Talking Stick - September/October 2012 - 18

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life provides in the structure of the program, including a mentor and mentee training session at the beginning of the year,” says Felicia Lam, coordinator of the Programme Resource Centre. Similarly, the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, has a program called Life After the Hill, in which young alumni form a panel, which meets in one of the common spaces of a senior residence hall to discuss what life after college is really like. “Many of our alumni also serve as career advisors, and all the students have access to a database which can help connect them with these advisors who have volunteered to talk with current students, and other alumni, about their field of work,” says Erin Mooney Phipps, associate

director of the Holy Cross Fund. The University of Scranton in Pennsylvania organizes several events for graduating seniors to interact with alumni, such as Shamrockin’ Eve, an event presented by alumni to stay connected with current students, and Beyond the Commons, a dinner series that provides students with the opportunity to dine with alumni in specific career and service fields. While their career connections are of great value, alumni are also vital to the upkeep of campus morale; their presence at large campus events sends a message about the importance of tradition. This sense of spirit and community is something that should be transmitted to students as early as move-in day. Many colleges, such as Ithaca College in New York,

Mississippi State University, Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and the College of the Holy Cross, utilize alumni on their move-in day, not only to help students move in, but also to show them and their parents from day one that college is not something that is over once a degree is earned. As Phipps explains, the alumni “swarm the cars as they pull up to each dorm and bring everything up to a student’s room while leaving the student and parents to enjoy an easy walk to the room.” They also involve alumni in their annual day of service, Holy Cross Cares Day. “Local alumni are invited to join in with the students in volunteering for the day,” Phipps says. “Also, our regional alumni clubs
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Talking Stick - September/October 2012

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