Hello Pericleans and friends of Periclean (: This week, Chace Blackburn (class of 2018) and I (class of 2016) wanted to introduce ourselves to everyone as the new student assistants for Alumni Relations. We are both very excited to begin working on the alumni dimension of Periclean.
I was excited about this position because I am a senior who is more than halfway through the fall semester. I will be graduating (if all goes to plan) in about seven months, which means I will become an Elon alumnus, as well as a Periclean alumnus in about seven months. These past few years as a Periclean Scholar have flown by. As cliché as that may be, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to develop the dimension of Periclean that I, along with the rest of my class, will be a part of in the near future.
Chace was interested in the position for several reasons. One, her brother Taylor Blackburn was a part of the class of 2011, and couldn’t say enough great things about the program. She knew she wanted to be a part of Periclean Scholars, and not in a small way. As well, her childhood trips to Latvia to help put on a summer camp for disadvantaged children instilled in her a love for effective aid and nonprofit management (her mom went on and founded a 501c3 to oversee the camps her family was helping run). She is a strategic communications major with a spanish minor, and hopes to do promotion for a microfinance project aimed at women seeking corporate sponsors for their crafts and goods. She is very excited about how her role in periclean will help aid her future interests.
We are excited about working on various initiatives that Dr. Arcaro has brainstormed to improve alumni relations. We will also be thinking about ways to keep our alumni updated about the program, as well as increase communication between current students and alumni. Our alumni, with ideas, thoughts and suggestions to share, are an important piece of the puzzle in increasing the success of future classes and the program as a whole.
Chace and I will be reaching out to various Periclean alumni throughout the year to examine the question, how has Periclean Scholars influenced your life after Elon? The Periclean Scholars program is not just about increasing the level of civic engagement and social responsibility within the four years we are at Elon, but the goal of the program is to shape individuals who will continue to be civically engaged and socially aware after graduation. We will be able to share their thoughts through the Enewsletter, which will be available to all Periclean Scholars this year.
We hope to have alumni back on campus throughout the year for various Elon events as well as Periclean-specific events. This past weekend, we had Periclean alum on campus for Homecoming. We hope some of the current students had the opportunity to meet them at the Periclean tailgate. Chace and I are both looking forward to meeting with and learning from our alumni!
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