By Jill Nawoyski (’17)
(left-to-right) Gabby Glenning (’16) and alumna Lauren Alessi (’12)
Senior Gabby Glenning (’16) and alumna Lauren Alessi (’12) first crossed paths five years ago; since then, their paths have not diverged.
While Alessi was coaching a summer field hockey camp, Glenning—who signed up for the camp—was preparing to enter her senior year of high school.
Alessi, who was a rising senior at Cabrini and working as a student ambassador in the Admissions Office, encouraged Glenning to check out the College. The rest is history.
Heeding Alessi’s advice, Glenning and her mom came to Cabrini for a tour, led by—you guessed it—Alessi. Glenning followed in Alessi’s footsteps, coming to Cabrini College to play field hockey and major in English. She also became a student ambassador.
“Whenever I give tours in the Admissions Office, I always tell people that my tour guide, an alum here, was the reason that I came.”
Alessi served many roles for Glenning, from coach to tour guide to mentor. Throughout her college journey, Glenning looked to the 2012 graduate for advice.
When Glenning went to Alessi for advice about a knee injury from field hockey, it came out in conversation that Glenning was interested in law school. And so, the connections between the two continue: Alessi had attended Widener Law School to become a prosecutor, and Glenning plans to attend law school for the same profession, but at Villanova University.
“Lauren is extremely smart, and I’ve seen her me in court being a prosecutor. I would never want to go up against her in court,” Glenning said.
“She knows what she’s doing and she has that type of persona that when she walks in a courtroom, it’s her courtroom. I would absolutely love to be that as an attorney.”
“Even as a little kid, I always knew that I wanted to be a prosecutor. I never had that usual ‘I want to be a fireman!’ moment,” Alessi, who is an assistant district attorney in the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, said.
“Cabrini definitely gave me that opportunity to be able to build the bridges that I needed to get to law school and eventually get my dream job.”
District Attorney Kevin Steele—Alessi’s boss—is an adjunct faculty member at Cabrini College, teaching Criminal Law. Both Alessi and Glenning, upon her mentor’s recommendation, took Steele’s class at Cabrini.
“Kevin is somebody that I really look up to and somebody that you can just tell means business. He is a phenomenal attorney and teacher and he sets the bar very high,” Alessi said. “I think that Kevin is a great person to have in the Cabrini community and a great person to work for as well.”
This summer, Glenning will intern with Steele at the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, where Alessi works.
“The Cabrini alumni base is so strong and it is great to now be that contact for students to reach out to for help and networking that I had when I was a student,” Alessi said.
What is Alessi’s biggest piece of advice for Glenning as she continues on to law school?
“Just keep working hard. If you know that you want something, then just do it, and do not stop until you get it. If you use your networks, tools, and everything that Cabrini has given you, then you’re going to be fine and you’ll be a phenomenal attorney.”
“I’ve said it to my parents so many times,” Glenning said, “that if I could be a tenth of the attorney that Lauren is, I would be so happy.”