Westfield State University has educated thousands of alumni in the past 175 years. At one time, the College graduated only teachers but now the University prepares students for hundreds of different careers. This series of stories on these pages takes a look at the work our alumni do in the community and gives credit to the transformative effect that the University had on their lives. Each tells a story of a personal experience while at Westfield State that motivated them to do meaningful work in the world.
From MTG to Consulting
Peg Drisko-Johnson ’88 spent the early years of her professional life in higher education positions, but found her true calling as director of volunteer services at the Pine Street Inn of Boston.
That role inspired her to launch a business that allows her to help others.
Established in 1969, the inn serves more than 1,600 homeless individuals daily and clocks over 60,000 hours of volunteer service per year.
“I feel like I grew up there,” Drisko-Johnson said of the “10 amazing years” she had there.
After the birth of her second child, Drisko-Johnson decided to “retire into private life.” However, Pine Street Inn still needed her.
Asked by her former boss to run the women’s theater program and some other development projects, Drisko-Johnson obliged by founding her own consulting firm that provides consulting services to small to medium-sized nonprofits.
“I have planned events, provided temporary leadership in development and provided donor management when there are mergers,” she says, explaining some of her services.
Drisko-Johnson graduated in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in English. She earned a master’s in education and in educational policy, research and administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1990.
As a freshman, Drisko-Johnson and a friend were cast in the chorus of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. From that time on, “I was enthralled and devoted to MTG,” she says.
“I met my closest lifelong friends in MTG, and the advisor, Ken Manzer, was a love. After Ken’s passing, Kathi Bradford became our advisor, and we are friends to this day,” she says.
Now the president of the MTG alumni club, Drisko-Johnson says, “My devotion to MTG is because it is a club that embraces everybody. You can be an athlete, a scholar, someone with no theater training, and you are welcomed. I think of it as Westfield State’s ‘community theater.’ Just because you don’t excel, you can still participate in an activity you enjoy,” she says.
“Westfield State provided me with such great support that I am now in a Ph.D. program and also an adjunct faculty member at Framingham State,” says Drisko-Johnson. “I graduated 25 years ago with the confidence and drive to grow professionally while always maintaining a strong connection with Westfield State through the Musical Theatre Guild. It is a relationship that will last forever.”
Habitat and History
Graduates of Westfield State usually have a unique and personal memory of their undergraduate days. For Antwain Hunter ’07 it was his Habitat for Humanity build in Lynchburg, Va.
Hunter, who usually worked through spring break, heard about this opportunity from Kathi Bradford, then serving as the associate director of Residential Life and coordinator of New Student and Parent Orientation.
“I was immediately interested in getting involved. It was a good way to use my time during spring break, doing something good for someone,” says Hunter, whose twin brother is Armand Hunter ’12.
Hunter joined in the fundraising to get the students to Virginia and arrived there to find nothing more than a large platform. “We learned how to use tools to re-enforce the foundation, put up supports and even walls,” says Hunter. The 12 to 15 University students on the build camped out in the basement of a little church that also served them food. The Westfield State team worked for the entire spring break and, “By the time we left, it really looked like a house,” says Hunter. “We even got to meet the people who were going to live in it.”
Originally from Leominster, Hunter earned a bachelor’s of history with a minor in multicultural and ethnic studies in 2007 and has continued on an academic path. After Westfield State, he immediately began studies at the University of Connecticut and earned a master’s degree in history in 2009.
He then moved to Pennsylvania to attend Pennsylvania State University and is currently a doctoral candidate in history.
Hunter recalls the incredibly supportive and encouraging faculty and staff at Westfield State that inspired him. “I can still remember discussions that started in the classroom but continued in the hallways well after class ended,” he says.
“I remember the incredibly supportive community of faculty and staff,” he adds, giving specific credit for his success to staff members Carlton Pickron and Joan Fuller; Michael Anciello, a History professor; and Nitza Hidalgo, a professor in Education.
Hunter is aspiring to be a history professor himself as he works on his Ph.D. “I am working on my dissertation that examines free and enslaved black peoples’ firearm use in Antebellum, North Carolina,” he says, noting he expects to defend it in the upcoming year.
“I am hoping I can teach at a small liberal arts college – someplace just like Westfield State,” he says. When asked if he has any preferences, Hunter says, “Actually, my dream would be to teach at Westfield State University.”
Back and Forth, from War to Westfield State
Armand Hunter ’12 defended freedom and protected dreams in the U.S. Army National Guard while simultaneously earning a bachelor’s degree.
His is a story of perseverance and mastering transitions.
In March of his senior year, Hunter signed up with the Guard. “I knew I wanted to go to college, so it made sense to serve my country while also financing my college education,” says Hunter, who came to Westfield State through the Urban Education summer bridge program.
“I loved Westfield State from the moment I arrived on campus,” says Hunter, whose twin brother is Antwain Hunter ’07. “I did one semester at Westfield State, and then was called to basic training and deployed to Iraq in 2004.”
Hunter returned to the University in 2005, went back to Iraq in 2006; returned to school in 2007, then was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009; and, upon his last return, completed his degree—with honors—in 2012.
Hunter’s experience was unique and also very challenging as he continually moved from battlefield to classroom. “The transitions were difficult. I had to adjust from being suspicious and alert in the field to being secure and relaxed in a classroom,” he says.
But these transitions didn’t keep Hunter from participating outside of the classroom. He was active on the Campus Activities Board and the Global Women’s History project, but he did have to play “catch-up” each time he returned.
“Especially at first, because life moves on while you’re gone,” he says. “I had to get re-oriented… and the students kept getting younger!”
Hunter also got to be part of Westfield State’s growth: new academics, new buildings, new sports. “There was always something new,” he says, “The new nursing program, downtown buildings and more diverse students.”
Deciding to make a career with the Guard, Hunter is currently in Springfield working as a battalion medical readiness non-commissioned officer. He is responsible for processing the medical status of injured soldiers to the brigade. He is also still on active duty status.
Hunter says, “Regardless of how many times I left and came back to Westfield State, I always felt like I was coming back home. I think that is because it’s so small. We have a sense of community.”
