As part of the celebration of 50 Years of Women at Nobles, long Assembly on October 22 featured a special panel of four distinguished graduates who returned to campus to reflect on the impact of athletics in their lives. Sydney Jones ’21, Sarah Falkson ’18, Ashley Ducharme ’18, and Brogan Cully ’07 shared how their experiences as student-athletes, at Nobles and beyond, shaped their confidence, resilience, and sense of purpose—lessons that continue to guide them well beyond the playing field.
Today, their careers reflect the lasting impact of Nobles athletics on leadership and life beyond school:
Brogan Cully ’07
Head of Fixed Income Product & Trading Solutions at Fidelity | Nobles varsity hockey & lacrosse; Dartmouth College lacrosse
Ashley Ducharme ’18
Head of Growth at Moolah Kicks | Nobles varsity volleyball & basketball; Brown University basketball
Sarah Falkson ’18
Founder of Robyn | Nobles varsity field hockey & tennis; Dartmouth College field hockey
Sydney Jones ’21
Assistant basketball coach at Stonehill College | Nobles varsity basketball & volleyball; Bowdoin College basketball
Earlier in life, I shied away from uncomfortable opportunities, but athletics and Nobles gave me a natural space to build experience being uncomfortable. Now, when I’m presented with an uncomfortable opportunity, I say yes before I can even think about shying away. Every time I get through one of these uncomfortable moments, I’m emboldened to do another.
Nobles is such an amazing place—You have a community around you of so many people who are inspired and excited about your success, and that community doesn’t go away when you graduate.
Nobles gave me the courage to take risks and lead in a community I continue to lean on today. From being a field hockey player turned Harvard engineer turned founder, I’ve learned the person who was the most critical of what I was pursuing wasn’t my friends, coaches, parents, or anyone else. It was myself. Whether you’re an athlete on the path to being ISL champs, an artist showcasing incredible work in Foster Gallery’s AP Art Show, shaping the future of women in STEM in Intro to Computer Science, or feel like you’re still just figuring it out, know that you are exactly where you should be, and you have an amazing team around you.
Nobles gives you the baseline of leadership that you can carry on throughout any part of your life, whether it’s in sports or outside of sports, so that you don’t need to start over when you get to that next place. I was able to take what I learned from [Coach] Alex [Gallagher] and the girls’ basketball team here and bring that to Bowdoin, be a leader there, like I was here, and do that every so often as I go into the workforce as well. Take all of those things you’re learning as an athlete right now and carry them on into the real world.
