On Oct. 22, the Student Alumni Association (SAA) hosted the Alumni Night with Global Bites event in the Armstrong Lounge in the Frank Manor House. The purpose behind this event was to connect current Lewis & Clark students with alumni who have taken a global journey. These alumni have international backgrounds and experiences or worked globally post-graduation.
The SAA was formed in order to create and strengthen connections and create programs for students and alumni. The association hopes to bring awareness and appreciation to the connections and build a link between current students, faculty and staff to alumni all across the globe. The SAA is led by a group of student ambassadors who received the Alumni Leadership Scholarship.
These students have demonstrated leadership, actively participated in the community and shown interest in student-alumni connections. SAA members come from all across the globe with students from Spain, Nepal, Vietnam, India and more.
The students are all sophomores and up and are led by President Helena Brown ’26, a sociology and anthropology major.
Brown wants students to take advantage of the opportunities that SAA offers and wants them to show up to events and interact with alumni.
Brown hopes that students continue to show up and try to connect with other people and interact with those who are older than them and who have different life experiences. She also hopes people continue to challenge themselves.
Brown knows the feeling of going away from home and feels empathetic towards the struggles of international students traveling far to attend LC.
“Leaving to come to Lewis & Clark is really hard (and) leaving after graduation is really hard and with the new increasing pressure for people to leave I think this was an extremely relevant event,” Brown said.
There is a lot of planning that goes into events like these to make them special and encourage people to attend.
Brown further described the preparation for events.
“(SAA has) a retreat at the beginning of each semester and we discuss everybody’s ideas about what they would like, specific departments that they would like to highlight or skills that ambassadors have. We also try to bring back really successful events.”
The night began with a spread of international snacks such as egg, crab and prawn chips, and featured other appetizers such as chips and salsa and spanakopita (a Greek spinach-filled puff pastry). They then featured desserts from all around the globe such as Violet Crumble, Turkish delight and lemon wafer cookies. This was all finished off with lovely apple cider.
After participants grabbed food, they were invited to sit down, being led by an SAA member to one of many members of alumni or staff where everyone sat together in a small circle. Then, Calvin Cajayon ’26 stood up and gave a welcome speech where he introduced his fellow SAA board members along with a short introduction of each alumni or staff they had present for the night.
The most notable speaker present was Greg Caldwell, formerly LC’s Director of International Students. Although not an LC alum, he joked that he took “35 years to graduate” from the school. In reality, Greg worked in the International Student Office, calling himself the “Brian White before Brian existed” in reference to the current Director of International Students and Scholars Brian White. Caldwell was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea before coming to LC. He did a Fulbright exchange program (US grant for students to research and study abroad) in Korea and has since traveled many places to see international students and alumni. After his retirement, he became the honorary consul for Korea in Oregon.
The event was attended by alumni who came to LC as international students, as well as those who went on to work internationally after graduation. Attendees included Nick Ni ’24, who earned a degree in environmental chemistry and now works at OHSU on research related to substance abuse disorder, and Dr. Zena ’90, whose post-graduation experiences have included extensive volunteering, teaching theater in public schools, and working for the Peace Corps. Also in attendance was Jackson Shea ’89. Jackson is the Alumni Chair for Portland and Southwest Washington, works for IBM, and participates in STEM outreach.
Many alumni at the event gave testimonies of how their failures have become important assets to their development and growth. Brown said it is the most important lesson she learned.
“Something great will happen. I have really benefitted from exposure to people’s trials and tribulations and sharing that.”
The Mossy Log spoke individually with two alumni to get more specific information about their time at LC and what they have been able to do post-graduation.
Alexa Cid Carrera ’21 majored in international affairs. Through LC, she secured an internship and worked in marketing and project management for about five years before becoming an entrepreneur and opening her own Mexican bakery with her family on the northeast side of Portland.
She is a big advocate for the SAA and wishes she had taken more advantage of what was accessible to her.
“Don’t be afraid to ask for help, especially from your alumni network. I feel like it is the most underused tool that I had while being a student here. There were always so many alumni on campus and willing to help,” Carrera said.
She places a big emphasis on networking, which she describes as a daunting term.
“Talking to people and seeing who they are and what that’s like. I put myself in a corner and I wish I networked with more alumni,” Carrera said.
The connections she made through LC and the friendships that helped her throughout are what truly made a difference.
“Friendships are something that’s gonna follow me throughout the rest of my life” she said.
Carrera cited Elizabeth Bennett’s International Political Economy class as an influence in her career path.
“(That class) opened my eyes into what the possibilities were beyond wanting to do something good, there’s actually a career for wanting to do good,” Carrera said.
Mike Teskey ’85 majored in history and German. Teskey started as a teacher in Beaverton, Oregon for one year post-graduation but then decided he wanted to broaden his horizons. With his LC connections, he was able to score a job in the international airline industry in Boston and also completed a master’s degree in history at Northeastern University.
After college, Teskey moved to Denver and worked in historic preservation, but moved back to Portland to work for LC and later Reed College. Later in life, he would work in Mozambique and Poland.
Teskey says he learned a lot post-graduation that he wishes he had known during his time at LC.
“That’s the role of productive discomfort,” Teskey said. “A lot of times we want to be comfortable but you actually grow when you’re uncomfortable.”
Terskey encourages all students to get more involved in their community.
“Get involved in as many things as you can that interest you. Make connections and keep them,” he said.
Brown discussed her hope that SAA continues to grow and help people feel like there is somebody to support them and everybody can find their place.
“There’s hope and there’s options. There are a hundred different ways you can do something that you want to do and I hope people feel optimistic having LC as a forever option for helping people feel connected to others as well as feeling supported. I moved away from home and then I didn’t have a parent and having these alumni feels like I am still getting taken care of in part,” she said.
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