½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï

Hey, Young Alumni—Don’t Stay on the Sidelines!

By Jinyoung Park ’11

It’s great to stay in touch with your fellow ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ïies even after leaving our beloved alma mater. Resources such as  and  make it super easy, not to mention  and , where you’ll find affinity groups such as , International ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï Alumni, and of course the infamous .

Maintaining ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï relationships has not only allowed me to have minireunions and thoughtful discussions (sometimes even on Facebook!), but it has also helped in my career. In fact, a ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï contact was instrumental in my landing my second job. When I first arrived in New Orleans, pretty much straight out of ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï, I used IRIS to reach out to ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ïies in town. It just so happened that one of those alumni was a faculty member whom I would be working with if I got the job, and he also knew the hiring manager. Now, I’m not sure if he directly advocated for me, but he did invite me to a party—which the hiring manager also attended.

I also highly recommend attending your five-year reunion. It’s fascinating to see the faces that you went to ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï with, but with way less stress and a lot more smiles.

Track down your local alumni chapter. Check out the events. For me, it’s been a pleasure to meet ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ïies whom I did not overlap with, and to grow my community.