Summer Alumni Institute 2009

Gordon College says that it “strives to graduate men and women distinguished by intellectual maturity and Christian character, committed to a lifestyle of servanthood and prepared for leadership roles in their homes, work places, churches and communities world wide.”
 
How well do these things distinguish your life? Now that you’ve been away from Gordon for a while, do you feel like you are making a difference in the world?
 
What might it look like for someone of your education and ability to be a “transformative agent for the Kingdom of God?” What circumstantial obstacles do you face? What internal resistance do you encounter?  
 
Do you have a sense that you have found your calling, or are you still looking? What resources or support do you wish were available for acting on the things you care most deeply about?
 
A group of Gordon alumni will gather for a weekend this summer to explore these and similar questions (and have some fun on the North Shore!). The registration cost is $100; lodging and meals for the weekend will be provided. Scholarships are available. Space is limited to 24 participants. 

To register fill out the application below. We are accepting registrations now through June 25th.
After that date late registrations may be accepted if space allows.  

For more information please email Laura Carmer or call her at 978.867.4029.

Funded in part by a grant from the Lilly Foundation.

"The best part of the week-end for me was being in conversation about something that matters with other people interested in having the conversation. I loved hearing other peoples' stories and just processing issues with everyone. Thanks to [Greg and Laura Carmer] for putting the event on. I'd been looking forward to it for some time beforehand, and going to the retreat was really valuable for me. You guys are wonderful at setting a tone that encourages discussion and creating an atmosphere that feels safe or right to work through stuff." --Dominic Gouker '99 

I think I have always known about the value of vocation and its role in my life, however the weekend proved to put words and faces to those sentiments. Dedicating time to discuss and reflect on these issues helped to validate and confirm the value of vocation in my life and others. It was nice to hear how these issues have been playing out in the lives of the other participants as well." --Annie (Garabedian) Ovanessian '93    

"One of the unexpected parts of the weekend that I valued was meeting others and hearing their stories. It was encouraging. I appreciated being around other people who were thinking about vocation and faith and who are a bit farther from graduation than me. I have recently felt that though Gordon College gave me a wonderful vision for the world and my role in it, I was unprepared for some of the harsh realities and suffering that exist out there. After being in social work and seeing people in pain, sometimes it's hard to integrate that with faith. This weekend helped to validate that feeling--that suffering is difficult to understand. But the weekend also encouraged me to look to God and strengthened and encouraged me to look for faith in concrete ways." --Amanda Stratton '03  

"The weekend triggered me to think a lot more about poverty and social justice...not something I think a whole lot about on a global scale. I've been reading Mountains Beyond Mountains (by Tracy Kidder) on the heels of our weekend together. Thank you for being such wonderful hosts and facilitating a worthwhile weekend that allowed me not only to refocus on my vocation--but to reconnect with the place some of those dreams of "becoming" were born--and to in some way work on some stumbling blocks." --Charae Spuler '95  

"What surprised me about the weekend was the reminder of what a wonderful place Gordon College is, because therein the space is created for these kinds of discussions. It is refreshing to delve deeply into what God is doing in our lives, and has done since graduation." --Sarah Hine'01