 |
Shrink-wrapped Witt Nation Tour van |
At noon Friday, July 11, Assistant Director of Alumni Relations Ashley Petersen, Assistant Director of the Wittenberg Fund Brian DeSantis, and New Media Assistant for Interactive Communication Ross Ballinger, all members of Wittenberg's class of 2007, will embark on the 22-day, 17-city Witt Nation Tour. They will cover more than 7,000 miles, and in the process connect with as many of the university's 26,000-plus living alumni as possible.
"We often hear from alumni that they wished their alma mater would do something in their community so that they could brag more about Wittenberg," said Director of Alumni Relations Linda Prain Beals, class of 1987. "That's just what we plan to do."
The focus of the tour, which will visit Cleveland, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver, Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, is a quest to learn how Wittenberg is defined through the voices of its alumni. It also is to affirm that the university's mission – to challenge students to become responsible global citizens, to discover their callings, and to lead personal, professional, and civic lives of creativity, service, compassion, and integrity – remains relevant in an ever-changing, complex world.
To do that, events ranging from service projects with Habitat for Humanity and Lutheran Social Services to a Cleveland Indians baseball game to whitewater rafting in Colorado to an ice cream social have been planned. While the tour provides multiple social networking opportunities, this is far more than fun and games.
"The focus of this trip is on our alumni and how they 'lead personal, professional, and civic lives of creativity, service, compassion, and integrity,' which we prepared them at Wittenberg to do," Beals said.
The Wittenberg community has collaborated to make the tour a reality, with alumni showing their enthusiasm in a variety of inspiring ways. One alumnus donated the cost of a shrink-wrap that covers the Wittenberg van that is being used for the tour and also offered to cover the cost of gas; another plans to donate money to environmental funds that will make the trip carbon neutral; another donated cell phone headsets; and another sent coffee for the crew to take with them on the road.
Alumni have also opened up their homes, while others have contributed money for hotel stays.
"The response has been overwhelming," Petersen said. "Having this fantastic opportunity to reflect and reminisce with Wittenberg alumni in their own residences will undoubtedly be a highlight of the trip for us. As a 2007 graduate, I'm only now beginning to understand the powerful role my alma mater has played in the lives of so many people, and I can't wait to hear their stories."
Although the tour ends on Aug. 2, the stories will live on far longer thanks to a unique, dynamic and innovative interactive Web site. While on the road, crew members will write blogs and record video interviews with alumni, a collective Wittenberg experience that will keep alumni up to date during the trip and help to tell the university's story for generations to come.
"By adding these exciting multimedia components, the Wittenberg story immediately goes global," Beals explains. "Even if we can't be in everyone's hometown during the trip, we can share the experience with everyone in the Wittenberg family and beyond."
The three-person crew will be joined by other university leaders at various stops, including Beals, Director of New Media Bob Rafferty, Vice President for University Advancement Brenda Duncan, University President Mark Erickson and Assistant Director of Admission Ann Bixel, who has helped to engage prospective students at several of the tour stops as well. Office of Advancement student interns Tyler Siemon, class of 2010 from New Carlisle, Ohio, and Ashley Manson, class of 2009 from Covington, Ohio, will monitor everything in Springfield.
Written By: Ryan Maurer
095-08
| Related Links: |
