糖心Vlog

The Office of Alumnae Relations launched a program in Summer 2020 to connect alumnae with the Class of 2024 before they moved to campus. The Adopt-a-Freshman program invited alumnae to connect with someone from the incoming class who is from their region, state, area of interest, or major.

“After seeing some local initiatives to support graduating high school seniors, we wanted to go one step further and be more intentional,” said Hilary Allen, director of alumnae relations. “Facilitating our own program keeps it within the Meredith family – allowing our alumnae to connect with our incoming students. Doing so has the potential to create some better connections for everyone involved and has been beneficial to our incoming students as they transition to Meredith.”

The Office of Alumnae Relations created a private Facebook group to facilitate connections between alumnae and members of the Class of 2024. Alumnae membership spans the decades – from the Class of 1964 to the Class of 2020 and all of those in between. Members of the Class of 2024 who wished to participate in the program were asked to post information about themselves, including hometown, hobbies and interests, majors, and career goals. From there, the alumna could “adopt” a student and welcome her to the Meredith family.

And, to ensure that all members of the Class of 2024 and alumnae could participate in the Adopt-a-Freshman program, the office facilitated manual matches for anyone without a Facebook account.

The response to the program was overwhelming. Alumnae embraced the opportunity to connect with the College’s newest class of Angels and welcome them to Wonderland. Celia Horne Dickerson, ’82, adopted a member of the Class of 2024 and shared, “Love the adopt an MC freshman. I hope it becomes yet another tradition!”