Flyers for Life
Finding familiar red and blue in Chicago
By Kelly Hewitt McCabe ‘89
Author bio
City: Chicago
Profession: Advertising sales
Favorite UD home: Marycrest
UD Role: I enjoy collaborating with the Chicago Strategic Initiatives Committee because we can help create a more cohesive professional network of UD alumni in Chicago and help graduates navigate that bridge between college and their first job.
The older I get, the more I realize how important the four years at Dayton were to me. The Chicago Alumni Community was something I didn’t know existed when I graduated, but it would have been nice for me to have that person to help guide me on my career path.
As a thankful alum and parent to my son, John, a first-year discover arts student, I want to be that person for others. Because of this, I choose to stay involved through the Alumni Mentoring Program and Chicago Alumni Community.
I’ve been to four or five networking events in the last year and I am blown away by our alumni, faculty and students each time.
I attended the Chicago networking event in October, and it was an eye-opening experience to the deep commitment UD has to research and innovation. UD is known for so much, but when you start digging into certain areas, you realize it's more than you know.
When students like Maggie Jewett and Sarah Miller, who discussed their research projects at the event, speak to a room full of people, I see how much they’ve accomplished in such a short period of time — it makes me really proud to be a UD alumna.
Although my son is probably not going to go down the research path, events such as this are the perfect size for me to ask questions about how students become aware of and can enroll in programs that work for them. As I left the Chicago networking event, I was positive my son is in the right place and hopeful in terms of being able to navigate him through these four years.
UD is a special place. I look forward to staying involved in upcoming events, such as representing my company at the Chicago Career Fair. I am so thankful I found our alumni network, which brings a touch of Flyer red and blue to Chicago.
