The first thing guests saw at my high school graduation party was a blown up picture of two-year-old me in a Boston College cheerleader outfit smiling at a football game with Baldwin, the BC eagle mascot. The next thing guests saw was my father, live, in his Boston College varsity letter sweater (despite the faded yellow B and hole in the sleeve.) No one needed to ask why I chose to attend BC. Clearly, BC pride was instilled in me from an early age. Additionally, my grandfather and uncle are Boston College alumni. I am the third generation of Heavey to pass through there. When I was accepted, my dad certainly wasn’t the only one from that group sending me congratulations, and asking me for football season tickets. As the photograph showed, ingraining school loyalty had the desired outcome.
It is not surprising then, that when I learned about EverTrue’s mission to promote alumni connections and foster school loyalty, I wanted to be on board with them. Now entering my senior year of college, I understand more than ever the importance of contacts and connections made in the college years. College automatically fosters mutuality – in interests, emotions, and academics. I feel linked to my classmates. But what will happen after college?
Social networks are capitalizing on the idea of matching people based on shared interests and EverTrue is providing a space for maintaining and growing college connections. Instead of weeding through a yearly school alumni paper to see who you can get in touch with from your year, your professional field, or trying to find your long lost freshman year roommate, EverTrue presents these people TO you in an easy to use app. I was amazed when I downloaded the EverTrue app for my high school, Lawrence Academy. I clicked the “Alumni Nearby” and it showed my math partner living just a mile away from me. More than that, I can see what events are going on at Lawrence Academy and am encouraged to be a more active alum.
Communication is easier when there are common traits or past. Here, at EverTrue, that’s been proven as initial rounds of questioning my fellow employees already brought to light that one of the members of the team went to my brother’s high school; another was the hockey goalie at Wesleyan, whom another friend of mine followed; and a third graduated last year from my college. As the day continued I discovered more and more mutual connections. Now, if only I had a way to know this BEFORE I stepped into the office ….
EverTrue and alumni networks deliver a platform that encourages exactly this kind of information sharing online. It is the platform to reach out and reconnect with your school network as well as reinforce school pride. You don’t need a picture of you in a cheerleading outfit to prove you are an “EverTrue” alumni.