After two major changes — including relocation from the Amphitheater to Sprint Pavilion in Downtown Charlottesville and marketing targeting only the past three years of graduates, instead of the usual four — Young Alumni Reunions hit the town Oct. 13, bringing in thousands of University alumni.
Despite the movement off-Grounds, attendance at the event remained relatively consistent, according to Alumni Programs Director Jessica Hamilton. Attendance only dropped by about 100 people from the previous year, even with a smaller target audience. In total, 2018’s YAR event had around 3,400 attendees, while 2017’s had about 3,500.
Hamilton said the Alumni Association is collecting feedback about the changes made to the event through surveys from attendees, which went out a few days after the event. They have so far found that the “results have been overwhelmingly positive.”
“We had a scale to ask them how they would rate the event,” Hamilton said. “The majority rated it above average or excellent and almost everyone said they would recommend the event to a friend or a classmate.”
Additionally, Hamilton responded to concerns about young alumni that have been looking forward to YAR being initially worried or confused about the new venue.
“I think that people were — just like any change in something that people think back to previous years — wondering how it would be and a little bit hesitant about the move,” Hamilton said. “We didn’t really get a ton of negative commentary about it, I think people were more wondering, ‘Why has it been moved?’… but I think — after seeing it — people seemed to be really pleased.”
Class of 2017 alumna Minh Bui attended YAR both this year and last year and said she was not affected by the relocation of the event. But she said some people chose to go to the Corner rather than attend YAR due to the new location.
With charter buses provided as transportation to and from the event — making it easy to get to and from Grounds — and a similar atmosphere of dancing and activities created in the Pavilion, Bui found the largest changes outside of the event itself.
“Overall, the venue change wasn’t too drastic,” Bui said. “The biggest difference in my opinion was what to do after YAR. Last year it was really easy for us to go from YAR straight to the Corner, but this year by the time we got back we kind of just went home and recovered.”
Alumni were still able to spend time on Grounds, however, with some attending scrimmage basketball games at John Paul Jones Arena earlier in the day, or walking around the Lawn to catch up with friends.
“There is something special about being on Grounds so I was kind of sad that [YAR] wasn’t in the Amphitheater and such a short walk to the Rotunda,” Bui said. “It was so nice to just see everyone and there’s always good food, good drinks and all of that, so it was still totally fine.”
Originally moved because the Association was “pushing the boundaries of what the Amphitheater could accommodate” in past years, the bigger space of the Pavilion was intended to respond to previous complaints of YAR being overcrowded.
“I thought it was the same in terms of crowdedness honestly,” Bui said. “The Pavilion definitely had more flat ground and concrete to put tables and all of that, but the thing I liked about the Amphitheater is there is so many grass areas to sit — which obviously you can do at the Pavillion too — I just thought that in terms of space it seemed the same to me.”
Graduate Education student Jackie Lund — also a Class of 2017 alumna — attended her first YAR event this year and said in an email how she felt it was “extremely successful” and “incredibly significant to young alumni.”
“I think it serves to continue to promote the idea that we are all still Hoos through and through,” Lund said. “We can always come back and connect, and though things change (even the YAR venue) we will always be welcome here as alumni.”
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