Rachel Flanigan, a senior in kinesiology, remembers growing up in Las Vegas and watching the championship Runnin' Rebels games on television. She remembers the red-wigged fans and the towel-biters. "That's a side of UNLV that we always saw. It was a huge deal," Flanigan says. "We really want to see that back at UNLV, that Rebel fever, and our alumni want to see it as well."
Flanigan is working to continue that spirit as vice president for traditions in the Student Alumni Association (SAA). After keeping a lower profile for a few years, the association is stepping up its efforts to build school pride and traditions and enhance the university experience, primarily by working as a liaison between students and alumni.
SAA President Johnathan Raucci, a junior in business finance, says the association is entering the fall semester reinvented. He credits the change in part to better relations with the association's sponsor, the UNLV Alumni Association. "In past years it seemed like the Alumni Association was not really involved with students until they were seniors and as they were leaving," Raucci says. "So we re-evaluated our events. We're looking to create more student-alumni opportunities."
Events Bring Students, Alumni Together
The association has at least nine events planned for the fall semester, and a third of those are new ones. "We're turning out more events from brainstorming than we can actually do this year," Flanigan says. Among the more significant events are the Rebel Rock-n-Bowl to introduce freshmen to alumni and a week full of spirit activities preceding the UNLV-UNR football game.
The opportunity to meet alumni is central to the SAA mission. Flanigan tells of a student who by attending a homecoming dinner met an alumnus and secured an internship in Washington, D.C. So many students wanted to participate in a recent Dinner With a Rebel, the association had to run an overflow list.
When asked if the alumni have been enthusiastic about their efforts, Flanigan and Raucci laugh. "Big time," Raucci says.
Russel Kost advises the SAA as the university's associate vice president for alumni relations and development. He makes little distinction between students and alumni. "All of our students are our alumni. They are either alumni in training or alumni in residence. That's the view we've taken here."
Why Should Graduates Help Current Students?
One reason, Kost says, is that today's students are a reflection of the university; the stronger an institution is today, the more valuable an alumnus's degree will be. Plus, working with students is fun.
Raucci admits there are difficulties in attempting to build school pride and traditions at UNLV. "It's a pretty new university, and it's also in a city where almost everybody is from somewhere else, so many students already are loyal to a school where they, or their parents, used to live." He points to the spirited crowd of Rainbow State natives that come to UNLV-Hawaii games as an example.
Many of the university's students are commuters — Raucci notes that most SAA members are commuters — and scheduling events for commuters can be difficult.
But UNLV also has its advantages. At a recent conference, Flanigan and Raucci were talking to other student leaders who complained of the difficulty in maintaining relationships with alumni dispersed across the country. In contrast, the UNLV Alumni Association reports that more than 60 percent of UNLV alumni still live in the Las Vegas area, and there are pockets of graduates in other cities as well.
"Our alumni still have a positive charge about UNLV, and that makes it such a great experience," Flanigan says. "They're here and they're willing to just jump right in and participate."
As the program improves, the Student Alumni Association hopes to see membership rise. Students may join free, but the association is looking to recruit active members, not merely a lengthier roll.
Flanigan and Raucci are excited to be a part of building new traditions, an opportunity that those at more established universities don't always have. "There's a lot more to come," Flanigan says. "I'll get to come back here in four or five years, and I want to see that these events are going on."
