Most Hopkins students dream of graduating and securing extremely lucrative jobs to buy nice cars, cool clothes and destination vacations a step up from budget spring break getaways.
Judging by the endowments bequeathed by Hopkins alumni, this seems to happen pretty consistently. And current students benefit when alumni give back.
There are, of course, the obvious gifts: the fact that the name "Bloomberg" can be found on several buildings, structures and even chairs in the library.
There are also endowments for scholarships.There are also some less visible benefits for students provided by the generosity of alumni.
The most popular is probably the Alumni Student Discount card. Available from the Office of Alumni Relations (3211 N. Charles St.), this card will save you money at most establishments in Charles Village.
The card also gets you discounts at restaurants, bars, retailers, hair salons, yoga studios and even hotels in the Baltimore-D.C. area. You can see a full list of vendors who honor the discount card at http://alumni.jhu.edu/students/discounts.
One of the most valuable but lesser-known services the Alumni Association offers is HopkinsNET. This is an online networking tool that allows you to search for and connect with Hopkins alumni in specific fields. It's a good resource for students who are unsure about career paths, and also a good way to build contacts for future job searches.
Alumni have also given money to establish grants for students to pursue extracurricular interests. Available annually, these grants can be used to fund projects outside of the classroom.
The Alumni Association offers two different types of grants for student group projects. The Students Services grants can be used as a stipend for projects involving more than one student, and Community Service grants offset the cost of a public service project in the Baltimore area.
The Second Decade Society also offers grants, sponsored by alumni, for unpaid summer internships. These grants cover living expenses and may even provide extra money to be put towards summer savings.
Then there are the legacies that are so ingrained in daily life that we might not even think about where they came from. The AMRs, for example, weren't part of the original Homewood campus.
When the undergraduate school relocated to Charles Village, it didn't have enough money to build dorms. Several years later, a group of alumni decided student housing would probably enhance student life, and they endowed the building which is now AMR I.
The AMRs were originally meant to honor Hopkins students who died in World War I (hence the name Alumni Memorial Residence), but the school divided the structures into named houses to pay further tribute to distinguished former members of the Hopkins community.
Willard House, for example, is named after Daniel Willard, who began his career as a track worker for B&O Rail Road Company, and eventually worked his way up to become the company's president in the 1910s. Wilson House refers to the 28th president of the United States, who held a Ph.D. in history and political science from Hopkins.
Buildings A and B have yet to be dedicated. Perhaps if you do something really great after graduation, your name too could become synonymous with freshmen and dormcest.
Then, of course, there's Michael Bloomberg. He's given the University hundreds of millions of dollars, which have helped pay for everything from buildings to financial aid.
Additionally, it's rumored that he designated some of his money to be used for the picturesque brick sidewalks that wind around campus in the most inconvenient paths after his college-bound daughter came to tour the school and found it ugly.
Humanities students have Zanvyl Krieger to thank for his $50 million donation that helped enrich and develop the School of Arts and Sciences. According to the Alumni Association, this is believed to be the largest donation ever to be directed exclusively towards humanities studies at an American university. This is perhaps even more important at Hopkins, which has always placed considerable emphasis on the sciences, particularly medicine.
Hopkins alumni have given us a lot more than just a tent to get drunk in for one weekend a year. When you make your millions, remember to continue the legacy.
