A special day for Syracuse University is just around the corner, and many alumni are doing their part to join in the festivities.

To celebrate SU’s 144th birthday, about 144 alumni have created reminiscent videos of themselves. The videos, now on SU’s YouTube channel, feature alumni who graduated as recently as a year ago, or as far back as the 1960s. Kim Brown, SU’s alumni program coordinator, calls these “selfie videos” a great way to celebrate tradition and what makes up the history of the university.

“We’re nothing without our stories,” Brown said.  “They’re our family. They’re our community. Everyone has a story to share.”

The idea for the videos originated on Jan. 15. SU staff members reached out to alumni at big events on campus, Brown said. The Feb. 1 SU vs. Duke University men’s basketball game and recent WJPZ Banquet are where many of the videos were filmed.

Notable alumni such as Mike Tirico ’88 and Don McPherson ’87 created videos that are featured on the Celebrate SU website and social media outlets. Brown said they also reached out to alumni with Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #CelebrateSU.

“Mike Tirico’s video was great,” Brown said. “He just gave everyone the warm and fuzzies. But you don’t have to be of a certain status or have any sort of job in order to participate. We want to hear from anyone.”

SU staff members have taken road trips to cities with a high population of alumni and filmed the mini memoirs using a flip camera. Brown said her inbox is flooded daily with emails from individual alumni who simply recorded themselves on their iPhones.

Sam Edelstein, SU assistant director of regional programs, said the number 44 plays a big role in the birthday celebration.

“Alumni have twitter usernames with 44 in them,” Edelstein said. “Their license plates have 44 in them. Our phone numbers all start with 44. Our zip code is 13244. It’s just a part of Syracuse.”

Alumni are excited to tell their stories, Edelstein said. He added that it’s also a good way to see where alumni are going to go in the future using their SU tradition.

Jeff Lutz,’06 graduate and treasurer of the SU Alumni Club of Michigan, said he talks to other alumni and feels like he never left Syracuse.  During his time at SU, he created a curling club and competed in multiple national championships. Lutz is currently helping create the first Israeli curling team for the Olympics in 2018.

In his birthday celebration video, Lutz talked about his fondness of his time at school and the memories of his team.

“The one thing that I love the most about being an alum of Syracuse is that you go anywhere, you look online, you walk down the street, you meet other alums and you all have a similar passion,” Lutz said.

T.J. Basalla, an SU graduate of ’06, said he loves SU and is extremely enthusiastic about his alma mater. His favorite memory as a student was watching the Orange win the national championship his freshman year. He added that he feels like he never left the school and there’s a reason why his entire closet is orange.

“It completely changed my life,” Basalla said. “I don’t know where I’d be personally, professionally and everything without Syracuse. This was just a simple way to wish happy birthday to a school that changed my life.”

Published on March 20, 2014 at 12:41 am

Contact Jackie: jmfrere@syr.edu | @jackie_frere