President's Corner: Still Spirited After All

These Years

By Edward Thelen, Cloyne Court, 1981-85

Alumni Association President

Alumni young and old leave the co-ops with a drive to continue in the cooperative spirit and share the skills that they have learned. Recently we have had an outpouring of co-op graduates who, before going straight into careers, travel throughout the globe and utilize their experiences for aiding those in need. Among those who have utilized their skills to give back to the global community are these three young alumni from Kingman Hall: Parissa Vassef (’04) spent eight months in Madagascar volunteering at a public hospital, Dharushana Muthulingham (’05) interned in Ecuador for aSex Worker’s Health Clinic & Research Center, and Kristin Bard (’06) spent a year and a half in Bolivia managing a program for sustainable development.

My experience in the co-ops, particularly serving as Maintenance Manager, was invaluable in teaching leadership skills and learning the value of contributing to the community. The time that I spent in the co-ops was so important to me that I joined the USCA Alumni Association and then volunteered to serve on its Board of Directors. Volunteerism has been good for me. If you would like to revive your co-op spirit, there are a variety of ways in which you can express it. For more information please contact Jordan, the Alumni Coordinator, at jordan@usca.org.

To keep the cooperative spirit alive close to home, the Alumni Association has organized many events targeting the younger alumni. These have included happy hours at Bay Area bars, and a broomball game against current co-opers (alumni won!). Stay up to date on upcoming events by checking our events page.

The Alumni Association focuses on raising funds to provide scholarships for current co-op members. We appreciate your donations to this cause. If you choose to donate to the Cal Fund’s Leadership Award, through the U. C. Berkeley’s Alumni Association (CAA), please specify that your donation is for the University Students’ Co-op Alumni Scholarship, which is a Leadership Award that goes to a co-op member each year.