Siena College
08/09/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 08/09/2024 10:15
The Untold Story of... Cherisse Young '96
- My uncle, Joe Hogan, '67 HOF '89 was the Siena women's basketball head coach from 1979-1985. My uncle Joe produced a winning record in each of his six seasons at the helm and is one of five Siena basketball coaches, men's or women's, to produce three consecutive 20-win seasons. I grew up coming to the ARC to watch Siena basketball games and have an original gold foam #1 hand in my office that says "Go Rowdies"(the precursor to the Dog Pound).
- I started skiing at the age of six and skied almost every weekend in the winter growing up with my family at Jiminy Peak, Brodie Mountain or Gore Mountain. I still ski today, and try to ski at least one day a week in the winter.
- I have been a certified alpine and adaptive ski instructor for 28 years. I started teaching at a small ski area north of Westchester County called Big Birch at sixteen years old. After graduating Siena, I began teaching skiing at Windham Mountain to children and adults with disabilities.
- I am a two-time Burden Lake Lip Sync Champion - I'll leave that one without explanation.
- From almost three decades of event planning, I have come to realize my superpower is organization which has earned me the nickname Clipboard Sally (which is also the name of my pontoon boat!).
- I start each day with a large ice tea from Dunkin' Donuts. There is usually always a half drunk Dunkin' ice tea cup on my desk at any given time. I also LOVE a McDonald's Diet Coke and am always part of the occasional office McDonald's Diet Coke run (IYKYK)!
- I grew up on Lake George in the summers on my parents' sailboat at Castaway Marina. I was born in July 1974 and was on the boat in August 1974. So, I was practically born on the water which probably is the reason for my love of all things lakes, boats and water. I currently live on Burden Lake in Rensselaer County.
- My father was an altar boy at St. Mary's in Coxsackie, NY where Fr. Ben Kuhn often visited and served mass in the 1950s. My father always talks about the jokes Fr. Ben would tell the altar boys before mass.
- I was invited to a paralympic conference at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs where we stayed in the same housing as the athletes and ate in the cafeteria with them. When I was there the USA swim team was "in residence" and I ate lunch with Michael Phelps. He had five trays of food - for lunch!
- I have been a fundraiser for 28 years and have raised money for many things and causes, however, my most unusual was securing a grant for a mouse treadmill for Dr. Michael Jarcho of the Psychology Department at Siena. This was indeed a career highlight!.