The academic side of Kalamazoo College gave Alex Cadigan '19 the skills he needed to adapt, learn, and grow in his future endeavors.
His four years on the men's tennis team helped develop his teamwork skills and strengthened his organizational and time management abilities.
Tennis had one additional impact.
"The most valuable thing I gained was the friendships with my teammates and the induction into the vast alumni network," he said. "The memories and relationships I made will stay with me for life."
The former senior co-captain made the MIAA Academic Honor Roll and was an ITA Scholar-Athlete every season.
Cadigan will begin work as a software developer at Epic Systems in Verona, Wis., on Aug. 5.
Externships while at Kalamazoo College prepared him for his career, beginning his freshman year when he developed several programs to help in the analysis of biological data in a molecular genetics laboratory at University of Michigan.
The next summer, he was a research assistant in a parallel and high-performance computing lab at Western Michigan University and, after his junior year, he worked as a software developer intern at FutureDays Software.
His Senior Individualized Project, "Designing a Web Application at FutureDays Software," elaborated on work he did while completing his internship there.
"The College, specifically the Center for Career and Professional Development and Computer Science Department, was instrumental in helping me secure my software development job at Epic Systems," he said. "The computer science department gave me a strong technical background to expand on, and the CCPD helped connect me to various Kalamazoo College alumni."
Cadigan credits men's tennis coach Mark Riley, computer science professors Alyce Brady and Pam Cutter, and advisor Eric Barth as being especially influential during his years at Kalamazoo College.
Kalamazoo College prepares its graduates to better understand, live successfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world. The College's 1,467 students come from 39 states and 28 countries. Through the K-Plan, Kalamazoo College provides an individualized education that integrates rigorous academics with life-changing experiential learning opportunities, including study abroad, career internships and externships, civic engagement and social justice work. K's student-faculty ratio of 13-to-1 allows for small classes and personal attention to individual needs; student-faculty interaction goes beyond the classroom to include working together on research projects, college committees, and community projects. At Kalamazoo College, we do more in four years so students can do more in a lifetime.