Hannah Corrigan prefers to get in the game rather than watch from the sideline.

She's always been an active member of the Mitchell College community, whether that means playing on the soccer and lacrosse teams, being involved with a school organization or doing volunteer work.

She regularly steps up to assume leadership responsibilities.

As a senior, Corrigan will get a chance to make an impact on the conference level. She was recently named president of the New England Collegiate Conference's Student Athlete Advisory Committee for the 2020-21 academic year.

"I was definitely overjoyed and surprised as well," Corrigan said of her reaction to the news.

It didn't surprise Marc Davis, her soccer coach.

"Hannah is fantastic on the field, off the field, in the classroom and with other people," Davis said. "She's super busy in the sense that she always wants to be involved and to help. It was no great surprise that she was selected as (NECC SAAC) president.

"Obviously, we're super proud of her."

Given her background, Corrigan seems like the perfect person for the important conference leadership role.

Corrigan learned about the importance of community service and using her platform as a student-athlete to make a positive impact on others while attending high school at Bellows Free Academy in Fairfax, Vermont.

She carried over her commitment to Mitchell.

"Doing those things in high school, it brought me a sense that you can actually have an impact on the world whether it's a little thing or not," Corrigan said. "Continuing that in college was just something that I knew that I wanted to do. Me being a sports management major, it also has opened a lot of doors because things that we do are very similar to my major and it's something that I'm definitely considering doing in the future."

As a freshman, Corrigan joined the school's Student Athlete Advisory Committee. She helped organize a game night that helped bring the Mitchell community closer together. She's been involved with the Special Olympics, helping the school host a basketball tournament.

By junior year, she became co-president of Mitchell's SAAC and attended conference meetings.

Last May, she applied for the job as NECC SAAC president's position.

"The reason why I wanted to take the next step is I felt this was a position where I could thrive even more and honestly get more connections and expand myself as a person even farther," Corrigan said.

Davis believes Corrigan will excel in her new position.

"She's very diligent," Davis said. "She's very clever. She's very organized. When she is interested in something, she brings all of her passion to that role. She has a good perspective as well. She can see both sides of the argument. She knows how to debate well.

"She just cares for other people a little bit more than most students. That's why she was made our captain, it's why she's become president within Mitchell and it's why she's president for the conference, too."

As president, Corrigan will attend monthly meetings. She'll have input on conference matters involving student-athletes.

It's been a challenging time with colleges having both spring and fall seasons cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"As of right now, our biggest thing for our conference is just to make sure that athletes still feel involved in a way that's similar if not in relation to what they felt being a full time student athlete," Corrigan said. "But there also are things that we still hope we can do."

Her-post graduation plans include pursuing a master's degree and securing an internship in the sports management field.

She's grateful for the opportunities that she's had at Mitchell.

"The fact that I went to a small school made me be able to flourish and have so many opportunities open up for me whether it was self-driven and helped along the way within the athletic department with my advisors or my peers," Corrigan said. "Also, my coaches have really helped as well."

While her senior year will be different than she'd hoped it would be, Corrigan is focusing on the positives.

She's thrilled to be back on campus with her classmates and soccer teammates for the first time since March. She feels fortunate to be practicing on the new athletic complex turf field.

And she can't wait to get started in her new role as president of the NECC's Student Athlete Advisory Committee.

"I can't really complain," Corrigan said. "We're back at school, so I'm really happy to be here. I was more excited to see my team than anything because of the fact that we haven't seen each other in a while and just getting back into the swing of things and kind of like normalcy."

"It's definitely different. ... We're making due with what we have."

g.keefe@theday.com