by B. Williams (1992)

It has been over 17 years since I left St. Mary’s College to commence my undergraduate studies at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. Within a few years of leaving CIC, I became a Life Member of the St. Mary’s College Past Students’ Union (“PSU”). In 2007, via Facebook, I was able to reacquaint myself with the PSU and its members. Many of the active board members are familiar faces to my generation of CIC alumni. It is clear, from the many events advertised via Facebook, that the current executive team is very proactive in their mission to support the school’s fund-raising activities. I believe that we have a unique opportunity to build upon these successes and grow the CIC alumni network into a powerful association.

Fund-raising is one key area that all alumni can provide assistance with once they have become productive citizens of our society. Within weeks of my graduating from the University of Florida, the University of Florida Alumni Association (“UFAA”) tracked me down to become a member. Although the culture of fund-raising is not yet deep-rooted in Trinidad & Tobago, CIC alumni can start our own fund-raising culture by keeping CIC alumni abreast of their alma mater’s efforts to remain one of the most prestigious and storied high schools in the Caribbean. Once newly graduated CIC alumni are able to afford annual or life membership, these alumni should be encouraged to join the PSU. In the mid-1990’s, I paid the meagre sum of $250 to become a Life Member of the PSU once I was financially able to do so. The first step in this process would be to create a database of all alumni. This is a Herculean task which can be made easier by the use of networking sites such as Facebook, Hi5 and LinkedIn to attract CIC alumni back into the fold. The second step is to contact all of these alumni to become PSU members. The third step is, obviously, to raise the life membership fee to a more substantial figure!
 

Recently, I attended an event held by the “SteelGators”, the University of Florida Alumni Association club based in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The social event was simply a “lime” at a local sports bar to watch the University of Florida play the University of South Carolina in an American College Football game. This was my first event with the SteelGators and I had the opportunity to talk to the Club’s President about the how the association is funded and their mission. The President stated that there were over 1,000 University of Florida alumni in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area (figures provided by the UFAA based on last known addresses in their alumni database). Of these 1,000 alumni, about 180 were active members of the UFAA and aligned themselves to the local club. The SteelGators receive about US$3 on an annual basis for every active UFAA member who aligned themselves with their club. These monies were primarily used for social events like the one that I attended. Unfortunately, due to the seasonality of their events and family commitments of the local executive team, the SteelGators club had not made a
charitable footprint in Pittsburgh. Currently, the Saints do host the annual Carnival fete and “Dining with the Saints” which are well patronized by our Old Boys. I am not aware of a U.K. or U.S. version of the PSU, but I am sure that there is a large enough population of CIC alumni abroad to formally charter such clubs. These clubs would provide our Old Boys abroad with a “home away from home” while also providing the PSU with an opportunity to line its coffers from those willing to contribute.

The success of St. Mary’s College alumni is well documented. Many of our prominent executives, professionals and entrepreneurs are Old Boys. I would dare say that, in Trinidad & Tobago, the CIC brotherhood shares similarities to the powerful and infamous Skull and Bones Society at Yale University. By nurturing the relationships between our Old Boys (young and old), our PSU can also become a strong professional networking organization. Although this may already take place informally, we can formalize this by providing a professional networking “blackboard” of opportunities to Old Boys of any era. This would keep Old Boys engaged in the PSU, even if it may simply be to find a job or fill a job opening. My Saint Mary’s College days were some of my most memorable life experiences. Whether it was going to the Intercol football games with classmates, tug-of-war in the Big Yard or rowing Down the Islands with Sixth Trinidad Sea Scouts, there was a camaraderie that developed among those individuals who participated in these activities. Additionally, the competitive nature of the academic system at CIC effectively prepared many of us for the real-world challenges that we faced later in life. It is now our turn to continue this wonderful tradition of excellence by assisting our school through creating a culture of charitable giving within our ranks and help our alumni by developing a social and professional network that spans to all parts of the globe.

Blair A. William is a CIC PSU Life Member who resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.