Video: WSSU alumni return to serve
Homecoming week at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) isn’t just about parties and events: It’s also about alumni giving back.
About 100 WSSU alumni were back on campus on Thursday, Oct. 26, serving as guest professors in classrooms, and participating in panel discussions and luncheons with current students as part of Return to Serve.
The annual Homecoming week event, sponsored by WSSU’s Office of Career Development Services, gives alumni an opportunity to share their professional and personal experiences as well as knowledge with current WSSU students.
“WSSU has a rich tradition of service,” said Miles Winston ‘05, interim associate director of Career Development Services. “Return to Serve speaks to that tradition, and gives students the opportunity to hear about the success and gains of WSSU alumni who once sat where they are sitting.”
Dr. Dawn Tafari, assistant professor, and Dr. Glen Holmes, professor, combined their education classes for a panel discussion with 10 alumni.
“We are an educational institution,” Holmes said. “In the mist of celebratory activity, if we could find a way to help students, regardless of the forum or environment, to better connect the dots between what they are introduced in classrooms and what they are ultimately headed for in life, I think we should seize that opportunity, and today was such an occasion.”
The panel was comprised of WSSU alumni from various occupations.
“There were alumni, faculty, staff and administrators here during my tenure who poured into me,” said Khrystal Smith ’01, assistant dean of students and director of student life at the University of South Carolina Upstate. “So, now as an alumnus, it is my responsibility, my obligation, to do the same for current students.”
The day concluded with two panel discussions hosted by the class of 2007 in honor of their 10-year reunion.
“I think today was helpful,” said Destiny Williams, a junior biology major. To get that sense of reality was really good. It’s kind of comforting."
