By Ruth Steinhardt
Every summer, the George Washington University’s Office of Alumni Relations organizes several dozen summer sendoffs. These gatherings, which are hosted in 23 cities in 17 countries, are organized internationally by International Advancement in the Division of Development and Alumni Relations and serve to welcome incoming students and their families to the Colonial community.
This year, one set of sendoffs brought a new constituency into the fold. At special parent receptions held for the first time in Beijing and Shanghai, the families of matriculating Chinese students got a glimpse of what it would be like to have a child study at GW.
Before the sendoffs themselves, parents gathered for a private reception to learn about building a parent community, services available to parents and the opportunities for giving. Afterward, they attended the sendoff receptions to mingle with other incoming and current students and parents. And they met young and established alumni based in China. The event in Beijing was the university’s largest sendoff—domestically and internationally—with nearly 150 attendees, 40 of them parents. In Shanghai, 30 parents attended the reception before the 80-guest sendoff.
Yuhua “Alison” Wang, whose son Jeff Tian is an incoming freshman in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, went to the reception in Beijing.
“It gave us a better understanding of the school, with valuable firsthand experience from some students,” she said. “The parent meeting also gave the parents an opportunity to know each other and to set up a chat group to share the experience of helping students adapt to their new environment.”
Rachel Jarvis, executive director of development for the Parents Campaign at GW, noted that GW’s largest international student population is from China. “So as we look at our international parent market, we’re starting out there,” she said. “We are seeing increased interest from those families in getting involved, and we’ve had some discussions with current Chinese students and parents about how to initiate that engagement. So these receptions were seen as a good opportunity to get parents in a central space and help create a sense of community.”
In Shenzhen in southern China, a third sendoff hosted by the parent of an incoming student drew an unexpected but welcome contingent of families. Host Min Zhu, mother of Yichang Liu, CCAS ’19, took it upon herself to engage fellow parents in her own community.
“Most of the students who attended in Shenzhen brought their parents,” said Katie Ray, assistant director of international alumni programs, who traveled to China to attend the sendoffs. “So even though it wasn’t specifically a parent reception, it was a similar situation where parents were making connections and hearing from alumni and from each other.”
“One of our objectives for this year is to engage with our GW community in China through alumni and parent programming,” said Mansoor Ali, associate director of international alumni programs. “In the next few years our largest international alumni community will be in China so we are establishing the framework and foundation early.”
Some attendees were the parents of alumni rather than incoming students. Oliver Young, father of Elliott School of International Affairs alumna Xin Yang, M.A. ’15, attended the reception in Beijing and shared his own story.
“My daughter chose GW by herself,” Mr. Young said. “And it proved to be the right choice. She absorbed knowledge on campus and acquired methodologies to know the world. She has developed an independent way of life and work. Particularly, she has a unique vision which…is what her employer cares about.”
The ultimate goal of the parent receptions, Ms. Jarvis said, is to create a sense of community. “Once we create that, I hope parents who are able to will join in supporting not just their own child’s experience, but the overarching student experience at GW,” she said.