DePauw University welcomed over 30 alumni of color back to campus this weekend for networking geared toward students of color.
Andrew Smith, assistant director of alumni engagement, planned the weekend, titled "Students and Alumni of Color Networking Weekend." Smith originally planned for a day of workshops between alumni and students, but the event morphed into a weekend-long event complete with keynote speakers, presentations and meals.
Smith's event outgrew his plans for a single day after he contacted Leslie Smith, '09, about bringing alumni of color back to campus. As the group of returning alumni grew, plans for the weekend grew, too.
"Since I knew all these people were coming, I was like 'Ok, I can't just do a day and a half, I have to structure out a real weekend,'" Smith said.
Smith did not want to waste of alumni's time, but enough students attended to make the weekend a success. Between 10 to 15 students met with the alumni, who including Landon Jones '09 and Nichole Wilson '99. Jones is pursuing his masters degree in African Studies at Indiana University-Bloomington. In 2013, he had a research internship at the Smithsonian. Wilson works as the director of physical therapy and rehab/sports medicine at Community Health Network in Indianapolis.
"I attended the alumni of color weekend because I love talking to alumni," senior Terrell Moore said. "Every time that I've been here during the summers at DePauw, one of my favorite events is alumni weekend. I just love talking to alumni, hearing about their experiences, trying to get some wisdom and just to meet new people and try to gain friendships."
The weekend consisted of a welcome reception at the Fluttering Duck on Friday and workshops throughout the day on Saturday that focused on networking, resume building, leadership and career planning The weekend concluded with a keynote presentation and lunch at the Prindle Institute Sunday.
The last alumni event that focused on alumni of color, "Coming Together," happened in 2008, before this year's senior class started at DePauw. As a result, this networking event was a new experience for students.
"There aren't enough events that are catered to alumni of color," said senior Sandy Tran in an email. "I believe this was the perfect opportunity to network and learn about the great things these alumni are doing. I met some incredible people. Some of the amazing people present were the vice president of HR for Rolls-Royce, a professor at IU, a lawyer from Lewis Wagner LLP, an HR business partner from General Electric and so much more."
Although Smith did not have any set plans for the weekend, he knew he wanted to have a great deal of engagement between current students and alumni.
"I just thought of what would be cool during this time frame that I had, what would work, what would get the most impact," Smith said, "and I also didn't want to over-program people, but when I hit them, I wanted to hit them hard."
The only complaint that students had about the event was the lack of students that attended.
"Next time, we should figure out how to gain more student engagement," Tran said. "A lot of students would have benefitted from this weekend."
Although the event was targeted towards students and alumni of color, all students were invited. Smith hopes that in the future the event will become an overall alumni weekend.
"The next goal is making sure people feel included and not just included when it's an alumni of color weekend," Smith said. "I think we have some good energy to move towards that."