To students currently attending UCLA, alumni often seem distant
and disconnected. But soon the Class of 2006 will be alumni
themselves, and if you haven’t yet realized how much former
Bruins have contributed to your experiences here, now is the
perfect time to find out.
Former Bruins donate their time, their money and their spirit to
enrich our collegiate experiences. No student graduates from UCLA
without having personally benefitted from the wide range of
contributions from alumni. Alumni created your favorite student
group, donated money for student facilities, cheered on the
basketball team this season from their living rooms, and in some
cases even taught some of your best courses.
So as you leave this university, try not to forget everyone and
everything that went into creating the last four or more years of
your life. Whether you like it or not, you’re a Bruin. And
whether college constituted the best years of your life or not, no
one graduates from UCLA without having enjoyed something along the
way.
All we ask is that you not forget those things you enjoyed while
you were here. All people who graduate from UCLA should give back
““ not just to the successor of Campaign UCLA ““ but in
their own way.
Having resided here completely under Chancellor Albert
Carnesale’s tenure, which was marked by the most extensive
fundraising campaign in higher education history, you may think the
only way for alumni to give back is to make large-scale donations
and to have one of the professional schools or campus building is
named after you.
Or, hearing names of famous alumni such as Michelle Kwan, Jim
Morrison, Jack Black, Brooke Burke, Jackie Robinson, Troy Aikman,
Johnnie Cochran and Antonio Villaraigosa, you might think you have
to have made it big to give back. That’s simply not true.
You don’t have to create the “Godfather”
trilogy and then lecture at UCLA, like Francis Ford Coppola. You
don’t have to have your name carved in the limestone of the
Court of Philanthropy, which honors donors who gave $1 million or
more. For most of us, there are better ways.
For some of us, money just isn’t the right way to say
thank you to this institution. Being a Bruin and giving back to
UCLA should be something personal. It should be something you want
to do, not a chore or an obligation.
So once the excitement of graduation has died down a bit, take
some time to think back. What shaped your UCLA experience? What did
you love and hate about your time here? What wouldn’t you
give up for the world?
Once you figure out exactly what UCLA means to you, it should be
an easy thing to know how to give back.
It’s not something you do for the Alumni Association, and
it’s not something you do for Campaign UCLA. It’s
something you do for a future generation of Bruins to try to make
their experience here that much better.
There are hundreds of alumni who contributed to your education
and entertainment at this school, and it’s only appropriate
that you should give back to a future generation of Bruins ““
no matter how you decide to do it.
You can give 20 dollars and 6 cents as part of the senior class
gift. You can come back in 10 years and visit a student group you
were involved in, or serve as an adviser. You can try to start a
decent restaurant in Westwood. You can boo USC in every sport.
You can host a Dinner for 12 Strangers. You can watch basketball
games on TV, or better yet in Pauley Pavilion. You can guest
lecture in your field to give back to your department. If you were
involved in student government, you can give back to that.
Whatever you choose to do in your future, you will have the
opportunity to become part of a tradition that makes UCLA
great.