Alaska Pacific University (APU) is ramping up to host an alumni reunion for students (and their friends and families) who attended APU between 1979 and 1985. Although the event being planned for June 24th to 28th is inclusive of all students who attended APU during those six years, it is Ray Clements, who served as Dean Of Students between 1979 and 1981, and some of the international students he recruited to APU, who have been the motivating force behind it, including Felix Idahosa, Joel Bulaya, Philip Imboywa, Austin Agho, Richard Oriakhi, Njikonyen Ekeleme and Thomas Jodwalis.
“We call him our father,” says Joel Bulaya of Clements. Bulaya, one of the reunion planners, arrived in Alaska from the Congo. “APU is our home,” he says.
“Those of us who attended APU for any length of time know what a special place it was,” writes APU alum, Laura Irby, in one Facebook post. She attended Alaska Pacific University between 1980 and 1981. “The diversity of the student population was amazing and gave us all a larger scope of our place in the world … [The] relationships we formed while we were there have stayed with us ever since. This reunion is a chance to come back together, reconnect, and share what we’ve been up to during the past few decades.”
Alumni interested in connecting with classmates who attended APU between 1979 and 1985 or planning to attend the reunion, are welcome to join the reunion Facebook group.
In addition to sharing stories and getting reacquainted with old friends and classmates, participants in the June alumni reunion will have the opportunity to tour APU facilities, go on excursions (including a visit to the Spring Creek Farm on the Kellogg Campus of Alaska Pacific University, in Palmer, AK.) and be involved in a service project for the University. The highlight of this event will be a gala dinner scheduled for Friday, June 26th and the announcement of the establishment of the International Student Scholarship.
For more information and for a Reunion Registration Form, go to www.alaskapacific.edu. You can also contact Lynn Paulson, APU Communication Liaison (907-564-8251 or lep@alaskapacific.edu) or Ray Clements (907-346-2064).
