CAA Announcements

Summer Welcome Parties are a Cal Alumni Association signature event, hosted by alumni chapters across the country to welcome incoming students and their parents to Cal. Traditionally, alumni volunteers hold these events in person, but this year, in light of COVID-19, Cal Alumni Association (CAA) alumni chapters pivoted to virtual events. The collaborations between our alumni chapters enabled more alumni-student engagement outside of their local communities. This year, there were approximately 2,000 participants, including more than 500 alumni volunteers and 1,300 students.

The dog days of summer are coming to a close, so let’s take a moment to acknowledge our furry friends on campus with the most Cal spirit. We might not have a doggy yearbook, but that won’t stop us from curating our own (subjective) yearbook superlatives! If you’re interested in having your pup featured in future Cal Alumni Association posts, tag @calalumniassociation in your photos and hashtag #BerkeleyForLife.

Each year, the Cal Alumni Association’s Alumni Scholars Program team provides an in-person orientation for the incoming scholars. With the campus still closed, alumni and current scholars stepped up and gave friendly greetings and advice to the incoming cohort of 42 first-year and transfer alumni scholars in The Achievement Award Program and The Achievement Award Program Diversity Scholarship.

Lair of the Golden Bear campers recently buckled up to attend a virtual campfire talk with master storyteller Glynn Washington, titled “How To Rock a Funky Story.” Washington is the creator, executive producer, and host of Snap Judgement, a radio show and podcast that offers a raw, immersive, and musical take on storytelling. His unique, cinematic style of storytelling draws listeners and grips them until the end of every one of his shows. Washington’s connection to Berkeley runs deep; in addition to being a Lair camper, from 2007 to 2010, he was the director of Young Entrepreneurs at Haas—now known as Boost—a program at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

What makes a successful Cal alum? A C-suite position? A parking spot on campus reserved for Nobel Laureates? Answers vary, but everyone remembers their first successful moment at Cal—getting their acceptance letter.

“I remember receiving my acceptance paper back then, and of course, you get to the first page and it talks about ‘Great! You got it!’ and the second sheet is pretty much costs.” And just that quickly, Cal for Mitzi Iniguez ’09 was no longer an option. “I was actually really focused on going to a CSU just because it was way cheaper.”

Recent national events have changed much about the world we live in and have sparked questions about how such events influence our identities. Both personally and collectively, we are wrestling with our individuality and struggling to have productive, honest conversations with one another. That’s why there’s something very special about Maria Smith, Isabella Marten, Jordan Veasy, and Elijah Hicks—a few of Berkeley’s new and impending alumni who are making a difference by sharing their perspectives on current events.