Contributed Article
The inaugural Pearson Alumni Reunion & Festival took place virtually on Sept. 17-25, 2021, leveraging Zoom and social media, to bring together over 600 Pearson alums, and leaders, patrons, and members of the Pearson College UWC global community.
The week-long virtual event series featured a Pearson College UWC Global Village Update for alums, the Annual General Meeting of the Pearson College Alumni Association (PCAA), and diverse events such as a Gather@PC virtual hangout to celebrate UWC Day, poetry hour, gumboot workshop, peer coaching workshop, cooking workshop, virtual class year reunions, and a global watch party of films, with fireside chats with award-winning alumni filmmakers and winemaker.
In true Pearson tradition, alums unveiled initiatives in education, wellness, coaching/mentoring, sustainability, empowering women, and technology platforms for social change. Alum dialogues touched on diverse topics such as arts and culture, climate change, marine conservation, entrepreneurship, growth and development in the COVID era, making vaccines more affordable, and the UWC and Pearson education in today’s world. Alums also brainstormed on fundraising projects for the College.
Created and co-hosted by alums Analisa Leonor Balares (Year 19) and Edouard Bourcier (Year 39), Pearson Alum Reunion Fest is one of the alumni initiatives incubated in the PCAA, and co-produced in close partnership with both the PCAA and Pearson College UWC.
Talks are afoot on a possible holiday/winter reunion fest. For more details on the event, as well as info on more alumni initiatives incubated in the PCAA, links to featured films and music by alums, and invitations to future Reunion Fests, please explore the Festival website: https://www.pcreunionfest.org/