VCU news

By Tom Gresham

For his application interview with STAT, the Students Today Alumni Tomorrow organization at Virginia Commonwealth University, Eric Hogarth’s hosts requested he dress in a way that was representative of both himself and his relationship to the VCU community. Hogarth, a mechanical engineering student at the time, arrived wearing a nice suit and black-and-gold VCU-themed face paint. Business on the body, rowdy on the face.

Questions during the subsequent interview covered topics both straightforward (How do you view VCU? What role does VCU have in the community?) and unorthodox (What kind of fruit would you be?).

Hogarth reveled in the opportunity to demonstrate both his thoughtful, academic side and his spirited, fun-loving side in the same meeting. The interview was illustrative of an organization determined to both improve and support VCU and find creative ways for its members to enjoy themselves. Today, Hogarth, who works for engineering consultancy WSP in the Washington, D.C., area, says his experience with STAT was a critical part of his education at VCU, revealing to him the diversity of people and opportunities on the university’s campuses and showing him how he could play a bigger part in fostering that environment.

“STAT really opened doors for me that I hadn’t seen as accessible before,” Hogarth said.

STAT really opened doors for me that I hadn’t seen as accessible before.

STAT was founded to promote interaction between students and alumni and to strengthen the student experience at VCU. The organization has expanded quickly, growing to more than 1,200 members since its inception in 2009, making it the largest student organization on campus. It has already attracted prestigious accolades, including two national awards last year at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education Conference for Student Advancement.

STAT members embrace an active role in the university community, often providing prominent support at activities such as move-in days, orientation, the Ram Spirit Walk and the Homecoming parade, their STAT T-shirts frequently making it easy to spot them. They also host a number of events geared toward organization members, often with the involvement of VCU alumni, and enjoy perks such as discounts at certain retailers.

Central to the STAT mission is networking, and STAT members say the chance to meet and engage with a broad population of fellow students and alumni has made them better students and better prepared for life after college.

“I’ve learned about the importance of connections,” said Ava Hassas, president of STAT. “It’s important to start making them when you’re younger. You never know where a connection could take you.”

Lauren Hay, interim assistant director of student and young alumni engagement with VCU Alumni, said STAT students understand that their relationship to VCU is an ongoing, long-term one that does not end with graduation day.

“Four years is the smallest amount of time that they will have a connection to VCU,” Hay said.

The support of alumni is critical to STAT’s success and the experiences of its students, said Belicia DeBose, immediate past vice president of STAT. Events that bring together students and alumni have proved especially popular, such as a dinner organized in partnership with University Career Services that emphasized introducing proper business dinner etiquette to students and a networking luncheon that matched students with alumni who had the same major when they were in school.

“The students are most excited about the networking connections they make,” Hay said. “When they walk away from these events, you can see in their eyes how excited they are to have talked with alumni who are in their industry.”

Hogarth said the lessons he learned about networking through STAT were critical to finding a job. His confidence and experience with STAT helped him connect with WSP at an engineering career fair and launch his career in a field that interested him.

DeBose said the alumni who make up the other side of the equation demonstrate a great deal of enthusiasm in their interactions with students and prove eager to help the students with any questions they have or advice they seek.

“You realize the VCU alumni are just as excited about the students as we are about them,” DeBose said.

In addition to STAT events, DeBose said she has enjoyed the chance STAT gave her to volunteer at VCU Alumni events and to increasingly expand her network. A particular highlight for her was volunteering at a “thank you” gala event at Tredegar Ironworks for VCU donors and speaking with some of the attendees.

“I was awestruck by these people who had done so much for the university,” DeBose said.

DeBose said STAT aims to be as integrated into the broader university community as much as possible. The organization prides itself on being outwardly focused and not just geared toward its members and their experiences. Hogarth said when he led recruitment for STAT he always felt as though his charge was more nuanced than simply convincing students to apply to STAT. Instead, he approached each conversation with the goal of helping a student find some way of getting involved on campus, even if it was with a different organization.

Hassas described STAT members as “a family” that buys into the mission and goals of the organization. Students who participate tend to have a view of the big picture, understanding that VCU offers myriad ways to grow as people and that it is just a matter of pursuing them. Hassas has found that being responsible for organizing large events, right down to the nitty-gritty details like ordering food and drinks and reserving space, has given her a new level of confidence.

“You’re in school for a reason and it makes sense to take advantage of everything you can take advantage of while you’re here,” Hassas said.

Hassas said the STAT experience helps strengthen the bond of its members to the university.

“It definitely made me love VCU more than I did before,” she said.

A major reason for the strength of the attachment that STAT students feel for VCU, members say, is that STAT so swiftly bridges the university’s campuses and disciplines, helping students forge partnerships and links they would not otherwise form. Hogarth said STAT was critical to him building relationships with students outside of his chosen area of study. He said he learned about VCU and the compelling things being done elsewhere on campus through these relationships. Ian Renninger, a recent graduate and former STAT leadership council member, said his VCU experience would have been considerably poorer and narrower without the influence of STAT.

“It really opens up campus to you,” Renninger said. “I saw more opportunities to grow and develop because of STAT.”

It also can open up the world. STAT leaders cite the chance to attend CASE conferences as one of the highlights of their experience. At the conferences, they interact with students from around the country with a similar passion for their schools, and the students share their practices and organizational strategies and learn from each other. Then they bring what they have learned back to VCU to help make the university better.

Hay said STAT students’ ideas are valued highly, and VCU Alumni has given them the freedom to influence efforts such as Ram Spirit Walk and Homecoming and to develop new ideas that can endure.

“They can have a lasting impact on the university,” Hay said. “What they choose to do … has the potential to be a tradition at VCU for generations to come.”

DeBose said her experience with STAT has ensured that she will continue to maintain a strong attachment to VCU after graduation. It has also helped crystallize an understanding that active participation in a community provides numerous benefits.

“The more you get involved, the more you want to stay involved,” she said.

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