Tigers Take Over Washington, D.C.

Surrounded by blooming cherry blossoms and crisp, sunny weather, more than 70 Trinity University alumni and friends gathered in Washington, D.C., for Trinity on Tour on Saturday, April 21.

Beginning the day with an exclusive tour of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Tigers received a behind-the-scenes look at the living memorial to the late president. They explored public, well known rooms such as the Great Hall, as well as private spaces such as the “African Room,” a reception space reserved for dignitaries donated to the Kennedy Center by the nations of Africa.

Tigers then made their way to the Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center. Trinity President Danny J. Anderson opened the afternoon with a state-of-the-university address. His talk, “The World-Ready Graduate: Liberal Arts Education and Globalization,” focused on how the Trinity experience prepares tomorrow’s leaders for a meaningful life of engagement with our world. He explained that Trinity graduates can build powerful connections across boundaries of culture or language because they learn to empathize with people unlike themselves and to identify similarities among differences.

“I really like his vision for Trinity as preparing people as 21st century students,” says Jake Walker ’05, who sponsored Anderson’s address. “That’s what a liberal arts education does. It teaches you to critically think; it teaches you how to write and speak and really solve problems.”

Dirk Elmendorf ’97 and Pat Condon ’97, two of the co-founders of cloud-based hosting company Rackspace, followed President Anderson with a humorous back-and-forth about the company’s origin story, of which Condon says, “Trinity is woven through it completely.” He explains that because the founders were starting a business in their early 20s with no experience, “Our experience was almost exclusively what we learned at Trinity.”

And part of that experience included some sneaky practice with a brand-new concept: the internet. Since the web was not part of Trinity’s curriculum yet, Elmendorf had to get creative.

“I had to convince the IT department to give us access to host web pages inside Trinity’s network, which they were kind enough to do”—Elmendorf says, pausing—“after I convinced them it was for a school project that didn’t exist,” he laughs. “And it lasted for one month until another student hosted adult content and took the entire network down.”

After Elmendorf and Condon’s talk, Tigers selected which breakout session they wanted to attend, each guided by award-winning Trinity faculty. All of the sessions, Ana Unruh Cohen ’96 notes, were “right on topic, pretty much ripped from the headlines.” President Anderson led a special session on the importance of free speech and civil discourse in a liberal arts education. David Lesch, the Ewing Halsell Distinguished Professor of History, spoke on the conflict in Syria and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, while classical studies professor Benjamin Stevens related modern films such as Wonder Woman to classic stories including Frankenstein and the Bible. Communication professor Aaron Delwiche addressed fake news, defining the term and showing attendees how to spot it on their social networks.

“We had a great back and forth about fake news, and everybody was sharing their experiences and what they’ve seen online,” says Unruh Cohen, who brought along her 9-year-old daughter to “get a little taste of Trinity already.” “It felt a little like being back on the Trinity campus and in the classroom with smart peers guided by a really caring and cutting-edge professor,” she adds.

After the breakout sessions, attendees enjoyed cocktails at the president’s reception, meeting Tigers from all around the country. Bill ’62 and Beverly ’74 Parker made the drive from San Antonio, while Heidi Mackay ’10 traveled from somewhere a little closer: New York City. She was motivated by a “really powerful experience” at a campus communication day panel earlier in the spring as a reason to continue reconnecting with Tiger alumni by attending Trinity on Tour. Another alumnus echoed that same feeling.

“I want to be engaged, and I want to hear what’s new at Trinity,” says George Durgin ’04. “So for me, coming here was an opportunity to not only re-engage with Trinity, but to...re-invigorate me as part of the Trinity family.”