On Sunday, April 30, several hundred Waynesburg University students will undergo transition into a new era of their lives. The members of the Class of 2017 will leave behind their status as senior college students and enter the Waynesburg alumni family.

Once they enter that community, their primary connection to the university will be through the Office of Alumni Relations, led by Assistant Director of Alumni Relations Vikki Beppler.

“Stay connected – it’s so important,” said Beppler. “It’s easy to say, ‘hey, I’ve been here for four years and I’m done,’ and that’s okay if [graduates] need a break. I just hope that they would reconnect with us whether it’s now, in three months, in a year.”

The first step new graduates should take to stay connected with the university is to update their contact information with the alumni office online at waynesburgunited.com/updateyourinfo.

By including their email address on that form, alumni will receive the monthly alumni newsletter from Beppler and be updated on university happenings and alumni news. Providing updated information is also the primary way alumni will be invited to alumni events in their area.

“We host alumni events across the country every year,” said Beppler. “This fall we’re going to be in Cleveland, New York City, Richmond, and we rotate to [other locations]. Wherever our alumni are in that area, they’re invited to that [event].”

The first event for the Class of 2017 is the Pittsburgh net working lunch, which will be held on July 19. “That’s one of our most popular events,” said Beppler. The lunch, like many other alumni get-togethers, is complimentary.

“Graduates have the opportunity to attend a free alumni event, network with other alumni, get a quick update on what’s going on at Waynesburg and then enjoy a complimentary meal,” said Beppler. “That’s one of my favorite parts of my job, just finding out what our alumni are doing.”

Alumni events also have a variety of graduate years in attendance, so recent graduates have the opportunity to net work with other alumni and build relationships.

“Graduates can go to an alumni event and maybe meet someone from the class of 1970 or in the 80s or 90s and that common thread is Waynesburg,” said Beppler.

Alumni can also connect with one another on the Waynesburg Alumni social media pages on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, which has the potential to help recent graduates find jobs at companies where their predecessors work.

Beppler encourages graduates to notify the university of big changes in their lives, such as new jobs, weddings and babies.

“We have really awesome ‘We Found Love at Waynesburg’ frames that we send out to alumni who marry each other,” said Beppler. “I love to hear about alumni who have babies – when they update us we send out bibs. I just try to send out little things to alumni who update their information to let them know that we appreciate it when they stay connected.”

Beppler said there are also opportunities for alumni to get involved in a new social media ambassador program or the Alumni Council.

“My biggest hope is that people reconnect and that graduates know they can always come back to Waynesburg,” said Beppler. “Our door is always open.”