As  Alumni  Affairs celebrates Commencement 2021, we look back on  the Beacon pin.

Four years ago, Alumni Affairs introduced a graduation gift for our students – a small lapel pin - which we told them to “wear with pride” as they walked across the Commencement stage.

That first gift to the Class of 2017 was a small, gold colored Beacon-shaped pin. It took Alumni Affairs at least two ceremonies before they noticed an increase in the wearing of the pin, with several of the Class of 2019 seeking the team out at rehearsal to receive their special gift. Even during Commencement 2020, many graduating students (who’d received their gifts by mail) wore their pins on their regalia for all to see as they graduated in a virtual celebration.

We asked Lea Sublett, Manager of Alumni Affairs, why a Beacon shaped pin? “When we decided to introduce a graduation gift we sought feedback from recent and long-time graduates, and the gift evolved from these conversations. The pin has been so warmly received it’s now an alumni tradition with many alumni wearing their pins to alumni events in Saudi Arabia and internationally,” she said.