Keri Clougherty Lends a Hand On and Off the Boston College Campus

Keri Clougherty will make time.

The senior Boston College defender has her Google calendar planned down to the minute. As a college athlete she’s busy with schoolwork, training, and games, so she has a lot on her plate. All of that hasn’t stopped her from making time to volunteer in her community, though. When she gets things done early, she prioritizes lending a hand to those around her. 

Clougherty is the president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, where she provides a voice for student-athletes on campus. She’s volunteered at a food pantry, works with organizations like Best Buddies and Newton Athletes Unlimited, and has Thursdays available for skates with special needs participants. She is the third-ever finalist from Boston College for the Hockey Humanitarian Award – an award presented to a student-athlete in college hockey who makes significant contributions to their team and their community through leadership in volunteerism. 

Clougherty’s desire to help others came from a place of wanting to build connections and give back to a place that has given her so much.

“I'm very relationship-oriented. I'm really outgoing and kind of like to get involved in anything that I can,” she told The Ice Garden. “The more connections you have, the more people you're impacting, and then also I'm being impacted greatly from the people that I've worked with. I have learned way more than I could ever show them or teach them.”

Clougherty credits her parents' involvement in the surrounding communities as the driving force behind her passion in helping others. They are still involved in her hometown of Lynn, Massachusetts where her dad still runs learn to skate camps. She described them as “selfless” and said they never hesitated to help others in need. That was something she said was passed down to all the Clougherty kids.

Getting involved when she began at Boston College was simple, Clougherty said, because service is part of who people are, as well as part of being a student in that campus environment. It felt to her that everyone was involved in something, which led her to ask herself what she could lend a hand with. Her desire to give back led her to join in the team’s Thursday night skates with special needs participants. 

She’s been involved with Newton Athletes Unlimited, an organization that supports over 300 children and adults with disabilities by offering them year-round programs that promote emotional, intellectual, social, and physical growth. Clougherty and her teammates organize the Thursday skates, which provides opportunities to learn to skate in an environment that fosters interaction and conversation with the participants. She also organized and hosted an athletics clinic for National Girls and Women in Sports Day in 2024, helping over 150 young girls learn about the different sports in the Boston community. 

While she has helped so many in the surrounding communities in the Boston area, Clougherty also found a way to provide for those on the Boston College campus.

In her second year, she took on the role of organizing groups to take part in events through her team. This led to her involvement in the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, where she worked her way up to be voted president by her peers this year. Clougherty’s desire to be a voice for student athletes came from her own experience at BC. She said she knows what it's like trying to navigate a busy life as an athlete and a student, so she wanted to be the one to advocate for her fellow athletes.

Her aim was to build relationships with others and allow them to voice their needs. She wanted to be the go-to person to listen to anything minor or major that others needed to get off their chest in hopes that it would lead to more open and honest dialogue to make the athletes’ lives even better. 

“I feel like it's bridging that gap a little bit to give an open forum and it is important to have that one person that you can go to that you know that you're going to be listened to,” Clougherty said. “I know what it's like to be listened to and it just makes you feel better and it makes you feel more comfortable in the space that you're in.”

While most players may take time to relax and focus on training in the summer, Clougherty spent hers taking part in an internship with The Campus School at Boston College. It is a special education day school that serves students from ages three to 22 while also providing specialized education for students who require extensive support needs. The school is located on the BC campus, so it benefits from innovative research, graduate student teacher assistants, and the ability to build meaningful relationships with athletes including Clougherty. 

Throughout her internship last spring, she would attend for a few hours and spend time with the students and learn from those around her by both helping out with activities and shadowing the staff. She mostly worked with students in preschool and early elementary, helping them with communication and sometimes spending time outdoors with the students.

“They really pushed me to immerse myself in the setting, which was awesome. I learned [that] the passion that's in that place is incredible through the students and through the teachers and administration. Everyone's on the same page. Everyone wants the best for everyone in that place.”

Clougherty still keeps in touch with those at the school, making sure to check in and visit when she can. 

As the third Hockey Humanitarian Award finalist in Boston College history, Clougherty is honored and grateful to be recognized for her work. She remembers the feeling of hearing she was a finalist from her head coach and the support from those around her. “She told me and honestly I got really emotional. I wasn't expecting that and it was just like a really special moment and then the team was so happy and really supportive,” she said. “It's awesome to be surrounded by people that are so happy when you're happy.”

Clougherty is quick to share her gratitude with those in her community and her teammates as well. She appreciates being able to bring awareness to the different organizations she’s worked with so far and said that it is great to be part of the special group along with the other finalists for the award. Her aim with community service was to give back as much as she could and now as a finalist, the nomination is doing just that.

“It would mean more to the organizations and the communities that I've worked in to bring light to them and how special they are for the people that I've worked with and give them an extra voice on top of the voice that they already have.”

The 2025 Hockey Humanitarian Award is celebrating its 30th season this year. For the first time in its history, four of the five finalists are women. This year’s recipient will be announced on Friday, Apr. 11, 2025 during the NCAA Men's Frozen Four weekend. This story is part of a series highlighting the four female finalists for the award. To learn more about the organizations Keri Clougherty has been involved with head to Newton Athletes Unlimited and Campus School at Boston College for more information.