‘Tis the season of scholarship awarding, and our personal favorite part: celebrating the recipient!
We surveyed a cross-section of alumni communities to determine the variety of ways that your peers are celebrating their scholarship recipients. We were pleased to see a full range of ideas for how you are individualizing students’ experiences. Below you’ll find examples of programs both big and small to help you begin brainstorming with your own group this year. With these stories, you’ll find one common theme: no two groups are celebrating recipients in an identical manner!
Golf outings, reunions, and banquets
Maybe your recipient is an outgoing future IU student, who is so excited about meeting alums around their home area and would prefer to have a get-together with the board or alumni in your area to be formally recognized — and that’s great! Some examples of groups who have done this include the Lakeshore Chapter, IU Latino Alumni Association, Central Indiana Chapter, and the John Whittenberger Society. In the Lakeshore Chapter, they’ve made this a part of their annual golf outing, similar to the IU Latino Alumni Association that recognizes student recipients at the annual reunion. Along the same lines, the John Whittenberger Society and the Central Indiana Chapter host an annual scholarship banquet to recognize student recipients.
Newsletters, videos, and more!
Maybe your recipient is a busy, overachieving student and your schedules just can’t line up–that’s fine, too! This is where you have the option of utilizing regular chapter communications. This can be as simple as including a personal profile in your newsletters or other communications. A great example of this comes from our friends with the GLBT Alumni Association, who regularly feature student recipients in their newsletters . In Boston, they not only profiled their student in their chapter newsletter, but they got creative when their student recipient was unable to attend an event – a board member partnered with her to create a great video!
Keeping it simple
Last, but absolutely not least, maybe your recipient is more shy and reserved, and is not comfortable with more formal recognition–and that’s okay as well! One of the most common themes is simply calling to notify the student. Examples of this come from our friends in the Colorado Chapter, Louisville/Southern IN Chapter, Boone County Chapter, School of Public and Environmental Affairs Alumni Board, and many more where they either call the student, send them an official certificate or letter, or even attend the student’s high school senior award ceremony to present the student with an official certificate. Did you know IUAA can provide an official certificate? Contact your liaison if you’re interested.
Celebrating recipients as individuals
With this being said, the most important piece to remember when recognizing a scholarship recipient is that no two students are identical in their preferences. You have an opportunity to celebrate them as individuals and make them comfortable as a way to increase their long-term engagement with your group. Use all of the resources that you have, and always contact your liaison with questions!