March is Women’s History Month, and St. Francis College (SFC) is honoring the remarkable women in our community with a special event featuring members of the women’s basketball and soccer teams, as well as those in our new Women's Leadership Network mentoring program.

During the week of March 4, members of SFC’s Cabinet and Board of Trustees — as well as female leaders in the President’s Community Council — began a pilot program mentoring young women at the College, a process that will continue over the next two months. On March 29, all mentors and mentees will have the opportunity to come together for an in-person event open to all SFC female faculty, administrators, students and alumnae; please register here.

A welcome reception will be followed by a panel discussion featuring a group of women who made SFC especially proud this year: the women’s basketball and soccer teams. The evening's program is intended to motivate and inspire SFC young women to leverage the transferable skills that made it possible for our female student-athletes to be successful.

The women’s basketball team had a phenomenal season, securing their highest seed in program history for the Northeast Conference (NEC) Women's Basketball Tournament, where they finished as the number-two seed after winning a program-record 13 games in NEC play. The women’s soccer team secured a total of five wins and eight draws during their season, the best result since the program’s inception, in 2019.

Linda Cimino, head coach of the women’s basketball team, along with Terrier team captains Nevena Dimitrijevic and Khaleah Edwards, will discuss the team’s philosophy and structure, which were key to their winning ways. They will be joined by Justine Lombardi, head coach of the women’s soccer team, soccer team member Lauren Schultz and SFC board member Arkell Cox.

“We remind our student-athletes often that there is life beyond their college careers,” noted Cimino. “Experiencing the peaks and valleys of Division I basketball and learning how to work as a team with individuals from all walks of life are important on the court and in the workplace. I look forward to sharing the stage with Justine and our student-athletes for a conversation about empowering them for the future.”

Join us on Tuesday, March 29, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., for the first-ever Women’s Leadership Network panel discussion. The evening will begin with a reception in the Callahan Center, during which mentors and mentees in the pilot program will have the opportunity to speak with one another and network. The panel discussion — to be moderated by Cheryl Walker-Robertson, Chief Protocol Officer at Protocol International — will immediately follow in Founders Hall.