Twenty-year-olds tend to believe important decisions happen all at once. Alumni know better.
A life is assembled over years through a job accepted and another declined, a city chosen, a board joined, a neighbor helped, a risk taken, a responsibility inherited, or a moment when it would have been much easier not to get involved.
The meaning of service above self changes as the circumstances around a person change.
It should.
The Sullivan Alumni Assembly, part of Fall Sullivan Weekend, creates a place for past Sullivan Award recipients and Sullivan program participants to reconnect with that idea and with one another.
It is not intended simply as a reunion. Alumni will participate in activities, enjoy conversations with other alumni, faculty and students, and will have opportunities to engage with student programming. They will also have opportunities to learn about student projects and participate in the student Fireside Chat.
Some may serve as facilitators, coaches or leadership panelists.
“Our alumni have so much experience to offer, and we want Sullivan Weekend to give them more than an invitation to come back and visit,” said Courtney Carlton, who leads alumni engagement for the Foundation. “We want them participating, serving, meeting students, sharing what they have learned and reconnecting with one another. The Alumni Assembly gives past recipients and program participants a way to become active members of the Sullivan community again.”
The relationship is not meant to run in only one direction. Students can learn from alumni who have experienced decades of decisions, successes, disappointments and responsibilities that no college program can reproduce.
But alumni can also learn something from students.
Students still ask questions experienced adults sometimes learn to avoid. Why does it have to work this way? Why hasn’t anyone tried that? What would happen if we did?
Occasionally, being around people who have not yet learned what is supposedly impossible can be useful.
“There is something powerful about putting a current student in conversation with someone who received a Sullivan Award 10, 20 or even 40 years ago,” Carlton said. “Their lives may look completely different, but there is a shared understanding of service and responsibility. We want to create more of those connections because they are valuable to both generations.”
That is the opportunity in the Alumni Assembly.
Not nostalgia.
Continuity.
A Sullivan Award received decades ago and an Ignite student arriving this October belong to different chapters of the story, but they are still asking variations of the same question: What do I owe to the people and communities around me?
The answer at 60 may be very different from the answer at 20.
The question is still worth asking.
Alumni Assembly: October 9–11, 2026
Registration Deadline: September 1
Registration: $400, including lodging, meals and weekend experiences
Travel is not included.
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