Witt Nation—the idea, the planning, the implementation, the fun—we’ve done it all.  To think 3 years ago we were just beginning our first ‘road trip.’ All of the brainstorming sessions, all of the creative meetings, all of the worries, everything was in motion and emotional.  The crew was in the van, the events were happening and we were holding our breath that this would do the trick– engage our alumni in their communities and reconnect them to their alma mater.  It did, we were happy and all involved in the initial meeting:  Bob, Karen, Brian, David, Chris, Ashley and myself, the core creative team, could celebrate a major victory for alumni relations, advancement and Wittenberg.

Fast forward to today, as we tuck year number three under our wing we realize that every year continues to bring forth the best of our university and its alumni.  The service component was a wonderful way to connect with alumni in their communities during every city tour stop.  Once again, the outpouring of support, hosting opportunities, event sponsors and fun encounters along the way continued to shine as the crew of four made the 10,000 mile trek.  Showcasing the crew of young, 2010 alumni (baby alumni) was our opportunity to show other Wittenbergers the caliber of students, actually the caliber of people, Wittenberg develops.

As you have read, they had fun…always the number one goal.  However, if you look deeper into their writings you will find they grew as individuals.  As young alumni, their exposure through the service events and their engagement with alumni opened a whole new world of opportunities and insight as to how a Wittenberg education has an impact across our nation, our Witt Nation.  Conducting service for agencies that were directly affiliated or suggested by alumni assisted in creating a common bond and showcasing the passion that exists;  I believe a great amount of this passion was ignited throughout their four years at Wittenberg.

Of course, I always speak of the People, the Passion and the Place, all so integral in the make-up of the Wittenberg experience. You can’t remove one element and have the full adventure, the adventure which transforms young lives allowing them to find who they are and what they want to be.  This is what our 28,000 active alumni did within the gates of Wittenberg and this is what they are doing in the world, one kind act at a time—with Passion.

As we head into the mid-summer months, soon we will be welcoming our ‘new’ students to campus.  They will arrive ready to learn, experience, live and love.  In the end, they will have the knowledge, exposure and experience to take back through the gates of campus to the greater world.  The knowledge of what it means to be a graduate of Wittenberg,  an alumni of this fine institution. They will embody a sense of responsibility and desire to make a difference on the remainder of their journey having an impact in their communities, one kind act at a time.

The Witt Nation van is clean (yes clean), the last of the extra shirts have been stored and my final thank you notes will hit the mail today.  I am looking to the future of the Wittenberg alumni program as having a great start on the rebuilding and rebranding process as we are now seeing interest in chapter cities at an all time high.  We will use the Witt Nation adventure and experience to guide our programming—maintaining the true heart of who we are and never forgetting to focus on the People, the Passion and the Place.

All my best on your journey—wherever it takes you,

Linda (or Doc as they like to call me)

As an important part of the Witt Nation 2010 tour we had a fund raising competition titled ’Fuel the Fund.’  The gas gauges were posted with the needles reflecting alumni giving participation for each city.  The goal was to get 20% of the alumni population to give to make a gift to The Wittenberg Fund.

Houston wins big—-and people all across the U..S are asking, “What did they win?”  The victory in Houston affords them the opportunity for a group of Wittenberg students to visit their city during Wittenberg’s Spring Break to conduct service at one or multiple sites for a four day period.  Of course all Witt Nation rules apply.  The ‘crew’ will be driving the Witt Nation van and will need that wonderful alumni hospitality in Houston—-yes that means staying with alumni!

Congratulations to Houston and contact Linda Beals (lbeals@wittenberg.edu) if anyone is interested in volunteering to host an awesome crew of Wittenbergers for a week!

- Leslie Chasteen, Witt Nation 2010 Crew, Service Coordinator

Witt Nation was an unbelievable experience.  Really, it was amazing. Having the
opportunity to see America in 30 days is more than any kid fresh out of college could have dreamed of.  Instead, we were able to do it  while meeting alumni who were extending friendships, business cards and encouragement, having fantastic hosts waiting with fresh meals and clean sheets, and fortunate enough to serve in some of the premier service organizations in each city we visited.

