Written by: Sarah Barr
As you know, Albertus Magnus College follows the Four Dominican Pillars of Study, Prayer, Community, and Service. But if there were to be a pillar for poise and dignity, Chelsea Sherrod ‘16 would have that pegged, too.
Now known to UConn Women’s Basketball fans as the sideline reporter on SNY, Chelsea has been a familiar member of the Falcon Family since she stepped foot on campus. She was recently welcomed back to be the presenter at the Fra Angelico Leadership and Service Luncheon.
Sr. Anne Kilbride fondly recalled how Chelsea was her work-study student. President Marc M. Camille highlighted Chelsea’s contributions on the basketball court and in the classroom. Then it was time for the proud Bridgeport, Connecticut native to take the stage, immediately endearing the crowd by saying, “Sr. Anne thinks I’m cool enough to be here.”
Cool. Calm. Caring. Committed. These are just some of the ways one could describe a woman who considered leadership sacred.
Chelsea believes that God has shown her leadership examples her whole life. As the second oldest of four children, she helped care for her younger siblings – knowing they were watching her and learning from her the entire time.
“Responsibility – that comes with leadership,” she explained to the packed crowd at the BCR in the award-winning Hubert Campus Center.
Her pastor always said at church, “Be a leader, not a follower,” meaning choose your friends wisely and make your own decisions aligned with your values – as your reputation matters.
Sports also played an important role in honing leadership skills. Chelsea played soccer starting at five years old. She always considered herself a competitive gamer – in a healthy way. But she had the added bonus of her father coaching her.
“I could see his leadership in a different capacity – he had to get the girls to buy in,” she said with her trademark smile as her father and many family members sat in the audience.
Here is where she learned that leaders must communicate, listen, be decisive, lead by example, and let their actions speak louder than their words.
“WE can do this,” she emphasized as she noted how she was always chosen as captain of the team growing up – an innate leader.
After overcoming injuries, she took to basketball at Albertus, where she added adaptability, critical thinking, empathy, creativity, reliability, and trust to her educational arsenal and to her court leadership toolkit.
But how could these skills carry over into a career – especially in sports where few role models were women and People of Color.
Here’s where Albertus mentorship came into play. Chelsea credits Professor Kristen DeCarli with empowering this student with the faith in herself to conduct student-athlete of the month interviews and earning an internship at WTNH-TV, the ABC affiliate in New Haven, Connecticut. Her experiential learning helped her land a job in Utica, New York, television market #169 – and now she’s in New York City – market #1.
Chelsea graciously answered a slew of questions from the audience – one from her former basketball coach, JR Fredette, who wondered who is more intimidating to interview after a loss, UConn Head Coach Geno Auriemma or Albertus Men’s Basketball Head Coach Mitch Oliver.
“It’s a thousand percent Coach Oliver!” she said with a big laugh and without hesitation.
As those tough interviews laid the foundation for her career in television sports, so did her holistic Albertus education, which she said helped her to become empathic, decisive, and a good listener. If she were to pick a pillar she embodies most, she would choose Service – because of its dual benefit.
“It’s benefitting the person, but you’re receiving [the gift] as well – it’s purposeful. You’re working towards something bigger than yourself,” she shared in a one-on-one conversation.
That naturally led to a question about the perception of women collaborating more strongly today than in generations before. Chelsea agreed that tokenism is and needs to be a thing of the past.
“There’s power in numbers. Perspective matters. It’s no longer just opening the door; it’s taking others through the door. There’s a mind shift,” she explained.
Chelsea was then reminded of something Carolyn Peck did. The current ESPN sportscaster is the first Black woman ever to win a NCAA Division I women’s basketball championship as Head Coach when she led Purdue University’s team. After the championship, the winning team gets to cut down the net. Peck sent a piece of her net to Dawn Staley – who has followed in her footsteps with two national championships at South Carolina. Staley continued the tradition.
As for who would get a piece of Chelsea’s net, the answer is clear: young journalists and her mentors.
“The net goes both ways,” she said with that ever-present poise and dignity.