For some students, the process of attending college and acquiring a degree is a largely transactional experience. Lifelong friendships and memories may be formed, but some students seem to sever their connection to their alma mater the instant after graduation. However, a new program introduced by the Emporia State University Alumni Association has redoubled campus efforts to involve students in both the campus community and the town as a whole.
The idea for “Forever Hornets” was hatched and developed by MaryAnne McNeal, graduate advisor of ESU’s School Leadership/Middle and Secondary Teacher Education. Upon starting work at the Alumni Center, she discovered the numerous benefits afforded to students after graduation at no cost to them.
Realizing how few students knew about and took advantage of these benefits, she cooked up a clever way to spread the information while engaging students in their community during school: start a student alumni association. Upon discovering that other schools like the University of Kansas and Oklahoma State University had similar organizations, McNeal went straight to work.
A large part of the intention of the Forever Hornets program is to provide students with a low-stakes and potentially high-opportunity way of connecting with the Emporia community.
“We know that tuition is more expensive than ever, and housing is more expensive than ever, all of these things,” said Student Alumni Board President Sasha Joy. “So it’s impossible, basically impossible, to get through a four year degree without having to work and having to do other things. So we know that students are busy, and they may not have time for an hour a week meeting, and they may not have time to do three hours of volunteering.”
With that in mind, the Alumni Center has made involvement in the Forever Hornets program completely free and attendance is not mandatory at any event. The only requirement to join is that potential members are current students at ESU, graduate or undergraduate.
One vital intention of the Forever Hornets program is to connect students to various institutions within the town of Emporia. Another major design of the program is to allow students to interact with, network among and even learn from ESU alumni. Beyond providing opportunities for free items and scholarships, the program also publicizes events where students can network with people in their field and secure key mentors and internships that may benefit them in the future.
One networking event in development for the spring is the “Adulting 101” series.
“We have some alumni who are on our Alumni Board that want to volunteer and do a little seminar talking about things that you need to do as an adult that we don’t really learn in the classroom,” McNeal said.
The program also offers the potential for scholarships for its members. To give back to its involved students, Forever Hornets are automatically put into a raffle drawing held once per semester that grants one student a small scholarship just for being a member.
But joining the Forever Hornets program isn’t just for students who plan to stay in Emporia. McNeal also makes it clear that former students can still remain active in the community of their alma mater long after their graduation date.
“We have a lot of active alumni chapters that are not in Emporia,” said McNeal. “We have a really strong Kansas City one, for example, where we do events in Kansas City, because we have hundreds of alumni there that want to stay involved. Just this last summer, I went out to Arizona, because we have a huge group in Phoenix that puts on a golf tournament every year.”
The Alumni Association sees this new program as an opportunity to shape the next generation of Emporia community-builders.
“We want students to realize that there are alums out there who are making serious impacts on their community,” said McNeal, “and we want our students to be those alums one day, if they decide to stick around. And so making those connections now, that’s what we’re hoping students will do with our program.”
