Nothing like one of football's greatest upsets to connect one generation of alumni to another. Of the thousands who witnessed Carnegie Tech's upset over Notre Dame in 1926, what were the chances that I would talk with alumni who claimed to have seen it? But talk to them I did while making fundraising calls for the Andrew Carnegie Society a few years ago. It remains a highlight of my years as a volunteer for Carnegie Mellon.
No matter the year they graduated, the alumni I talk to have great pride in the education they received, and many of them wish to give back in some way.
Looking back at my time at Carnegie Mellon, they were not my best years. My father died while I was in high school, and I went to college as a commuter student. It wasn't until after graduation, when I experienced the professional doors my education opened, that I began a long and rewarding tenure as a volunteer for Carnegie Mellon.
Now, every summer, I host an alumni picnic. I say to them, young and old, that you are a student for just four years, but you are an alumnus forever, so enjoy the experience. I certainly have.
—Jay Price (S'66)
Cincinnati, Ohio
