The final spring of Darcy Ratermann's St. Ambrose career was shaping up to be the best semester of a genuinely great SAU experience.
In February, the finance and management major from Knoxville, Ill., accepted a job offer in the Human Resource Development Program at the HNI Corp., in Muscatine, Iowa.
"I felt very relieved," she said. "I thought, ‘I've got a job. I can enjoy the rest of the semester.'"
Free from the job search stress that's as much a senior tradition as reserving a cap and gown, Darcy set her sights on wrapping up a Residence Life Resident Advisor job she loved; completing her rewarding participation in Campus Ministry; and, above all, finishing big with a great Dance Marathon Big Event in her role as co-executive director.
You know the rest of that story.
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the DM's Big Event - an annual anathema to the concept of social distancing - was canceled. Like all SAU students, Darcy finished her course work through distance-delivery learning. And to top it all off, HNI was forced to scrap that HR Development program as the economy took a COVID-caused downturn.
"I'm in the same boat as all the other graduates, now," she said. "Looking for a job."
Still, Darcy's attitude about it all is decidedly Ambrosian: Don't worry. Bee positive.
"I know I'll eventually find something once the market starts to get better - and it will come around," she said. "Obviously, it was disappointing to have this happen, but between my professors and the people in the Career Center, I have good people in my corner and that gives me confidence."
Darcy's confidence in her future job prospects grows from an association with the Career Center that began with resume training in her first year on campus. She set her sights early on procuring an internship that would help test knowledge she acquired in the classroom while also ensuring her chosen career path was the right one.
She learned Human Resource management was her passion during a junior year internship with the Marco Group International, an industrial equipment supplier based in Davenport. She's has continued to intern there through this spring.
"I have learned so much through my internship. My supervisor has done anything and everything she could to teach me about HR," Darcy said, noting some of the more rewarding lessons on the job came through the discovery of how much she learned in class. "It was really nice to be at my internship and think, ‘Oh, I learned this I the classroom.' That made me more excited to learn more."
As valuable as an SAU education can be, even we must concede there often is a bit more to be learned through the School of Hard Knocks. This spring's curriculum from that particular institution has been doctoral-level intense.
For Darcy and SAU students emotionally invested in the Dance Marathon mission to ease the burden for sick children and their families, there was much to be learned in weathering the loss of the Big Event.
Attending Dance Marathon as a first-year student opened Darcy's eyes to the true impact of SAU's mission of enriching live. For all of her many other great experiences here, leading her final Big Event along with co-executive director Haley Dullea figured to be the apex of Darcy's St. Ambrose career.
As it turns out, it was. And in ways - replete with lessons in adaptability and perspective - she never could have expected.
When 11 months of planning for that single day seemingly was lost to the COVID-19 crisis, Darcy, Haley and their executive committee put together a virtual Big Event on April 4. The DM team gathered together in various and creative digital ways and celebrated a year's worth of work that raised more than $200,000 for the Iowa Miracle Children's Network.
"I'm so proud of all the work we put in to host a virtual event," Darcy said, praising the work of the marketing committee led by SAU senior-to-be Carly Miller. "It was really cool to see the response from all of the students and especially our DM families. A lot of people get wrapped up in the Big Event and forget this is a year-long project.
"If one thing comes out of this whole pandemic for DM specifically, it is that it is more about the relationships and the people you get to know than it is that one big day."
Darcy also learned a lot about Ambrosian spirit - those elements of resilience, determination, creativity and, yes, positivity - over her final college semester.
"The response from the student body has been inspiring," she said. "Especially from the senior class . We have had so much taken away from us, and everyone still seems so positive and able to look toward the future. That has been really cool and I think that just attests to how well St. Ambrose prepares you to take on challenges in the world."
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