These days, we’re more attached to digital tools than ever, from Teams chats and Zoom meetings to email and texts. But over the last few weeks, more than 100 UCCS alumni put pen to paper to handwrite over 3,000 letters of welcome to incoming students.
The new initiative, called Write-a-Mountain-Lion, is a joint partnership between the Office of Alumni Relations and the Annual Fund and Enrollment Management. The offices provided stationery and stamped, pre-addressed envelopes to volunteer pencil-pushers.
And the hands of over 100 volunteers – more than 75 of whom are both members of the UCCS faculty and staff bodies as well as alumni – cramped while signing, sealing and delivering personal notes of congratulations to the incoming first-year class.
“In a time filled with uncertainty, we know these notes helped encourage and inspire our new students as they embark on their journeys at UCCS,” said Lisa Bartholme, assistant director of Alumni Relations and the Annual Fund, who helped to spearhead the project.
“It’s a personal touch that helps our students feel reassured and confident in their decision to come to UCCS,” Bartholme continued. “Knowing that those who came before them had such wonderful experiences offers peace of mind and support to get them started on the right foot.”
Having dotted their i’s and crossed their t’s, alumni will finish mailing the letters by July 27.
“Alumni will be the first to tell you that their Mountain Lion experience was just that – an experience,” said Mathew Cox, senior executive director for Enrollment Management. “We wanted members of our alumni community to convey to new students that this truly is a family affair, and that the UCCS experience was impactful to them and will be to these students as well.”
Learn more about the Office of Alumni Relations and Office of Admissions online.
“I will always be a proud Mountain Lion,” said alumni volunteer Sloan Gonzalez ’10, ’16. 
Alumni volunteer Kayla Gronseth-Boyer ’17, ’18 shared her excitement to write to incoming first-years on social media.
