Sydney Southern ’10 – An Inspirational Crusader!

The headline in a local newspaper last month read, “Running Boston is a Full-Circle Moment for Southern”. The front-page feature was the moving and inspirational story of Sydney Southern, a 2010 Fenwick graduate. In 2013, while completing her senior year at Bentley University, Sydney began to experience significant hip pain, making it very difficult for her to walk, never mind run. After a series of tests at MGH, it was determined Sydney had an aggressive giant cell tumor that was eating away her left femur. Once the diagnosis was made, doctors quickly performed surgery, scraping the tumor out, filling the bone with cement, and reinforcing it with rods and screws.

After a decade of physical therapy and low impact exercise, Sydney was cleared to start running. With that good news, she began running in local Turkey Trots, and she even a half marathon in Philadelphia. She was not done there! She wanted to run the Boston Marathon, helping to raise funds in support of the MGH doctors and nurses who got her to where she is today. We are thrilled to share she did just that! Sydney finished the recent Boston Marathon on April 20 with a time of 5:11:37, raising more than $15,000 for the hospital!

Sydney drew on her life experience to make it through the many ups and downs of her recovery. She told us, “My educational experience at Fenwick truly helped me get through it all. Fenwick prepared me to be resilient and to meet challenges head on. I used these skills each and every day during my recovery.”

Today, Sydney is a thriving, successful, and respected professional, enjoying her work in the advertising industry. After earning both her undergraduate and graduate degrees at Bentley University, Sydney pursued a career in advertising, first working at Epsilon and Hill Holliday, and today at Arnold Advertising as a Marketing Director, overseeing key national accounts like Sam’s Club, Chewy, and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

When asked about her favorite memory at Fenwick, Sydney told us that all her sports experiences were wonderful and impactful. As a three-sport athlete playing soccer, basketball, and softball, she has so many great memories. “I loved being part of a team. I loved the bus rides, the pasta parties, and the lifelong friends I made,” described Sydney. “I also loved coming back to help coach the basketball program and winning the 2016 State Championship!”

“I learned so much at Fenwick that helps me in my job today,” Sydney told us. “Learning to work with all types of people, reaching common goals, having empathy, accountability, and discipline — these were all incredibly important things I gained while at Fenwick. The school also taught me how to lead, and more importantly, how to work as part of a team. I learned to know what my role is and do what is needed in support of the greater good.”

In concluding our interview with Sydney, we asked her to share a few words of advice for today’s Fenwick students, and Sydney quickly replied, “I love this question! Be sure to try the hard things, the things that might scare you, because it is ok to fail and to learn from those experiences. That’s where growth happens.”

Thank you, Sydney, for sharing your story and journey with us. You inspire us all in so many ways!