alumni weekend 2014 recap 2

GW honored six graduates Thursday night at the 78th annual Alumni Achievement Awards and hosted hundreds of guests at a Saturday afternoon “Taste of GW” event featuring restaurants and catering businesses owned by GW alumni. Milestone class and organization reunions, including those for Presidential Administrative Fellows (25th), WRGW (85th) and Colonial Inauguration (25th) took place throughout the weekend. A Friday night all-alumni kickoff party at the Charles E. Smith Center preceded the annual Alumni Weekend Concert, which featured 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Daryl Hall and John Oates.

“I couldn’t miss Hall and Oates,” said Lauren Peterson, B.S. ’06, J.D. ’09, as she waited for the concert to start. “They were here this summer, and I missed it, so I figured this was a great opportunity to catch them. I'm meeting up with some friends from undergraduate tonight.”

The Class of 2009 won the reunion fundraising challenge, topping its participation goal by 28 percent. An anonymous reunion donor had pledged $25,000 to GW in honor of the class that exceeded its donor goal by the highest percentage. In total, 1,662 donations were made with 320 of them exceeding $1,000.

"I am incredibly proud,” said Julie Silverbrook, B.A. ’09, chair of the class of 2009 reunion committee. “Young alumni can absolutely make an impact, and we came out in full force to demonstrate that we are invested in the future of this university. It is clear to me that alumni are committed to ensuring that GW continues to serve as an incubator of great ideas and a hub for educating future generations of national and global leaders."

Alumni Weekend, long part of Colonials Weekend, was established as a standalone program in 2007. The events and programs provide a setting to strengthen ties among GW graduates, said Steve Frenkil, B.A. ’74, president of the GW Alumni Association.

“Look at the alumni awards, for example. When you’re honoring those people, you’re also honoring the alumni association,” he said. “So it’s an exciting weekend. We have had great turnout for years and it gives people an opportunity to engage with each other and the university.”

Alumni Achievement Award winner and former WTOP Radio political analyst Mark Plotkin, B.A. ’69, used the Thursday night awards dinner to stage an impromptu reunion of classmates and friends.

“I don’t keep track of my mail as well as I should, and when the letter came telling me I was receiving an award, there was nothing particularly distinctive about it— I almost didn’t open it,” Mr. Plotkin said before the event.

He smiled.

“And I opened it, and then I started calling everybody, like a little boy. I started calling everybody who means something to me, because I wanted to tell them and invite them as my guests."