by Elizabeth Stone
After deciding to “Go West,” our international students find themselves stretching their UWG ties to the far ends of the Earth. In an effort to keep these connections strong, the Alumni Association is offering International Alumni Reunions. This summer, former students converged in Switzerland for the fourth official International Alumni Reunion, adding to a list that includes Helsinki and Paris as past reunion destinations.
Though these students may have charted their own courses across the world, two common denominators remain the same: their loyalty to the University of West Georgia and their love for their mentor and “mom-away-from-home” Sylvia Shortt.
“Sylvia really is more than a mentor to these students,” says Frank Pritchett, director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving. “She was their connection when they were at the university and remains that connection even today.”
Sylvia, former UWG associate director of International Students and Programs, is instrumental in coordinating these reunions and is an integral component of why they have been so successful. The first international reunion was actually held in Carrollton in the early 2000s. Sylvia was overwhelmed by the response, with even eight former students returning to Carrollton from overseas. It was then she realized that a reunion overseas might be just as successful.
The first overseas reunion took place in Paris in 2008, and because of its success in attracting 30 or more former students, the group decided to schedule regular reunions every few years. The tradition has held since Paris with reunions in Helsinki in 2011 and in Switzerland in 2013. The next reunion is already scheduled for 2015 in Warsaw, Poland.
In Paris, the students announced the endowment of the Sylvia Shortt International Scholarship, an annual scholarship awarded to an international student based on academic merit and financial need. Sylvia was surprised and humbled by the pledge.
“It was one of the most thrilling moments of my professional life,” she adds. “My goal, someday, is for that scholarship to be able to pay for an entire international student’s four-year degree.”
These reunions don’t only include international UWG graduates, but also international students who participated in an exchanged program with UWG or Rotary. American UWG graduates living abroad are also invited to participate in the reunions.
“Even if the students were only here for a year, that year was so important and stand out to them,” Sylvia explains. “Now some of them are my best friends because we’ve stayed in touch so much. They’ve grown up into lovely adults.
These students, now reaching from as far as Trinidad and Tobago to Turkey and Lebanon, have gone on to pursue incredible careers and remain successful testimonies to the impact UWG can instill in a student.
“I’m impressed with how many of the students now own their own companies,” says Sylvia. “They are film producers, bankers, you name it. I’m quite impressed with everything they are doing.”
These alumni remain supportive of the university not only financially but also in personal interest and participation.
“Sometimes the alumni actually come back to campus and help with International Night and other events sponsored by the International Student Club,” Sylvia says. “They’re not just involved in these reunions. They’re involved all the time. They really do care about the future of international student program on campus. That’s still their passion as well as mine.”
