Powerful things are possible when Advancement Offices and student programming come together. At the Pennington School, this partnership through the Horizon Experience, has provided us the opportunity to navigate the opportunities and challenges of mentorship, to build engagement through alumni and parent participation in on-campus programming, and to co-create experiences that help our seniors reflect on the importance of their high school experience and transition into becoming supportive alumni.

Working with alumni and parents presents both challenges and opportunities. While it can be very fruitful, it also requires careful planning and coordination to be beneficial for students, alumni, and parents. The key is setting the right expectations. During this session, we will discuss how each engagement opportunity can be presented so that it is a good fit for all parties. Conversations about hosting a student is critical because we don’t always have a match for each volunteer. Volunteers coming to campus who are business professionals leading a discussion can have work emergencies arise disrupting plans and backup programming is necessary. Fortunately, the use of zoom can assist in these situations, as well as provide an opportunity to engage alumni who are dynamic but not local and their involvement adds value.