It Takes a Village: Generation Orange Steps Up
Putting together a four-day weekend with more than 45 events for hundreds of out-of-town guests is a huge undertaking, one greater than can be handled by the small staff of the Syracuse University Office of Multicultural Advancement (SUMA) alone. CBT 2021 benefitted from the expertise of several young alumni who joined the team for the weekend to lend their talents. All are members of what Syracuse University refers to as Generation Orange, alumni within 10 years of graduating, and former Our Time Has Come Scholars.
Brooklyn-based photographer Alberto Lainez ’19 jumped at the chance to photograph CBT when asked by Maria J. Lopez ’05, G’12, assistant director of scholarship programs for SUMA. “I primarily work with small businesses of color or shooting headshots for actors and musicians, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to work with an institution doing something on a larger scale,” he says.
Although Lainez attended a few workshops at CBT 2017 as a first-year student, covering almost every event throughout CBT 2021 provided a far greater experience. “It was very refreshing to see all these alumni come back and to see how much love and respect they have for Syracuse,” he says. “Now I see why it’s so important as an alumnus of color to really stay involved with the Syracuse community.
Original feature published in Syracuse Manuscript and can be found here.