Volume 25 · Number 4 · Summer 2008
SAA co-presidents Jenn Giblin ’09 (from left) and Shannon Liu ’09 with SAA volunteer Philip Niedzwiedz ’10. Photo: Karin Higgins/UC Davis
Alumni
SAA Branches Out
The Student Alumni Association celebrates its 20th anniversary — and the campus centennial — with renewed focus on community service.
Alecia Hanson ’08 had requested a physician. It was May 2007, and the exercise biology major — who graduated this spring — had signed up for Take an Aggie to Work, a student-alumni networking event hosted by the Student Alumni Association (SAA) each spring. When no doctors volunteered to mentor UC Davis students, Hanson was assigned a nurse instead.
For Hanson, it was a serendipitous mix-up.
Take an Aggie to Work is designed to give students real-world experiences by arranging job-shadowing appointments with Aggie alumni. The draw for alumni is the opportunity to give back to the university by mentoring students. The draw for students, such as Hanson, is the opportunity to learn more about possible careers while also developing professional contacts.
In Hanson’s case, Take an Aggie to Work helped her refine her career trajectory. She job-shadowed Rosaly Ferrer, a charge nurse in the Adult Medical Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital, who in turn arranged for informational sessions for Hanson with nurses in several of the hospital’s other clinics.
“I learned about all the things nurses do at a clinic,” says Hanson, “and realized that being a nurse was a better fit for me than being a physician.”
Hanson, who volunteered for SAA’s executive board of directors last year because of her positive Take an Aggie to Work experience, is one of many students who have benefited professionally from SAA’s networking programs. In fact, SAA has been helping students for two decades now.
SAA formed in 2005 following the merger of two separate student organizations: the Cal Aggie Student Alumni Network (CASAN) and the Collegiate Membership program. CASAN, which was created in 1989, began the tradition of student-alumni networking events that SAA continued.
Not only does the 2008–09 academic year mark the 20th year that UC Davis has boasted a student organization dedicated to advancing student-alumni relations, it is also UC Davis’ centennial year. The SAA executive board of directors plans to recognize both anniversaries at the organization’s kick-off event on Oct. 1.
Over the years, SAA has grown in size — its membership has nearly doubled in the past three years — and it has increased the scope of its programs. This centennial year the group plans to strengthen its focus on community service.
“Our mission is to provide networking opportunities and professional skills for students, but at the same time, being a part of a community — and servicing that community — is important,” says Jenn Giblin ’09, SAA’s co-president. “SAA is not [solely] a community service-based student organization, but our goal is to build partnerships with other community service groups on campus.”
Giblin notes that SAA has already begun fostering a culture of collaboration. In December 2007, SAA served meals to Yolo County’s homeless population at an event sponsored by the student organization H.E.L.P. In March, SAA teamed with the campus’s Greek community for a barbecue and social.
This past spring, the group established an Earth Day community service event, which it plans to sponsor annually, says Funmi Ladeinde ’10, SAA’s community service chair. It’s the first time the organization has committed to hosting an annual community service event.
SAA’s first Earth Day project took place on April 26. SAA volunteers joined the city of Davis and community members in beautifying and revitalizing an east Davis bike path, near Baravetto Park. SAA volunteers cleared refuse and weeds, planted herbs and set up raptor perches and boxes for bats and birds.
“With the campus moving toward going green, and talking about recycling and sustainability, we thought Earth Day would be a perfect fit,” Giblin says.
In addition to its community service focus, SAA plans to further its image and programs over the coming year, says Ladeinde. Despite the recent membership boom, she says, the organization’s purpose is not well understood by the vast majority of UC Davis students.
“I think there is a lot of room for improvement in how we communicate to other students what we do,” Ladeinde says. “As community service chair, I’ll definitely be networking with other student organizations on campus and advertising the Student Alumni Association to them.”
For 2008–09, SAA’s calendar includes:
• Volunteering to aid the campus’s Rotaract organization — a Rotary-sponsored group for young men and women — in its community service goals;
• Leading a series of workshops to teach technological skills to CAAA life members;
• Partnering with the Leadership Learning Community — a leadership development program based at The Colleges at La Rue campus housing complex — to teach leadership skills to students;
• Volunteering to assist campus diversity groups. SAA has created a new position, cultural diversity liaison, specifically for this purpose;
• Joining the Telemark Dance Troupe for a night of salsa dancing and networking;
• Hosting a barbecue and social for the second year in a row to further strengthen ties with the campus Greek community.
Giblin says that SAA should be proud of its history and of the many successful connections formed between alumni and students through networking programs like Take an Aggie to Work. As the organization works to reach its full potential, it will continue to build relationships on campus and in the community. “We can’t do it alone,” Giblin says.
Shannon Liu ’09, Giblin’s co-president this year, couldn’t agree more: “Collaboration is key.”
Be a part of SAA’s 20th anniversary. Alumni can get involved as volunteers by e-mailing alumni@ucdavis.edu.
Neil Freese ’02 is CAAA’s communications officer.