By
Rebecca “Reba” Hatcher ’16 has never been shy about sharing her love for Boston College.
The New York City native and accounting and sociology major found the perfect outlet for her affection freshman year when she joined Boston College’s Student Admission Program (SAP), where she was given the opportunity to direct admissions tours for prospective students. After earning the reputation as one of BC’s best tour guides, she was named student tours coordinator as a rising junior, winning the respect of fellow student volunteers who praised her for her knowledge of BC, unwavering enthusiasm and people skills.
It is these qualities, administrators say, that resulted in her being named head coordinator of SAP, one of the University’s premier student leadership positions.
As head coordinator of SAP, Hatcher oversees all aspects of the 600-student volunteer organization, including Admitted Eagle Day, tour-guide training, volunteer student recruitment and governance of the SAP Council. She also leads the student guides who conduct tours for some 70,000 visitors annually, offering a unique opportunity to showcase the University to the next generation of students. It is a job Hatcher relishes, and one that elicits the best of her many talents.
“Reba has great instincts with people,” said Associate Director of Undergraduate Admission Chris O’Brien, who oversees SAP. “She speaks to all of our guests with an energy and authenticity that sets her apart from student guides they meet at other schools. She takes immense pride in her work, is always prepared and never gets flustered. She believes in our mission and lives it out in her everyday life.”
Added Director of Undergraduate Admission John L. Mahoney, “Reba has been a three-year star with the Student Admission Program. She is organized yet flexible, firm but composed. I think it is the balance she demonstrates that inspires her volunteers and makes them feel valued by the organization.”
Raised by a loving single mother on Manhattan’s upper West Side, Hatcher lost her mother unexpectedly to a post-surgical infection at the start of second-semester freshman year, which challenged her to summon the strength she needed to finish her collegiate journey alone.
“While I draw confidence from all of the leadership skills I have developed during my high school and college years, I attribute my sense of self to my mother’s relentless encouragement,” said Hatcher. “She taught me how to turn a no into a yes, while also teaching me how to be a compassionate person. She means absolutely everything to me, and I have made it through every difficult moment by knowing that she loved me.”
Hatcher says her mother’s enduring love motivates her to excel in all aspects of her BC experience, whether studying in the classroom, serving as vice president of BC’s Women in Business program, or leading SAP.
“I came to BC as a typical freshman and got involved in SAP and Women in Business,” said Hatcher. “But when my mother died and my advisor, Lonergan Center Associate Director Kerry Cronin, offered to drive me home to New York, and so many students, administrators and faculty reached out to provide support, I knew Boston College was a special place.
“It means a lot to me to publicly represent an institution that has played such a significant role in my life. We are taking care of the whole person here, and living up to our pledge to create men and women for others. I don’t know that other colleges and universities can say that.”
Hatcher credits faculty such as Cronin, and Carroll School of Management senior lecturers Amy La Combe and Tom Wesner, for being mentors who guided her through her business classes and encouraged her to pursue her second major in sociology. “The double major changed my outlook on the world,” said Hatcher. “It made me look at what I learned in class and ask, ‘What does it mean for the rest of the world?’”
It is an outlook, friends say, that sets Hatcher apart among other student leaders.
“Reba is an individual who truly loves the people in her life and would do anything for them,” said Bridgette McDermott ’15, the outgoing head coordinator of SAP. “She has experienced such loss at a young age, and her willingness to share her story helps to inspire authenticity among all of our student volunteers. She is a remarkable person who is the ideal choice to lead the SAP.”
This summer, in advance of her fall duties with SAP, Hatcher will intern in the advisory department at Ernst & Young in Boston, before spending the second half of the summer at the international accounting firm’s Melbourne office. She hopes these internships will enable her to choose between her career options of accounting and advising, as she prepares for her last year at Boston College.
“My years at BC have been an amazing experience,” said Hatcher. “I urge any student at Boston College to sit in on one of John Mahoney’s admission talks to hear about the privilege it is to be part of the one percent of people worldwide who attend an institution of higher learning. The privilege of attending Boston College puts you in a position to experience the love of BC and how its helps you to grow personally, spiritually and academically. I encourage all of my fellow students to find that here.”