This week, Oglethorpe celebrated the giving season with its seventh annual Philanthropy Week, an event hosted by the office of Development and Alumni Relations that seeks to build awareness and educate the campus community on the importance of giving and giving back.
Students fill out their gratitude posters
Throughout the week, signage was displayed across the facades of campus buildings, detailing donor and gift information that made those buildings possible and students contributed to a “gratitude garden” displaying messages of thanks from the Oglethorpe community.
On Tuesday, students attended the Alumni Networking Dinner to practice networking and conversation skills, make connections and receive advice from working Alumni. This was the first event for newly-inducted members of Students Today, Alumni Tomorrow (STAT), an organization that helps foster connections between current Oglethorpe students and over 13,000 Oglethorpe alumni.
Alumni at the networking dinner included:
Trustee Jim Winestock with two Oglethorpe students
- Charis Andrews Hanberry ’88, Sr QA Manager, Entertainment & Sports Digital, Warner Bros. Discovery
- Ayana Bryan ’03, Global Business Marketing, Meta
- Stacey Chavis ’07, Managing Director, Campaigns Academy
- Harrison McConnell ’12, Product Manager, Mobile Marketing, Sonos, Inc
- Irasema Vargas Gonzalez ’08, Department of Defense – NLSC Linguistic and Cultural Advisor, National Language Service Corps (NLSC)
In addition, alumni staff and volunteers enjoyed a thank-you luncheon, acknowledging the profound impact of their giving-back to the university. Alumni volunteers support and participate in programs such as Leadership Boards and Councils, Mentorship, Scholarship Weekend interviews, Panel Speakers and Reunion Hosts which enormous impact on our students. In the past year, more than 200 alumni have volunteered their time to help support Oglethorpe students.
