The second annual installment of Between the Tolls: Wofford Career Connections was held Jan. 29-30 at Wofford, bringing alumni professionals and leaders from across the country to campus to share insights with students.
Alumni working in fields like aviation, business, healthcare, finance, law, nonprofit fundraising, renewable resources and software development gave career advice and behind-the-scenes glimpses into their everyday lives. Some of the high-impact projects they discussed address complex topics like housing affordability, pediatric cancer, political funding and more.
“Between the Tolls is the epitome of what Wofford is all about, bringing together alumni and students to share, learn and grow,” says Curt McPhail ’96, executive director of the Career Center. “The connections and mentoring that happen at this event are so impactful and will no doubt lead to opportunities in the future.”
Students had one-on-one or small-group access to these alumni professionals through roundtable conversations, networking receptions and shared meals. Hannah Hyatt ’26, an accounting major and business economics minor from Greer, S.C., says the programming gave her space for deeper conversations, including a particularly illuminating one with Rebecca West ’86, CEO of Renewable Water Resources.
“She was a biology major at Wofford, and I’m an accounting major. We studied two very different things, but hearing her story of how she got where she is was super impactful,” Hyatt says. “I think networking with alumni from diverse fields was special. It opened new perspectives for me.”
There were also inspiring keynote speeches. The event began Thursday with one from Andre Caldwell ’05, BCA chief counsel for Spirit Aerosystems Integration, who gave students three ABCs to consider — attacking opportunities, believing and creating a supportive circle of people — and showed how they helped him boldly take on roles in the U.S. attorney’s office, in white-collar criminal defense and at Boeing.
Emily Plumb Hernandez ’96, a former U.S. diplomat who is now a freelance writer and authors the weekly newsletter There Must Be Some Mistake, spoke Friday about how to lead a big life and how to transition to a smaller life, if and when the time is right. She said her experience acting with Wofford Theatre under the late Dr. J.R. Gross informed her career as a diplomat around the globe, including stints in Namibia, Pakistan and Cyprus.
“My theatre education taught me so much: public speaking, thinking on your feet when you’re not confident in a situation, being able to fake it and seeking out mentors and learning from them,” she told students.
Steven Mungo ’81, executive chairman of Mungo Homes and a member of the Wofford College Board of Trustees, shared insights about leadership in a dinnertime discussion with moderator Marcus Isom ’15, attorney at Woolsley Morcom. Isom says the students weren’t the only ones who took lessons from the conversation.
“Steven challenged us to consider who we want to attend their funeral and framed that as a way to think about how we impact this world through our jobs, our lives, our service. That really struck me, and I’m still thinking about it,” says Isom.
Isom attended the inaugural Between the Tolls event last January. He says the event is rewarding for everyone involved and helps him stay connected to current students and be a mentor for them.
“There was a student I remembered seeing last year who I got to catch up with, and she brought her roommate who is on the pre-law track because she knew I’d be there to talk to her friend about the law field,” he says. “I appreciated how the students were so engaged and ready to meet people like that.”