day of Fall Ball and we couldn't be more pumped! We have an awesome group of talented student-athletes who are ready to take Generals lacrosse to a new level in 2010-2011.

This week we talked to 2009 Generals Lax Alum Colleen Evans and found out how her first full year has been living in Austin, TX:

1. How are you liking Austin after spending a full year there?
Colleen: I cannot believe that it’s been a year already (we moved down end of last August) but Austin definitely feels like home. My roommate Hillary Prey (fellow ’09 alum) and I have definitely enjoyed our apartment, the friends we’ve made, and the mild climate! Austin’s a great city because it’s very reasonable in terms of the cost of living and there’s so much going on all the time. It’s a really green city and everyone is very health conscious which I really like. Most importantly, it’s football season again, which is possibly the most fun time of the year since there’s an entire state that stops what it’s doing on UT gamedays . Home games here in Austin are so fun and the entire city tailgates and wears burnt orange. Since I attended such a small school I’m definitely taking advantage of the big school vibe UT provides.
2. Where are you working?
Colleen: Right now I’m working at Marsh, a division of Marsh & McLennan, a risk management/ insurance brokerage firm. I deal primarily with our corporate clients evidencing their insurance policies for 3rd party vendors (their clients). It’s been a huge learning curve since I essentially knew nothing about insurance before my training. It’s helped me understand so much about the way that major corporations conduct business and since we work in teams (mine is comprised of 8 people) it makes it fun. We have lots of competitions and I like that I’m busy all day every day. 3. Do you have any future career/school plans?
Colleen: While I’ve definitely learned a lot in this job, my ultimate goal is to merge by background in athletics and my degree in journalism to work in sports PR/marketing. Right now I don’t foresee graduate school in my immediate future, but having UT here and hearing about all their programs definitely has made me consider my options. But for the time being, I’m trying to evaluate exactly what I want to do and the best way to go about it, and we’ll see where I end up!
4. Have you taken up any hobbies since graduating?
Colleen: Graduating and suddenly having so much time without school work or lacrosse definitely inspired me to find ways to spend my free time. A bunch of my friends and I joined a softball league last spring, which taught me that catching a ball with a glove is a LOT harder than catching one with a lacrosse stick. I wouldn’t say it was the best showcase of my skills, but it was really fun to play recreationally with all my friends. Since Austin is the live music capital of the world, we take in as many (free) shows as possible. Over the summer they have Blues on the Green, which is a huge outdoor concert series in Zilker Park, where Austin City Limits is held so it’s great to take advantage of that. One of my friends here started doing Improv comedy with a local group so we like to go see him sometimes; it’s really entertaining and I’d never seen Improv before. Lake Travis, which is a short drive from Austin, is a gorgeous lake and we try to go out there whenever we can. A couple of my friends have boats so we wakeboard and tube and swim whenever possible. On Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day there are party barges. The sunsets out there are also incredible. 5. What’s the biggest difference between living in Lexington and living in Austin?
Colleen: The biggest difference for me was permanently relocating to a large city for the first time. While I studied abroad and spent time in big cities during internships, it’s much different when you make plans to stay long term. Having an actual commute and sitting in stop and go traffic on the way home is something I never dealt with in Lexington. Even after a year I still forget that I can get anything I need here in 10 minutes. Whether it’s things like Chick-fil-a, going to Target or catching a last-minute free show on a Wednesday half a mile from my apartment, (all of which I used to have to travel to Roanoke for), I’ve definitely gotten used to the amenities of a big city.
As much as Austin and Lexington are different, I have found similarities. I love college towns, and growing up in Lexington and having W&L and VMI so close was really enjoyable. In the same way, having UT here is a lot of fun…there’s always so much going on near the university and I love how much the whole city rallies around the college. There’s a beautiful area called the Greenbelt not far from where I live that reminds me so much of Panther Falls and we love to go hiking and swimming there. Lady Bird Lake has 10 miles of trails perfect for running and is reminiscent of the Chessie Trail.

6. What do you miss most about W&L?
Colleen: I miss a lot about W&L. For me a lot of memories I have of the school are tied in with my childhood growing up in Lexington. I miss my off campus house and roommates as much as I miss running around the law school in middle school waiting for my mom to get off work. I definitely do miss lacrosse the most. Having a reason to work the hardest you ever will and being able do it with my closest friends is not something you can duplicate after college. Thankfully, two of my best friends here played soccer for Richmond, so we can all reminisce together about missing college sports even though we had different experiences.
7. Have you kept in touch with your fellow Generals Lax alums?
Colleen: I have kept in touch with quite a few alums! I was able to see Kelsi, J-Got, Ellie and Britten over last Christmas break and I was recently in Lexington for a few day this summer and Flip came and I got to see her for the first time in a year (which is crazy!). Recently I saw pictures of Maddie’s new kitten, Mr. Waffles (so jealous) and I call my teammates when I can, and we do a lot of texting. I’m always encouraging people to come visit me in Texas and would love to host any alums who can make the trip. Whenever I head back east I do my best to see as many lax alums as possible. 8. Anything else you’d like Generals’ fans, parents or players to know?
Colleen: I highly recommend taking a chance and moving somewhere you know nothing about if you’re feeling restless and unsure after graduation. I knew very little about Austin and had only been once before I moved but making a big change is a lot of fun. Take a chance; you have your whole life to figure out what you want to do!