STCC says cheers to 50 years with ‘Brews and BBQ’ fundraiser
STCC alumni Frank Quigley, left, and Dean Rohan inside Tree House Brewing Co.'s new facility.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Springfield Technical Community College will cap off its 50th anniversary celebration with a festive fundraiser featuring coveted beer from Tree House Brewing Co., savory barbecue and live music on the scenic grounds of the acclaimed artisan brewery’s new facility.
The event takes place Sunday, Oct. 22, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., rain or shine. A ticket includes two fresh Tree House Brewing Co. beers during the event, food from B.T.’s Smokehouse in Sturbridge and live music by Feel Good Drift. The band and food truck will be set up near a giant outdoor pavilion on the secluded property.
Attendees also can tour the nearly 55,000-square-foot facility and go home with a grab bag that includes one growler filled with beer, a Tree House Brewing Co. pint glass, sponsor merchandise and surprise takeaways. Tree House Brewing Co. has a strong connection to STCC: Co-founder Dean Rohan is an alumnus.
The fundraiser will benefit the STCC Foundation, which will use proceeds to support learning opportunities for students.
STCC will offer shuttle service for ticket-holders on a first-come, first-served basis from the campus to Charlton on the day of the event. Tree House will be closed to the public during the event.
“Tickets for STCC Brews and BBQ are available for staff, faculty, alumni, friends of STCC and the public at large,” said Rima Dael, executive director of Institutional Advancement and Foundation. “We are capping off 50 years of transforming lives at STCC. This is our way to celebrate our alumni.”
Many STCC graduates have enhanced the quality of life in Western Massachusetts through their entrepreneurial spirit or community involvement, Dael said.
“This event is a way to celebrate the achievements of our alumni, the connections they’ve made and the community they’ve built,” Dael said. “They’ve made an impact not just in Greater Springfield but throughout Massachusetts and even beyond. Tree House is a perfect example of that.”
I value my time at STCC as much as any life experience I have had in 51 years.STCC alumnus Dean Rohan, co-founder, Tree House Brewing Co.
In 2011, Rohan co-founded Tree House Brewing Co., which started attracting an obsessive following. Beer enthusiasts might drive hundreds of miles and endure long waits in line for a chance to take home cans or growlers filled with the day’s offering. Some bring dogs while others toss Frisbees while listening to live music.
Tree House beers – IPAs, ales and stouts with names such as Julius, Haze, Bright, Alter Ego and Double Shot – have garnered rave reviews. BeerAdvocate Magazine’s top-five rated beers include three heady offerings from Tree House Brewing Co.
Rohan said he applies lessons learned at STCC to the way he runs the business and treats employees and customers.
“I value my time at STCC as much as any life experience I have had in 51 years,” Rohan said. “The professors were exceptional and had a ‘real person’ feel to them. The campus itself is clean and well maintained, and the administration was always accessible.
“I felt like a member of a community, not a number,” Rohan added. “I find myself using these same skills when teaching new staff as well as customers here at Tree House Brewing Company.”
Dael said, “It’s wonderful to partner with someone like Dean. He’s a proud STCC alum who wants to share his success with us to benefit the STCC Foundation and students.”
Another alumnus, Franklin D. Quigley, serves on the STCC Board of Trustees and is president of the STCC Foundation Board of Directors. Quigley founded FD Quigley & Associates, a construction management company in Wilbraham. His company managed the development of the new Tree House Brewing Co. facility. (Watch this video to see Quigley describe details of STCC Brews and BBQ: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMz-W_klUQI).
The team Quigley assembled to work on the Tree House Brewing Co. construction project included STCC student intern Edward Jacques, who was an assistant project manager, and John Mangine, an Army veteran who graduated with a liberal arts/general studies degree from STCC in 2017. Mangine was a plumber’s assistant for Pinnacle Piping.
“As a proud alum and the first one in my family to go to college, STCC gave me the chance to learn real life practical knowledge that I still use in the field today,” Quigley said. “Like many of our students, what we learned afforded us the opportunity to step into jobs and be productive. I owe everything to STCC and my professors for educating me in the exciting field of civil engineering and construction, which ultimately led me to start my own firm and earn a contract to manage the construction of Tree House Brewing Company’s new facility.
“I strongly believe that STCC and community colleges today are the backbone of our higher educational system and are essential in helping nontraditional students achieve the dream,” Quigley said.
Those who like or share posts about the fundraiser on STCC or the STCC Foundation’s social media will have a chance to win free tickets. Winners will be announced Sept. 15. To purchase tickets to the fundraiser, visit www.stcc.edu/sb&b. Find more information about the event by visiting www.facebook/stccalumniandfoundation or call the STCC Foundation at (413) 755-4529.
About Springfield Technical Community College
Founded in 1967 and located on 35 acres of the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, STCC is a major resource for the economic vitality of Western Massachusetts. As the only technical community college in Massachusetts, STCC, a designated Hispanic Serving Institution and an Achieving the Dream Leader College, offers a variety of career programs unequalled in the state. STCC’s highly regarded transfer programs in business, engineering, liberal arts, science and technology continue to provide the most economical options for students pursuing a four-year degree. With an annual enrollment of more than 8,500 day, evening, weekend and online students, STCC is a vibrant campus rich in diversity.
For more information about STCC, visit www.stcc.edu. Follow us on Facebook (@SpringfieldTechnicalCommunityCollege) and Twitter (@S_T_C_C).
Media Contact:
Jim Danko, Coordinator of Media Relations, jdanko@stcc.edu, (413) 755-4812