Last weekend in London I experienced my first-ever John Carroll weekend, an event organized by the Georgetown Alumni and the Advancement office each year. While the venue changes each year, it appears that the attendance continues to increase, with this year having about 1500 attendees.
I found the environment a mix of a reunion buzz, intellectual stimulation, advice seeking, sightseeing, and networking. Most of the attendees were couples, often both were alumni; some were parents and alumni simultaneously. They all shared the spirit of Georgetown and a commitment to the University that made for easy camaraderie and jovial exchanges.
I don’t know of many such alumni gatherings at other universities so successful in blending alumni from many classes at the same event. It was great for me, as a newcomer, to ask each person I met about his/her Georgetown experience. The stories both entertained and informed me about what makes their memories such powerful forces in the lives. Many quickly volunteered that Georgetown remade them as adolescents and formed their adult values and goals. It was an honor for me to hear these stories.
The intellectual side of the events was varied. I attended many of the events that addressed global issues, financial, social, and political. There was a fascinating panel with President DeGioia interviewing Madeline Albright and Angela Ahrendts (CEO of Burberry, the luxury clothing distributor) about use of social media and other internet tools in leadership. Commentary on the Arab Spring combined with discussion of promoting a brand on Facebook, Baidu, etc. In the middle of the panel a surprise guest, the rapper Will.I.am arrived and joined the discussion, reviewing how social media and the internet have implications for power and influence in the future. He asserted that access to information will be the source of influence in the future and that the internet changes that access in fundamental ways. The panel was exciting and stimulating, probably near unique in its composition. Hearing audience members posing a question jointly to Madeline Albright and Will.I.am will not likely occur often!
There was also a wonderful session on a famous former professor at Georgetown, Jan Karski, whose sitting statue is near White-Gravenor Hall. He spent time in London informing the Allied powers about the Holocaust, one of the first words from an eyewitness at that time. Karski’s students filled the session, a video of him in his later years was played, and testimonies to his integrity and courage were given. Each attendee at the John Carroll weekend received a copy of the recently reprinted Story of a Secret State, the 1944 Karski book that told his own tale of Polish underground experiences between 1939 and 1943 or so. It’s a thrilling true-life spy story with terrifying observations about the beginning of the holocaust in Poland. The 100th year anniversary of his birth will occur in March of 2014; it was announced that Georgetown students in the fall of 2013 would receive copies of the book. Having just completed the book on the plane home, I can attest that it’s a must-read for all those connected to Georgetown.
The weekend glued me to Georgetown in more permanent ways and made me feel proud to work at an institution that generates such powerful commitments among its alumni.