Shooting Stars: Cusa program Champions Huntsvilles career opportunities

At the basketball championships of the Conference USA basketball occurred last week, but it was not a jump shot in the Braun Center.

Instead, Cusa started his “Stars of Tomorrow” program, an initiative of the league to combine sports and career development in order to offer top students at the member institutions the opportunity to deal with industry experts and explore career opportunities in Huntsville.

The hook: The 19 students from the 10 schools of the conference were not among the athletes who played mature in the provost arena of the VBC, but from the general student population.

The project is a collaboration between Cusa and the Chamber from Huntsville-Madison County. The selected students received paid trips to the city, where they toured at tour locations and met with representatives of local companies.

“I would say that we are very happy that this workforce development program with the chamber is available.

The tournament games were broadcast by ESPN+ and CBS Sports Network. The students were also honored during the half -time of the games.

“It is not the student athletes, but it is the students who are interested in the programs in the areas that Huntsville is so great,” added Macleod. So we are very grateful for the chamber and work on it (with Cusa) and look forward to seeing what happens. ''

The participating companies were Radiance Technologies, Mantech, BDO, Huntsville Hospital, Toc, Huntsville Utilities, Qualis and the US Army.

“The partnership with Cusa goes beyond the court, and the program of the stars of the morning enables us to tell the story of Huntsville in other ways,” said Joel Lamp, sports development manager for the Bureau des Huntsville/Madison County Convention and visitor Bureau.

Two students present – Bethany Chacon and Dereck Deagano by Louisiana Tech in the state of New Mexico – told the Huntsville Business Journal that they were impressed after their visit.

“I really liked it,” said Chacon, a major of the native and criminal judicial and mechanical engineering technology in Albuquerque, who graduated in May. It was absolutely different from what I expected, but in a really good way. I thought it was cool. One of my professors sometimes works there and she said it was up to – the aerospace industry – and she was not wrong. ''

Deagano, a major for Louisiana Tech in Ruston, was also surprised.

“I didn't know how big Huntsville was,” said Deagano, a native of New Orleans. You hear how it is the Rocket City, but I think I was in my head for so long as it was often in Huntsville. I think it was more like a shock. I thought it was a smaller city, closer to Ruston and Monroe (La.) Vibes. ''

Deagano added that despite Huntsville's newly discovered fame as the largest city in Alabama, he felt that his roots were dug into principles that were not seen in California, Seattle or Washington, DC, other cities that are known as technology hubs.

“There were many people who gave more family -oriented and small town atmosphere,” he said. Therefore, many stories heard of people who are in the defense industry, and they worked in Washington or in these very highly populated areas and wanted to come to Huntsville and be able to live family balancing life, I think I was much more influence on myself what I took away ('' '' ''

Annie Davis, talent director of the chamber, said: “Since these students take the next steps in their career, we would like to make sure that they see Huntsville as a promising start.

The program of the stars of the morning has certainly planted seeds.

“I liked Huntsville very much,” said Chacon.