It was just great to feel 
The energy tonight that was 
A word that one of the speakers
Used in sharing why madison 
The energy around the university
And it was, you really could 
Feel it tonight, it was a conversation
We didn't want to end. We had
People who where meeting up 
With each other different generations
some in the same family where multiple
generations had gone to JMU some
who are reconnecting with their RAs
and some who just said they wanted 
to give back and be involved with
our current students to help them 
to see what they could do with 
their lives and how they can be the
change so it was really wonderful 
to hear that perspective from 
people of all different class years
we had quite a mix here tonight
and you hear a lot of consistent
themes about how much JMU 
has meant to them and how it 
changed their lives we know that
so many of the alumni loved
their experience at JMU they
care about the institution but now
we have to translate that into 
actual support for the university 
financially as well as in volunteerism
which weve certainly had a lot of 
visible tonight what ive found 
encouraging is that people 
said look we understand the need 
for that we understand the need 
to give back and this is a new era
for us as a university and we 
need to think about our collective
responsibility as a family and as 
a community and when you become
part of this family youre part of 
this family for life and part of that 
means you give back to the 
next generations that come after 
you and I heard people say that 
they wanted to do that and that
they were ready and willing to 
do that so its great to feel that 
sense of enthusiasm and I hope
that well see that translate now into
the future in terms of our alumni 
giving 
