USC considers online database for alumni
With their high school days behind them, the Upper St. Clair School District is looking for ways to bring its alumni back to the district.
During its Oct. 23 regular meeting, the USC School Board heard a presentation about alumni relations that detailed plans for the district to better connect with alumni and tap into their knowledge to enhance the classroom experience for current students.
The alumni relations plans tie into the school board’s goal to engage the expertise of alumni and other external professionals to assist students and staff with field expertise and career guidance.
Members of the alumni relations committee explained that some USC graduates come back to school when teachers invite them to share their work experience, and many former students connect through Facebook groups or events such as USC’s Halls of Fame. But there is no systematic way to collect data and connect various alumni groups.
Gordon Mathews, a student support services intern working with the alumni relations committee, said the group was looking for an alumni platform to support collecting and centralizing current alumni data to engage alumni in meaningful ways. After investigating, the committee recommended the Almabase platform.
With Almabase, Mathews said alumni would create an account, which would include biographical data and questions about how each user would like to contribute, whether it be speaking to classes or mentoring. A home page would include events like class reunions and halls of fame, news and updates. Information from Facebook and Linked In could also be pulled onto the site.
Mathews explained that in addition to connecting alumni, a database would be created from the information provided by those using the site. He said the district would then have a list of alums with experience in various fields, like business or technology, who could be contacted if a student had questions on career exploration or if a teacher needed expertise that was relevant to a topic they were covering in class.
In addition to Upper St. Clair graduates, the alumni sites would also be open to Upper St. Clair faculty, staff, community members and parents.
Citing privacy concerns, Mathews said that alumni would have the ability to connect with old classmates, but personal data would not be shared on the site. In addition, participation would be on a voluntary basis.
To start building the database, the alumni relations committee plans to hold an alumni reception in January to explain the plans for the alumni site and to encourage people to come on board as early adopters. The committee also plans to reach out to student class leaders from the last 15 years to encourage them to reach out to their classmates about the alumni site via social media.
Funding for the efforts would come from a grant from the Lawrence and Rebecca Stern Family Foundation.
Board member Harry Kunselman called the plan a “really good idea” and expressed his gratitude to Larry and former school director Becky Stern for their vision. The board is expected to vote on the plan in November.