3 things I loved about Sacred Heart University Alumni gathering and 1 that I disliked...

Last Friday, on the 1st of July, took place a reunion of Sacred Heart University Alumni, on a beautiful Navitour boat in Remich.

It’s been almost 20 years since I graduated from Jack Welch College of Business. I started my MBA in 2001 and took my time to get a double concentration, in both Marketing and International business, graduating in 2003. We all know how expensive an MBA is. In my case though, this privilege of being able to do an MBA and even to take more classes that I needed for graduation is explained by the fact that the university offered me throughout my studies a working contract as academic assistant. My remuneration was in nature: my rent and my classes.

A couple of years after graduation, in 2005, I was elected president of the alumni association, then re-elected for a second term, which lasted until 2010, when I didn't present myself for a 3rd term. However, in 2011, because the alumni association was no longer active, the university's leadership team asked me to serve once again as president. I can therefore say very proudly that I am the longest serving president of the alumni association with 3 non-consecutive terms.

As the longest serving president of the alumni association, I was extremely happy to hear last year about the initiative taken by a group of students and recent graduates to animate the alumni network, organize gatherings and take initiatives to give visibility to alumni. Yesterday’s boat party was part of this strategy and I was happy to support it and participate in it.

I listed below 3 things I loved about the Alumni boat party and 1 thing that I disliked.

Let’s start with the positive:

#1 Fantastic location

#2 Because of the pandemic, the 2020, 2021 and 2022 graduates didn’t get a proper graduation ceremony. This was a great way to honor them and publicly recognize their achievement, together with family and friends. Congratulations everyone for this amazing achievement!

#3 The organization of the event was great: good food, open bar until 3 am, nice music, both live and with a DJ, nice show to introduce the deserts, all in all: great ambiance! I particularly appreciated the organization of a bus shuttle from and back to Luxembourg-city. This allowed the guests to have a drink or two without worrying about driving back.

There was one thing that I strongly disliked on Friday: during the entire evening, all speakers used “SHULU” abbreviation and not once has the full name "Sacred Heart University Alumni Association" been mentioned. In addition, and this really upset me me, one speaker told us that if we didn’t know where the name “SHULU” was coming from, we were in luck that night to find out that: and I quote <<the “LU” part of “SHULU” comes actually from French. More particularly from “Loulou” which is a name French use with someone they love.>> ... As someone who served 3 times as president of the Sacred Heart University Alumni Association, I was very surprised to hear such a thing.... In the past, the alumni association was referred in writing as SHULA, which is quite obvious where it comes from...

Coming back to the alumni, my congratulations once again to the recent graduates!

Congratulations as well to the informal Alumni Committee who organized the event. I trust that this informal alumni group will, under the leadership of my friend, Sahil GOEL, become an asbl, like it used to be when I served as president. I passed on to his Committee all the archives my committee and I kept since our 3 terms serving the alumni.

Knowing Sahil, I trust that he will continue to keep the standards high. And, despite the saddness of the LUxembourg campus being shut down this month, I hope that he will document the activities of the alumni association, since this year we should celebrate 30 years since the university started to offer the programme in Luxembourg...

N.B. A little bonus for those of you who got to read until here: the history and the bright past of the alumni association in Luxembourg needs to be kept alive, so that one can better envision the future of the Sacred Heart University Alumni Association.