From luxurious cruises to a mountain tour with President John deSteiguer, Oklahoma Christian University offers its alumni opportunities throughout the year to reconnect with old friends and go on “incredible” trips through its alumni tours program.
For 2019, the trip destinations are the Vienna Christmas markets in December, a Caribbean cruise during mid-March and a mountain rail tour of the Canadian Rockies this fall.
Alan Phillips, chief alumni relations officer for Oklahoma Christian, is charged with overseeing the alumni tours operation as a whole. Phillips runs advertisements for alumni tours through the alumni relations office and mentioned that, along with his wife, he often goes on one of the trips each year.
“This is a very fun way in which alums can make connections,” Phillips said. “A lot of families are doing vacations and cruises, so why not do with them your friends and alma mater at sponsored events? The connections continue on through the university with these types of trips.”
One of the destinations this year is Vienna, Austria in early December. Not only is Vienna a hot tourist location, but, according to Phillips, by going through alumni tours, alumni can save money on their trip. Through Oklahoma Christian’s connections to Das Millicanhaus, housing is considerably cheaper compared to booking a hotel in Europe. Beyond the savings, Phillips said seeing the markets in Vienna around Christmastime is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“Vienna is very popular and a high-demand place to go, so usually every year there’s some kind of Vienna offering,” Phillips said. “This year, rather than a spring or summer week event, we are actually doing a Vienna markets tour in December, so it’ll be different.”
Another unique experience offered through alumni tours is the Caribbean cruise in March. During the week-long cruise around the Caribbean islands, Oklahoma Christian’s music department will perform its Cabaret performance on the ship twice during the week at sea.
“With our Cabaret performance, we are taking 40 students who were invited by Royal Caribbean,” Phillips said. “We thought it was a natural opportunity for parents to want to go, and then we opened it up to alumni, so now it is an Oklahoma Christian family tour.”
The last trip available for 2019 is a Canadian Rockies eight-day rail tour. From Sept. 28 through Oct. 5, deSteiguer and his wife will lead the journey from Vancouver to Calgary through the mountains by train and coach. In between trips, there will be sight-seeing stops in places such as Calgary Tower and Vancouver Lookout.
Kim Reiter, assistant director of alumni outreach, said she shares the responsibility of handling all things involving the alumni tours program.
“It is a great way for alumni to reconnect with old friends and meet new alumni friends,” Reiter said. “It also strengthens their feelings of connection to their alma mater. It helps them remember what their time at Oklahoma Christian was about and maybe sheds new light on that time.”
For more information on alumni tours, those interested can visit: http://www.oc.edu/alumni/.
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