Getting to meet each and everyone who came out to the events was so interesting.  Meeting the wide array of Tigers across the nation really helped me capture the story of Wittenberg and enter the alumni world.  After having a time to reflect on the trip, I will remember one story anytime I think of Wittenberg.  The conversation took place outside of a bar in Denver that made me think I was in Yellow Springs.   SKIP talked about how it was great to see so many people at the Denver event because it meant Wittenberg had made an impact on each persons life.  When he said that I was a little suspect how he was so sure.  He simply responded, “Why would anyone come here if Wittenberg hadn’t  made an impact?”  It was that simple.  Maybe it was naive of me to have traveled most of the trip without realizing that sooner.  I may have come to realize with some time to think back on the trip, but Skip made it apparent to me.  The event followed a long drive, so I had plenty of time to let the thought digest and think back on all the great people I had met in a different way.

Wittenberg is full of great alumni.  Witt Nation was full of great stories and an unbelievable amount of inside jokes the crew will remember forever.  Both are too many to share here. I would feel bad to mention any only because I know as soon as I hit ‘post’ I would remember 3 more.  There are so many people I should thank that made our trip possible, but I don’t want to sound like I just won a grammy award.  Thank you to everyone who made this trip what it was.

You all certainly made an impact on me.

taylor

I don’t think I have traveled 10,000 miles in my life.  Let alone in a month.  And I have never slept as much as I have the past 4 days since we had our last event. It was quite an adventure every time we got in the van, especially since we all knew each other so well that we knew what we could say, or do (sing the opposite words to songs) that would just press the wrong buttons on everyone else.  But we knew have known each other for sooooo long (Joelle since I was 11, Leslie since frosh year, and I have lived with Taylor the past year @ Witt, Tay was also my TA for one of my courses Senior Year haha) that we also knew how to comfort each other and make each other happy or laugh.  There are so many stories that go along with such an intense, grueling and fun trip that I could really go on for days and days.  But I really don’t think any one city would do justice on a blog written by a sub-par writer…

Witt Nation really opened my eyes to not only the entire nation, but the love that so many graduates have about this place as I do.  It’s great to know that pretty much every alumni, current student, or future student is as jacked up about Witt as I am, and trust me when I say, if you were at the Dallas event at Rob Armstrong’s house, you would know exactly what I’m talking about.

There were so many landmarks on this trip that stood out: being so close to Fenway during gametime that I could throw a rock at it, Tyler’s birthday, visiting Chinatown in NYC, seeing all the monuments and walking around the air and space museum with Matt McDonald, meltdown in Atlanta (crew knows), 3:00AM checkout time in New Orleans, oh, and the Hostel there…, Vegas, the entire state of California, more importantly Yosemite (beautiful), the million hour trip from San Francisco to Denver, Sushi in Chicago, a walk-off home run in Indy, and Ohio.  There were also a lot of Witt Nationisms that developed, mostly because of Ben “McBoom” McCombs….lemme get my truck, picking up the pieces, Latarian, Officer Ellen Lovejoy, the dinosaur during graduation, .asia, and many many more.

But Witt Nation was the most incredible opportunity I have ever gotten in my life.  It was the easiest decision I had to make regarding my future when Dr. Beers and B-Raff asked us to go on it in October.  It exposed me to things I had never done before, like doing service on a daily basis, and loving it.  There were so many people that we helped along the road during our trip that I don’t think that we left one of those sites satisfied.  I will have so many lifelong memories from this trip, and lifelong friends too, especially Leslie Baby Chasteen, Joelle JG Visuals/Giggling/Good Time Ghanem and Taylor Tyler Hafley.  Since three of us will be staying in Springfield this year (Taylor, Leslie and myself) we will be sure to continue Witt Nation service, well, Springfield Young Professional’s Service within the Springfield community, and I will probably see Joelle every time I go home since we have lived in Dublin together the past 12 years.  I’ll always remember this whole trip, and thanks so much to everybody who followed us and gave us some serious pickups along the way!

