You’ve had your UVM email address for 4+ years now and you may be wondering what’s going to happen with it now that you’ve graduated. Well, nothing is going to happen just yet. But, that doesn’t stop UVM IT from sending scary weird emails.

What the heck is this weirdness?

If you haven’t already, one of the first things you’ll get is a cryptic-looking email from UVM that reads like this:

This is an automated email sent to all recent graduates like yourself that makes you feel like you are reading this:

It is definitely confusing and looks like someone may have hacked your account, but don’t worry, it’s really just a message to let you know that a change is coming to your NetID and email.

Thankfully, we’re here to let you know that you will still be able to use your email address. Your access to your UVM email will eventually expire, but that doesn’t happen for another year. (You may want to start shifting your important communications to a different email account soon – but that’s something for future you to worry about.)

So, now that you know more about your UVM email account, time for a survey!

We are excited to start learning more about you all, and the first way we do that each year on Afterword is through a quick survey –  just a few easy questions about what you’re up to right now.

Additionally, we are working on a post about y’alls first day on the job so be sure to answer the last question on the survey to help us out with that project. i.e “no one told me where the bathroom was – it was crazy” – things we can all relate to – or “my first day was perfect, I can’t believe I’m so lucky” – all good stuff.

Best Part: Three of you who fill out the survey will win a pretty sweet UVM t-shirt!

So, let’s get to it!

Welcome to Afterword! We’re so glad you’re here.

We know it’s only been a month since you graduated, and you aren’t feeling nostalgic for UVM yet…

Or maybe you are nostalgic because the ‘real world’ is happening now. Some next level Sunday Scaries, if you ask us.

But first, you are probably wondering what this blog is all about.

Well, contrary to popular UVM lore – we’re not asking you for anything. This isn’t a secret trick to ask you for money or barrage your inbox with useless information.

This blog is the afterword to your UVM story. We’re here to keep you connected to UVM, Burlington, and to your classmates. And, we’re here to help you write your next chapter.

We’re recent grads like you. We work at the UVM Foundation and Alumni Association and our job is to help you.

Unlike your parents, we don’t expect you to know everything right now. You’re under a lot of pressure to plan the rest of your life (whether you have a job, a place to live, or neither) and we want to give you a place to feel at home.

We’ve been doing this for the past three years with the Classes of 2015, 2016, and 2017 so we are really excited to talk to you, get to know you all, and be as helpful as we can.

With that in mind, during Senior Week, we set up shop in Alumni House and asked many of you a few questions about your upcoming year, and recorded your answers with a professional podcasting microphone. Pretty neat.

Post-grad life is often very uncertain, and the reality sets in quickly that you are now really in charge of your life. Luckily, your classmates all feel the same way. And trust us, not everyone has a plan yet for what they are going to do next.

So take a minute and listen below to hear your classmates’ answers recorded live during senior week. Enjoy!

Stay tuned in the coming months for all of this helpful content and more!

• Fellow recent alums and how they spent their first year after graduation. Check out a few of our most recent profiles from the Class of 2017 – William Lemos and Cara Stapleford.
• Feel great about being a UVM alum. That means we’ll even take you out to lunch, give some stuff away, and generally keep you entertained and informed.

Are you excited? We sure are.

This is it, Class of 2017, the final post of your afterword journey.

I know it seems a bit crazy to think about how an entire year has passed since your graduation.

We’re honored to have been on this journey with you for the past year, and we hope that by sharing the stories of you and your classmates, we helped you in some small way.

Maybe you got some free stuff, maybe you felt like you weren’t the only one feeling a little lost, or maybe you feel a bit more connected to your classmates.

Whatever the outcome, it’s been so much fun connecting with you all.

For some feels, we dug out the first Afterword post we sent to you: the audio stories that we collected from many of you at your senior week.

Take a listen, and hear how much you all have grown:

Thank you all so much for sharing your stories with us, and having a little fun along the way.

I know, you’re thinking: Wait, what happens now?

Well, there are tons of ways to stay involved with the Alumni Association, and the easiest options are ones you’ve probably already done! We’re on Facebook, Insta, Twitter, and LinkedIn – so if you haven’t followed us, go hit those Follow buttons!

Through our social, you’ll hear about opportunities to volunteer, as well as events that are happening near you!

Beyond that, we also have a new network for alumni that you should join!

It’s called UVM Connect, and it’s a space for UVM alums to come together for career networking of all kinds – whether it’s coffee, or a job shadow, there’s probably an alum out there who would be willing to share a thing or two with you!

You can also offer to help a fellow alum or a current student – use the life experience you gained this year for good!

Sound like a plan?

Cheers,

-Kathryn and Ryan

Hi all,

After months of emails, it’s time to for us to chat…like for real! We personally wish we could speak with all of you individually, but we have employed the Chatty Cats to do it for us.

Don’t worry, this is not some secret ploy to ask you for money.  Yes, the Chatty Cats typically fundraise for UVM, but not this time — they are just calling to check-in, ask a few questions, and get your feedback.

We will try to call your cell phone number — if we have it — and our number will show up as 802-656-9999.

To make sure we reach you, you can update your phone number using this form.

Here’s why the call is important: It helps us understand how you are doing so far in your first year out, AND you will have the opportunity to tell us how you would like to stay involved with UVM. It’s your opportunity to give feedback – positive or negative – and make your voice heard.

Talk to you soon!

Hey 2016ers, thank you for following along the past 16 months. Yes, it is time for us to say goodbye, but only in the form of weekly posts.

We get how you feel.

We want you to know that this is the last post we will write specifically for you Class of 2016.

Why? Our job was to help you transition from being a student to a UVM alum and you’ve done that (mostly without our help)! We hope this blog has helped a little bit with that transition and given you some inspiration and a few chuckles along the way.

We hope you’ll stay connected to UVM.

One of the best ways to do that is to make sure your contact information is up to date. That way we know where to send event invitations and other UVM-related items. You can update your contact information here.

Don’t forget about being social!

UVM is on LinkedIn (UVM Alumni Association), Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (@uvmvermont). So be sure to follow along.

We’ve had a lot of fun writing for and getting to meet some of you and we once again wish you all the best.

If you want to stay in touch, email us at ryan.chartier@uvm.edu or kathryn.meader@uvm.edu. We’d love for you to share your first year out story with the class of 2017 or ’18 and beyond.

Before we go, we made a little goodbye video featuring all of the folks we work with here at Alumni House wishing you well. We hope you enjoy, and, stop by anytime!

A Farewell to the Class of 2016 from UVMF on Vimeo.

Best,

Ryan ’10 and Kathryn ’15