Boston College Athletics
From Blocked Shots to Balance Sheets
August 30, 2019 | Women's Hockey, #ForBoston Files
Kate Annese didn't exactly have the typical college kid summer this year.
Summer vacation. The time of year when college students enjoy their most relaxing downtime. They go on vacation, sit on a beach, get tanned and otherwise just unwind and decompress from the end of the academic year. Some work to make a little extra money, but the main goal is always to just recharge over a couple of months' time before move-in day sneaks up on the calendar.
For a college athlete, summer vacation is the most important recovery time of the year. The rigorous combination of academics and athletics become solely about training, and workouts are designed for recovery and enhancing physical attributes. There is no formal practice, so it's incredibly more laid back. For hockey players, that's especially true because hockey rinks, especially in New England, might shut down to repair equipment before laying fresh ice down.
Kate Annese isn't the typical college athlete, though. The Boston College women's ice hockey senior spent her summer vacation working on her strength and conditioning while balancing a professional internship with Brown Brothers Harriman in Boston's Financial District.
"I'm a finance major, so I was really looking for something at a bank with a really good investment program," Annese said. "I wanted to be in Boston, and Brown Brothers had everything I was looking for."
Brown Brothers Harriman is a financial services firm operating in the private sector. Founded in Philadelphia in 1818, it's now a worldwide company servicing merchant banking and transatlantic trade. In this decade alone, BBH opened an American office in Denver along with international offices in Beijing, China and Krakow, Poland.
"I was in the summer internship program," Annese said. "The firm has three specific divisions: private banking, investor services, and investor management. I was in the investor services group, on the trades team, which is responsible for the integrity and recording of client trades.
"There were 30 interns in my class, which was really cool," he explained. "There were kids from all over the United States, including places like California. I didn't expect that at first. Everyone had really different backgrounds. There are so many different schools around the country, and it was just really cool to see."
It was a completely different viewpoint for a student-athlete's summer, but it's one that allowed Annese to explore her other passions. While she remains a part of the Boston College hockey team, she understood that post-graduate life might not revolve around sports, and it served as an opportunity to branch out to her potential future life.
"I've always had an interest in business," Annese said. "When I was applying to BC, I knew I wanted to be in the business school. I like math, and I like numbers. It drew me specifically to the finance world and the whole environment around stocks and investing."
That meant Annese spent her summer more like a working professional and less like other college students. There is humor in a college student working a 9-5 job in a chaotic environment like Downtown Boston, but there's also a serious side to it because she still needed to work out as a college athlete. That meant early-morning strength and conditioning workouts before heading into the office for a full day of work.
"It's definitely different," Annese said. "My strength and conditioning coaches were really good about working with me at 6:30 a.m. so I could make it to work on time. Working from 9-5 means I have to make sure to get that workout so I could rush to make it into work on time before going home."
The exposure, though, is priceless, and it will set up Annese for her life after this year. She received first hand involvement in how Boston College impacts Boston's landscape, and there's a networking side that's often discussed but never realized until it's experienced.
"People talk about the 'BC network,' but to actually see it in Boston is really awesome," she said. "There are people at Brown Brothers that went to BC, and they were really welcoming to me. Beyond that, I met a lot of BC people throughout the process of looking at internships and jobs. To see that network and how welcoming people are is really cool (for a college student)."
It's an exciting prospect, even if it's about to be partially placed back on the shelf. Move-in day signifies the end of those summer dreams, and for athletes, it's a return to practice training to get game ready for the season. This is Annese's last go with the Eagles, a team always expected to contend for national prominence. With 74 games on her career, it's an easy switch, to put those skates back on and get ready for the fast-approaching season.
"I think everyone on the team is just really excited this year," she said. "I'm excited because it's my last year. One good thing about BC is that this team, with our coaches, feels like a family. Everyone is just really excited to get back. It's a new year. We're going to go for it."
For a college athlete, summer vacation is the most important recovery time of the year. The rigorous combination of academics and athletics become solely about training, and workouts are designed for recovery and enhancing physical attributes. There is no formal practice, so it's incredibly more laid back. For hockey players, that's especially true because hockey rinks, especially in New England, might shut down to repair equipment before laying fresh ice down.
Kate Annese isn't the typical college athlete, though. The Boston College women's ice hockey senior spent her summer vacation working on her strength and conditioning while balancing a professional internship with Brown Brothers Harriman in Boston's Financial District.
"I'm a finance major, so I was really looking for something at a bank with a really good investment program," Annese said. "I wanted to be in Boston, and Brown Brothers had everything I was looking for."
Brown Brothers Harriman is a financial services firm operating in the private sector. Founded in Philadelphia in 1818, it's now a worldwide company servicing merchant banking and transatlantic trade. In this decade alone, BBH opened an American office in Denver along with international offices in Beijing, China and Krakow, Poland.
"I was in the summer internship program," Annese said. "The firm has three specific divisions: private banking, investor services, and investor management. I was in the investor services group, on the trades team, which is responsible for the integrity and recording of client trades.
"There were 30 interns in my class, which was really cool," he explained. "There were kids from all over the United States, including places like California. I didn't expect that at first. Everyone had really different backgrounds. There are so many different schools around the country, and it was just really cool to see."
It was a completely different viewpoint for a student-athlete's summer, but it's one that allowed Annese to explore her other passions. While she remains a part of the Boston College hockey team, she understood that post-graduate life might not revolve around sports, and it served as an opportunity to branch out to her potential future life.
"I've always had an interest in business," Annese said. "When I was applying to BC, I knew I wanted to be in the business school. I like math, and I like numbers. It drew me specifically to the finance world and the whole environment around stocks and investing."
That meant Annese spent her summer more like a working professional and less like other college students. There is humor in a college student working a 9-5 job in a chaotic environment like Downtown Boston, but there's also a serious side to it because she still needed to work out as a college athlete. That meant early-morning strength and conditioning workouts before heading into the office for a full day of work.
"It's definitely different," Annese said. "My strength and conditioning coaches were really good about working with me at 6:30 a.m. so I could make it to work on time. Working from 9-5 means I have to make sure to get that workout so I could rush to make it into work on time before going home."
The exposure, though, is priceless, and it will set up Annese for her life after this year. She received first hand involvement in how Boston College impacts Boston's landscape, and there's a networking side that's often discussed but never realized until it's experienced.
"People talk about the 'BC network,' but to actually see it in Boston is really awesome," she said. "There are people at Brown Brothers that went to BC, and they were really welcoming to me. Beyond that, I met a lot of BC people throughout the process of looking at internships and jobs. To see that network and how welcoming people are is really cool (for a college student)."
It's an exciting prospect, even if it's about to be partially placed back on the shelf. Move-in day signifies the end of those summer dreams, and for athletes, it's a return to practice training to get game ready for the season. This is Annese's last go with the Eagles, a team always expected to contend for national prominence. With 74 games on her career, it's an easy switch, to put those skates back on and get ready for the fast-approaching season.
"I think everyone on the team is just really excited this year," she said. "I'm excited because it's my last year. One good thing about BC is that this team, with our coaches, feels like a family. Everyone is just really excited to get back. It's a new year. We're going to go for it."
Players Mentioned
D/F
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