The Student Alumni Society, in association with the Office of Alumni Relations has been involved in planning a host of events for Homecoming Weekend with thousands of people expected to attend. A meeting was held last Sunday to recruit volunteers to sign up as golf cart drivers, escorts, bouncers and more. For the past three months, the society has been organizing the weekend, which is geared towards creating a better bond between students and alumni and enhancing campus spirit.
“Last year we had around 2,500 people, but this year we are expecting more than 3,500”, senior Alexander Lachman, president of the Student Alumni Society said.
More than 100 events are expected to take place over the course of the three days of the alumni weekend. For students, there will be a free barbeque on the freshman quad for the pre-game rally, for which the tickets will be handed out during the week. “This is our opportunity to give back to students and make them realize how special Hopkins really is,” Reilly said.
Additionally, there will be inflatable rides, giant slides and a bungee run while the JHU Jaywalk dance team will have tattoos available to get people into the spirit for the game. Element K, a local cover band, has been invited to play during the rally. Unlike last year, the Society has gained approval for a beer garden and will be offering drinks — up to a maximum of three — to those of legal age at the event.
The Student Alumni Society, trying to get people to sign up to help organize the event, highlighted the benefits for volunteers. “You will be helping staff some of the events, getting names, helping out with seating, handing out gifts, that sort of thing,” junior Erin Reilly, who is the founding president and was a principal organizer of last year’s Homecoming Weekend, said at the meeting. “You get really cool opportunities to talk to people.”
The shifts offered for sign-ups start at 7:00 a.m. on Friday, April 22 and run until Sunday night.
Alumni Events for Homecoming Weekend include the Alumni College (a series of lectures held by Hopkins professors for visiting alumni), a robotics lab organized for the class of 1950, events for visiting alumni families and a series of reunion dinners for the various classes. Volunteers who sign up to help during the weekend will also be given the chance to go to some of the dinners, which is a particularly valuable networking opportunity according to the alumni society. “[Volunteers] will be a hot commodity,” Reilly said.
Apart from Homecoming Weekend itself, the Student Alumni Society, a new campus group created in the fall of 2009, has been involved in designing and planning several other events to enhance student-alumni relationships. These include monthly student-alumni networking events and a leadership symposium for students and young alumni. “Because of the success last year we were able to partner with several alumni to offer these events,” Lochman said.
He emphasized the importance of the homecoming weekends in building credibility for their organization among alumni. The group also planned to establish an alumni database for networking. “This is a great opportunity to essentially hold office hours with members of the alumni office,” Lochman said. “You sit with a staff member one-on-one and they look into their database [of alumni] and find you someone who is interested and willing to help out.”
Other activities organized by the society include the San Martin Networking event and the “taste” program, in which alumni take students to events around the city. This program is still in its planning stages and is slated to launch early next year.
Reilly said that having organized the event last year was an invaluable experience. “We worked closely with the Office of Alumni Relations and Pat Conklin, the head of Homecoming Weekend. Last year was really daunting, since we didn’t have any idea what to expect, but having organized it once before we think it’ll be a lot smoother this year.”
However the help of the Office of Alumni Relations still provides invaluable assistance to the society. “The alumni office is letting us be very flexible with what we have, as long we have a legitimate idea that we can put together, they are willing to help.” Reilly said.
The Office of Alumni Relations provided the alumni society with a budget to help them serve their weekend. “Thanks to the generous support provided by the Office of Alumni Relations, the society often has easy access to experienced people, time and a good budget.”
Justin Flincher, associate director of alumni relations at the Office of Development and Alumni Relations and the advisor for the Student Alumni Society, said that the partnership has been fruitful. “I work on programs that connect students with alumni, and the pre-game rally for students, organized by the Student Alumni Society, large barbeques, bands, [and] parades [provide a] variety of opportunities for people to hang out and group together as students before the homecoming game.”
Nevertheless, according to Lochman, it will only be possible to host a successful event if they have good support from the student body. “The alumni office has upped the number of events that they are going to offer, so we need more volunteers to participate.”
Lochman said that he is proud to be a part of the society. “It is a really rewarding experience. You feel like you are giving back, and at the same time since we’re students we get something out of it as well.”
