Welcome back!

Welcome back cougars! We are so excited to once again be surrounded by our fellow student alumni. For many of you this is your last semester at BYU, before we hand you off to the Recent Grads chapter. We wish you luck as you prepare to graduate and take your first steps as a true alum.

For others of you, this may be your first week at BYU-or your first week back after a mission. As you attempt to navigate the HFAC and find your favorite corner in the library, take a minute to appreciate the amazing university you are on and the spirit of tradition that exists throughout.

The Student Alumni Association

Share your valuable career and schooling advice over lunch

Sharlene Miner is a doctor and a mother from Draper, UT. She had a great experience taking a student to lunch through the Take a Cougar to Lunch program. We asked her to tell us about her experience.

I loved the idea of the TACTL program, and I enjoyed my lunch date even more. Though this program no doubt helps men, I think that it can be especially insightful for women.  In our society, and especially our church culture, men have a fairly marked path; high school, mission, college, career, family, etc.  Women, on the other hand, have many, many choices as well as unknowns as they travel the same time table.

When I entered college, I had no idea how a woman could combine a career in medicine with a family.  Because I also enjoyed music and teaching, I majored in music education … My music training proved invaluable for my college days as well as the rest of my life.  I think had I gone into medicine from the start I would have limited my studies at BYU to biology, zoology, or something similar … Currently, I have a wonderful family, a great part-time job as an emergency physician, and enjoy active involvement in the church, my neighborhood and community.

The TACTL program helped me explain to the student, using my own experience, how important it is to stay focused on the gospel and family—what matters most.  Throughout my life, I have found that as I have kept my priorities completely in line with gospel principles, everything else has worked out.  It was great to sit down and shed some light and experience about life with a cougar.  It was great to reflect on my own path and decisions and then help her process her own ideas and aspirations.  Lunch with a Cougar made me feel young again and old at the same time.  I found that I have had some experiences that are worth sharing.  I also found that the Cougar gave me a renewal for my own life with her ambitions, dreams and wide open path.

Thank you, Sharlene. If you want to take a student out to lunch or be taken to lunch by a professional, visit lunch.byu.edu to sign up.

A Rivalry Tradition Fostering Unity through a Common Goal

Each year BYU students look forward to a time on campus when statues are covered in plastic wrap. This is a time of rivalry between BYU and the U of U. They know that no matter what we are ranked in the polls one of our biggest games of the year is approaching.  People are encouraged to donate their “blue” blood, and there is a contest between ice creams from Salt Lake and Provo. Even though this is a time of intense competition between the schools it is also a time to unite in a cause that benefits hundreds of families around Utah.

The BYU vs. U of U Food Drive takes place every year in the two weeks leading up to the big game. Students, fans and community members are asked to donate money and non-perishable canned food on both campuses and at participating local businesses with hopes of raising more money and getting more food than the year before. There is also a sense of competition to collect more food and money than the other school.

Whether you donate to help a needy family or to win a rivalry competition, make sure you contribute to help a family in need. Donations will be collected November 13 – November 28. You will be able to donate at locations around campus including Dining Services outlets like the Cougareat and BYU Creameries, at the BYU Bookstore, in collection bins in campus buildings, and at local businesses. You can also donate online at studentalumni.byu.edu. You may also deliver canned goods directly to Community Action Services at 815 South Freedom Blvd., Suite 100, Provo, Utah 84601 (be sure to tell them you want your donation counted toward BYU).

Other events will take place during the Food Drive including:

November 14 > Kick-off Dance in Clyde Building, 7-11 p.m., $3 for students and $1 off per can

November 21 > Pancake Breakfast in Legends Grille, 8:30-10:30 a.m., $3 for all you can eat pancakes, Co-sponsored by Dining Services, Register on our Web site, studentalumni.byu.edu

November 16-20 > Donation Drive Thrus at the Hinckley Center and WSC, 7-8 p.m., donate without getting out of your car

More than a suit…

If only I had attended the Student Alumni Association Networking Dinner before my internship. I had only been an intern with the PR firm for a few weeks when I attended my first networking function.  It was a chamber of commerce meeting, although it seemed closer to a chamber of torture, set up my boss as an initiation by fire ritual. Despite the somewhat diagonal crease on my left pant leg, my new suit was my only buffer, making me feel somewhat more prepared for my new world of business lunches and card exchanges.

If only I had attended the Student Alumni Association Networking Dinner before this eventful outing, I would have had skills and experience to depend on, rather than a mere suit.

Don’t leave you and your suit so unprepared, come to the Student Alumni Association’s Annual Networking Dinner. Professionals will represent more than the business field including the medical, law and engineering fields. It will be held Tuesday, November 3 at 6:30 p.m. in the Hinckley Center. Register online at studentalumni.byu.edu. Cost is $12, and includes dinner.

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HIKE AND LIGHT THE Y- Something to Write Home About

It has been 104 years since the Y was painted and 86 years since this tradition began, which means we’re a part of history.  And this year’s event will be bigger and better than ever before, which means we’re making history!  Shuttles will leave from the Hinckley Center at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 20,  and the hike will begin from the trailhead at 6:30, just before sunset.

We will climb to the Y where Dr. Shane Reese will teach us about the power of tradition.   And then we will all experience a magical moment– the light-the-Y part of Hike and Light the Y.  Once the Y is glowing, bagpipes will begin to play.  That’s right, bagpipes will serenade us as we descend back to the trailhead. There we will be met by Salt Lake’s killer band, Groove Train, in their final concert.  As we listen to them go out in style, we will eat 900 cookies and drink 30 gallons of cocoa.  In one phrase, this event will be off the hook!  It will definitely be something to write home about.

