Alumni Ethnography Essay

1040 Words3 Pages

Being the youngest in my family, I have seen many of my older cousins and siblings go through the college process from start to finish and the continuation of their alumni involvement. Due to this, I have been differentiating all aspects of their colleges and the University of Maryland. It might be my bias, but the University of Maryland is superior in many aspects, but I can see our University lacking in one department, alumni involvement. Throughout my two semesters here at Maryland, I have indeed seen a disconnect between current students and alumni. There are many factors that can attribute to this, ranging from a lack of alumni presence on campus, publicity, and knowledge of the resources that alumni can provide. Since the Alumni Association’s …show more content…

These events that I attended, Job Fairs, Terps Under 30, Board of Governors, and Board of Trustees, all were wonderful events and great opportunities for me to start building my network, but there was definitely something missing. There was obviously an alumni presence at these events, but they were not openly representing their terrapin pride. It was not until further into our conversations that I found that some of these individuals were also once students here at UMD too. One of my best examples of this was at the beginning of the Fall semester. It was the Justice, Government, and Law Networking Night, the business professionals running the event slightly identified who was alumni through a flyer, but after that, there was no further indication. I think that the alumni at the event should have been further distinguished through their name tags or table tents where they were stationed saying “UMD Alumni”. Even though these details are small, they collectively add up to create an environment where you can say UMD recognizes and appreciates their …show more content…

Many of these programs have students live together while also attending classes. This constant interaction with one another creates strong ties. The alumni who also went through a Learning and Living Program can find a common ground in this lifestyle. The Alumni Association should focus on these communities and build a stronger connection between those who graduated with those who are currently in the program. This could be achieved through an alumni dinner or hanging up composites of each graduating class in these communities. Focusing on these smaller communities on campus will eventually build a stronger connection throughout the entire

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