The Alumni Office and the Alumni Association are working together to create new opportunities available for JC alumni, including a monthly networking happy hour, an alumni trip, and an alumni community service day.
A monthly networking happy hour is just one of the many opportunities JC is now offering alumni. President Richard O’Hara said that the main objective of the new alumni opportunities is “continually improving services [for our alumni].”
Alumni searching for a job will benefit from the monthly networking hours. Each month will be geared towards a different group of jobs. Alumni will be able to meet respective employers, invited by JC, and connect with other JC alumni.
Still, the new alumni opportunities are not limited to job hunting. Director of Alumni Relations Laura Lang said that JC would also like to host an all alumni trip and a community service day.
The school is using travel agencies to explore all the available opportunities for the trip. According to Lang, JC plans to interview alumni so they will know where they would like to travel.
This survey will help JC see whether the alumni want to go to places like “Las Vegas or Disney World,” Lang said.
Lang considers the alumni community service day an important opportunity. “We have to remember our mission. The outreach and spirituality are an important part of JC so it is only natural to continue to offer it after students graduate,” Lang said.
There are at least eight reunions coming up taking place at JC this year where alumni can hear all about the new opportunities that will be available to them, according to Greig. . They can also see them on the JC website under the alumni tab, on Facebook, Twitter, and the monthly alumni e-news Lang sends out.
But O’Hara and Lang are not the only ones hard at work on these new improvements. Chair of the Alumni Association Beth Hmelnicky-Siemek, class of ’78, is also helping to implement these new opportunities. The Alumni Association will distribute jobs that will move the plans past planning and towards completion.
In regards to these opportunities, the Alumni Association plans to “reunite Alumni in a variety of ways, while meeting the standards, principals, and mission of John Carroll,” Hmelnicky-Siemek said. They meet once a week and discuss many issues that pertain to alumni and all of their opportunities.
Even though the only opportunity past planning is the monthly networking happy hours, the others will be put into action by the Alumni Association. “We’re hoping that the Alumni Association will spearhead this and work with us,” Lang said.
“Alums are always looking for new opportunities to get together,” former Director of Alumni Relations and current Coordinator of Campus Services Sue Greig, class of ’78, said.
Meg Kirchner can be reached for comment at [email protected]