Learn about your future career over lunch

Byron Duncan from Atlanta, Georgia, a junior studying Business Management with an emphasis in organizational behavior and human resources, enjoyed lunch twice with BYU alumni through the Take a Cougar to Lunch program. This is what he said about his experience.

What interested you in Take a Cougar to Lunch?

I was considering a few different career paths and I wanted to talk to someone who was going into the fields I was considering and see what they had to say about their career.

Where did you go out to eat?

Legend’s Grille, both times

Please describe your experience:

The whole program was a really helpful experience overall.  I learned a lot about the day-to-day operations of becoming a financial planner.  I also went out to lunch with an alumnus who graduated with a MAcc (Master of Accountancy) and then decided he wanted to go into sales, and he was very successful.  Seeing that a college degree doesn’t have to tie you down to your future career forever was an eye opening experience.  I also learned that you should get a degree in a field that you are interested in.  You shouldn’t choose a major based on money or how difficult it is to get into.  This program helped me a lot to see real people in the careers I was reading and thinking about.

For your opportunity to network and learn from BYU alumni, sign up at lunch.byu.edu, or tell us about your Take a Cougar to Lunch experiences in a comment, on our Facebook or at studentalumni@byu.edu.

Haka Instruction from the BYU Living Legends

Exceptional Student Alum Zack Oates

While serving a mission in Ukraine Zack Oates saw domestic tragedy for the first time.

“I had heard stories and seen it in movies,” explains Zack, “But seeing it firsthand changed my life.”

Even after returning from his mission, this impression stayed with Zack. In the fall of 2008, while still a student at BYU, Zack founded Courage to Hope, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eradicating the plight of domestic violence around the world.

Within the first year from inception, Courage to Hope has made significant differences through raising funds and awareness of domestic violence locally and abroad. However, Zack considers the organization’s greatest strength its philosophy, rather than its philanthropy.

“The greatest success so far is not in what we have done, but in our philosophy.” Zack said. “We have raised a lot of money and had successful events, but all of that is worth nothing if we don’t stay true to [our philosophy].”

The organization has even greater plans for its second year, including the first trip to the Ukraine in November and increased participation with local groups and shelters.

Zack is just one example of the exceptional student alumni here at BYU. We are surrounded by many more. They sit next to us in Chem 105 and at the devotional each week. They are our home teachers and study group members. Here at the Student Alumni Association, we are dedicated to recognizing these individuals who are making a difference at BYU and beyond. Please tell us who you see as an exceptional student or alumnus. Just leave a comment or send us an e-mail at studentalumni@byu.edu.

Networking relationships, more than just transactions

One of the most valuable skills for anybody, at any stage of life, working in just about any field is networking. Through this skill we have a wider reach to serve and to be served. With a strong network you can find a job, receive recommendations and be recommended, give advice, or just make someone’s day.

Many of us build networks through transactional means such as LinkedIn or collecting business cards. Chris Feinauer, president elect of the BYU Alumni Association, suggested in a recent Student Alumni training that we should build networks by building relationships. These networks will give you better support and be there when you need them most.

Feinauer gave ten best practices to follow to keep your network relationships strong.

1. Birthdays and Birthday Lunches: great way to stay connected showing you care and setting you apart from other
2. Notes- thank you, congrats or appreciation: take the time to make the relationship personal with a short, handwritten note
3. Christmas Cards: great way to stay in contact with people away from where you live
4. Professional Organizations: connects you to professional peers and opens lines of communications you may not otherwise have
5. Community Involvement: by giving this passion-based service you show your true character and that you care
6. Be Friendly and Gracious to Everyone: get past first looks and talk with everyone, be nice to everyone, you want your family to have a good name
7. Have Charity: charity is better than 1,000 names on LinkedIn or Facebook, help everyone know they have something to offer
8. Connect: be perspicacious, or aware of the world around you, lots of opportunities come in unexpected ways
9. Be Bold: it is good to say what your heart says rather than what you think others expect you to say
10. Focus on Relationships and the Natural Consequence will be a Strong Network!

Good luck building your relationships and network. Share with us some of your best networking experiences.

Student Alumni will be hosting a networking dinner this semester on November 3.

Getting the Right People on the Bus

Welcome back to school! We are stoked for the new school year. Many exciting programs and activities are scheduled to promote the spirit of the Y, espouse cougar traditions and to prepare you to be the best alumni you can be. After all, you are alumni in training — or as we like to say at Student Alumni — Cougars Today, Cougars Forever.

In order to have a great year, the new executive board’s homework over the summer was reading “Good to Great” by Jim Collins. The board learned many useful keys to sustaining a great organization, including getting the right people in the right position or, as Collins says, having “the right people on the bus.” We have been implementing this principle and others to make Student Alumni a great organization.

Over the past two weeks, the board has gotten to know each other much better through their annual retreat…

The Student Alumni Association executive board enjoying dinner during their retreat.

We have also amped up our recruiting efforts for volunteers to help plan and promote our programs and events at Foundations of Leadership and New Student Orientation, inviting our newest cougar cubs from the freshman class to get involved.

The Student Alumni Board in the Aspen Grove Lodge recruiting "cougar cubs" at Foundations of Leadership.

Thank you to everyone who has volunteered or signed up to participate! We invite the rest of you to get involved too. If you are interested in planning or advertising our programs and events, send an e-mail to studentalumni@byu.edu. Please specify if you want to be on a committee, or if you just want to hear about our upcoming events.

Remember, Cougars Today, Cougars Forever!