Alumni Spotlights are Q&A's with former Brandeis student-athletes, across a myriad of disciplines, as they reflect on their Brandeis experience and how it has shaped their lives today. Read more spotlight features here.
Name: Casey Ducinski '13
Job Title: Implementation Specialist / Implementation-Product Team Liaison
Organization: Wordstream
A native of Duxbury, Massachusetts, Casey Ducinski was a four-year member of the softball team, playing a bit of outfield as a first-year before moving into the circle as a pitcher as a sophomore, when she threw a five-inning no-hitter. Casey helped the Judges reach the NCAA tournament as a rookie and the ECAC Division III tournament in each of the next three campaigns.
After graduating from Brandeis in 2013 with bachelor’s degrees in business, economics and psychology, Casey received her master’s degree in Digital Marketing and Design from Brandeis’s Rabb School for Graduate and Professional Studies (GPS) in 2019. She spent five years working in medical information technology, helping hospitals and other health care organizations implement software solutions. Since 2018, Casey has been an implementation specialist at the digital marketing firm Wordstream in Boston, where she helps small-to-medium-size businesses optimize digital marketing campaigns so they can continue to grow their online presence.
Describe your overall experience as a student-athlete. What does it mean to you now/what did it mean to you while you were an undergraduate?
My time at Brandeis was amazing and I could not have asked for anything more. I received a top tier education while I also played in arguably the most competitive Division 3 conference. Both as an undergraduate and now as an alum, I was and am very proud to be a part of the Brandeis community.
How did your time as a student and student-athlete at Brandeis prepare you for your career and life after college?
My time as a student-athlete prepared me for what it’s like to deal with failure (we can’t grow as individuals if we always succeed), how to execute under time pressure, how to work collaboratively when there are opposing thoughts and opinions, and for what true work ethic means. As a student-athlete, you have to juggle twice as much as a typical undergraduate. You are pulling late nights in your dorm room to get ahead in classes because you will be on the road all weekend. You are waking up at 5:30am on a Monday for yoga practice, just to then come back to the gym at night for an off-season lifting session. School breaks are essentially non-existent; either you are in season practicing twice a day or following the off-season programming. My time at Brandeis as a student-athlete prepared me in ways that I know I otherwise would not have been.
Do you have any advice for current or future Brandeis Student-Athletes?
Cherish the time, because it goes so fast. Soak up every winning moment with your teammates. Keep your mind focused on the bigger picture of why you are a student-athlete - because you love the sport - and ignore the noise. I wish I spent less time focused on the smaller things and more time simply loving the sport. College athletes put too much pressure on themselves because they are playing amongst the best of the best. You are more prepared for life in the real world than you realize, so just trust yourself and have fun doing what you love!
What do you miss most about your Brandeis experience?
Everything! I miss the endless “sleepover” with my roommate of four years. I miss the library sessions with my teammates during which 10% of school work was accomplished. I miss study hall during which 5% of school was accomplished, sorry Coach! I miss walking into the Gosman Center feeling like I just stepped into my home away from home as the staff greeted me. I miss working the basketball games, soccer, volleyball, and even as the building manager, you name it! But most of all, I miss softball....Every. Single. Day. My love for the sport will never go away, and that says a lot about Brandeis Athletics. Just being a student-athlete in general was so fun. The Brandeis athletics community is so uniquely tight-knit that it really provides a sense of community, something I will always remember.
Do you still keep in touch with any of your former Brandeis teammates?
I made incredible friendships at Brandeis, both within and outside of my team. I keep in touch with a few of my teammates who I was closest with during my time at Brandeis. Two of my best friends to this day - shoutout to Lauren Berens and Nikki Cote - are both Brandeis athletes. Nikki and I actually were fellow pitchers on the team but I took her under her wing when she was a freshman and our friendship just grew from there.
What personal or professional accomplishment(s) are you most proud of since you graduated?
After much internal debate after graduating, I finally committed to earning a Master’s degree from none other than Brandeis Graduate Professional Studies (GPS). It was a long ~22 months, as I was traveling 30+ weeks of the year for work, but I did it. I earned a MS in Digital Marketing and Design from Brandeis GPS and learned concepts in that time that have helped me to pursue a career in what I am truly passionate about.