Message From the
Alumni Association President

 

by Kelly Lamrock BA '95

 Kelly Lamrock

Dear Fellow STU Alumni:

As I write this, we’ve just wrapped up the best-attended STU Homecoming in a decade. Between the reunion of the St. Thomas Four and the dependable excellence of the Thomists, we turned out over 125 people for the weekend. A special thanks to Homecoming Chair Andy Wood and his committee, our dedicated Alumni Affairs Officer Sheri Shannon, and student union president Jeff Richardson and his crew for all their help. The upcoming alumni Christmas Party should be a blast as well.

In the paragraphs ahead, however, I want to talk to you about a new alumni program, one that lets us give back to St. Thomas some of the dedication that made it such a special place to go to school.

This month, in conjunction with the student union, we will be launching the Alumni Mentoring Program. The goal of the program is to put St. Thomas students with a particular career goal in touch with alumni who are enjoying success in that field. It should be a great opportunity to celebrate our success stories and create new ones.

When I first went to St. Thomas in 1988, I was immediately struck by the personal attention faculty and staff paid to each student and their future. I still keep in touch with many of my professors today.

This program will be an opportunity for us to extend the St. Thomas community in a way that builds on the STU advantage. We are launching a drive to get alumni willing to share some of their time with a student just starting out, to provide them with career advice, connections, and even pique their interest. Throughout November and December, we’re asking all alumni willing to be mentors to e-mail Sheri Shannon at shannon@stthomasu.ca.

We’ll be building a student list as we build this alumni list. Then we can get career groups together to plan activities relevant to them, and hopefully start another great STU tradition.

Part of the pleasure of being a STU alumnus is the pride we can take in being part of a different sort of school. I hope you’ll sign on to be an alumni mentor, and keep building that St. Thomas advantage.