Alumni Association Hosts Spaghetti Dinner for Loyalist Students
By: Jennifer Bowman, 2nd year Journalism – Online, Print and Broadcast
On January 20th the Loyalist College Alumni Association hosted a spaghetti dinner for Loyalist students as an opportunity to introduce them to the services and support that will be offered to them when they graduate. Jennifer Bowman, a second-year Journalism – Online, Print and Broadcast student, attended and shared her impressions of the evening.
Smiles, live music performed by Loyalist students, an opportunity to network with past grads, and good food summed up the fourth annual alumni spaghetti dinner at Loyalist College. More than 120 students and alumni attended. It was a full house, which required more chairs to be brought in. Throughout the evening, students mingled with alumni, making valuable connections for the future.
Troy Defour, one of the musicians who performed for the audience, came to sing with his band and left motivated to become part of the Alumni Association. “I’m going to be forever faithful to Loyalist. I want to come back to Loyalist and keep in touch with alumni and meet people.”
The spaghetti dinner is held annually to help students network with alumni. It also gives students an insight into what lies beyond graduation.
“The purpose of the evening is to make current students aware that they have an Alumni Association and that when they graduate they’ll be part of it. And there are benefits to this,” said Linda Serres, an officer of the Association, and the organizer of the evening. “We’re there as mentors. Hopefully we can host some further events with them to do some networking.”
Richard Powell started attending Loyalist this January. He’s from Oshawa. Richard came to meet new people and while there, he became interested in what he could do following graduation. “I’d love to be part of that. I’ve never looked into the leadership part. It’ll look good on a résumé. Why stop at coming here for school? People are really interactive and everyone’s really friendly. It’s like a home area.”
Some of the other perks for Loyalist Alumni members are discounts at Club 213 — the campus restaurant, opportunities to serve in advisory roles for college programs, involvement as alumni executives or guest speakers, and the opportunity to network with other grads. Every Loyalist graduate is automatically part of the association and has access to these opportunities. Loyalist alumni can also access Employment and Career Services for support in finding a job and career development.
The evening was emceed by Steve Bolton, who graduated from the Loyalist Broadcasting program and now teaches at the college. “As a graduate, you are part of the Loyalist extended family. Hopefully the evening brings a sense of collegiality to students.”
Find out more about the Loyalist College Alumni Association.