P.S. If anyone wants to challenge me in iPad Scrabble. Give me a call, and if you need advice on how I play, call John and Lisa Demarest in San Francisco!

P.S.S. Since I’ll be in Springfield as an Admission Counselor for Witt, I am lobbying for use of the Witt Nation truck for when I travel, put in a good word for me with Linda!

Over and out-
one love,
Sam…Tao

Let me tell you – not a bad post-graduation trip if you ask me. From east to west, north to south, there will never be a trip like this. Though we only got to spend a limited amount of time in the cities we were excited to see, the next day’s adventure is what kept us eager and nowhere near disappointed. When we were asked in October if we wanted to be a part of Witt Nation, by none other than Dr. Beers, I’m pretty sure we all responded within 10 minutes of the email. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, if we would be able to have it all planned, or even when the exact dates of the trip were… we all just knew one thing – Roadtrippppp: Wittenberg style.

Monday morning, 8am, Witt Nation planning meetings, slowly but surely changed to 4pm meetings, all thanks to Ben “Gold Bond” McCombs’ brilliant suggestion. That’s when all the productivity finally took place and the trip started to take form, with a twist: Service hits the road. Graduation came around and soon we were counting down the days to our departure. As we were brainstorming what our final blogs should be about we thought about using different words that described us as our title for the blog and pretty much write the whole thing about. Well I took a different route, sorry crew, but I guess my word would have been “diversity.” Though my diversity was interrupted by another, I feel as though I brought some knowledge of the Lebanese culture to the Witt Nation family. Whether it was a lovely dinner or gathering hosted by my parents, asking how to say words in Lebanese during a lunch pit-stop on the road, or convincing a vendor to give us free street meat in Columbus, I feel as though I contributed… a little.

While noticing how I liked to talk about my background, I also realized how interesting were those of our alumni. People from all over the nation shared where they grew up, where they moved, why they went the path the decided, and to whom they owe it all. Through all of that. they never failed to mention how Wittenberg was an important part of their life and how it is the backbone of most of their endeavors. From the tearing down and rebuilding of dorms, to the local hang outs in Springfield, to the upcoming varsity sports, and the stories within the walls of the sorority and fraternity houses… it is official: Witt is like no other. This trip strengthened the honor I already had to have gone to and graduated from Wittenberg University. If you haven’t put it all together – I’m going to miss it.

I learned a lot from our stops, the 3 fellow crew members, and those that joined us on the road – For example: Snacks are a must. Replaying “Your Love is My Drug” is good for the soul. Angry birds and scrabble for the ipad really passes the time. That no matter how annoyed you are by a fellow roadie – you realize there is no one else you would want to pass the time with. That you shouldn’t take jumbo coffee cups from gas stations lightly. If she wants an apple – just give her the apple, darnit. Always cut your fingernails on a saturday. Never be tactless. Listen to the Doc. That even the littlest trip to a national park can give you a greater knowledge and perspective of your surroundings (thanks Bob). That Vegas not only is the biggest adult playground – but also houses one of the greatest service organizations I have seen. Lastly, decorating a white t-shirt with fading fabric markers goes a long way and will put a smile on a kid’s face.

It was easy telling people what we were looking forward to after graduation before Witt Nation, because the answer always was Witt Nation. We had a month to postpone good-byes to some close friends, and now that we are all separated we are wondering, but eagerly planning, the next time we will hang out and see each other. I know where my 3 fellow roadies – Sammy, Les, and Taytay- are going to end up… proud members of the SYPA (Springfield Young Professionals Association), and hopefully, I will end up where my ambitions have always been. I know one thing – this trip was one for the books, one we will tell the grandkids, one we will never forget. Now it’s time to graduate to reality, and start our future

“… And will we succeed? Yes, we will indeed! 98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.”

Endless Peace and Blessings,

Joelle “Giggling/Good Time” Ghanem … from the great class of 2010