Chris Praedel (B.B.A. ’08, Management), event and stewardship coordinator for the WMU Office of Development and Alumni Relations, leads the charge on all alumni events with a small team of student and staff. He is also responsible for coordinating with various areas of the University to ensure all campus events run smoothly. For Now Showing, that includes landscape services, facilities management, parking services, public safety, logistical services, and WMU catering, in addition to off-campus vendors.
Now Showing… on Prospect Hill is sponsored by Consumers Energy and Omni Credit Union, and will feature free treats (for the first 250 guests) from local, alumni owned businesses, Great Scott! Ice Pops and Pop City Popcorn.
“We try to think of events appealing to all people, including those who might not normally attend a university alumni event, such as the movie night or Guinness record vow renewal event,” Praedel adds.
The idea behind Now Showing… on Prospect Hill stemmed from a desire to hold a large, outdoor event on the Grand Lawn of Heritage Hall.
“We also wanted to use it as an opportunity for community members, alumni, and donors to see the transformation at Heritage Hall,” Praedel explained. “We selected a popular, late 90s movie that might help inspire STEM related graduates with younger kids but would still be enjoyed by anyone, including nostalgic adults.”
The movie ‘October Sky,' a family friendly feature from 1999 will be shown just after sun set at 9:15 p.m. Inspired by NASA Engineer Homer H. Hickam, Jr.’s autobiography, the film centers around a young man (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is fascinated by the escalating space race and the launch of Sputnik. With the help his teacher (Laura Dern), Homer and his fellow classmates begin designing and launching their own homemade ‘missiles,’ however, Homer’s father disapproves and believes his son should become coal miner.
Each year, Praedel works to develop new event ideas that will continue to attract WMU alumni and friends to connect and engage with each other.
“We aim to provide distinctive events for donors, alumni and Bronco families,” Praedel explains. “In each of our four major regions we're offering two Broncos and Brews events and one larger family friendly engagement event. When we arrange alumni events outside of those areas, we use a ‘heat map’ to highlight areas with the largest concentration of alumni and donors. We then work with highly engaged alumni in that area to select ideal sites and to help spread the word.”
In the last year, the office has traveled across Michigan from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids and Metro Detroit, and across the country to Chicago, Denver, Phoenix, Washington DC, San Francisco, L.A., Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, and several cities in Florida. A few events still on the books are the inaugural WMU Night at Comerica Park for a Tigers ballgame, several Broncos & Brews events, a pre-game Stampede Tailgate in Chicago, and the World’s Largest Vow Renewal attempt over Homecoming weekend, in addition to regular Homecoming events such as the annual Distinguished Alumni Award reception.
Learn more about Now Showing … On Prospect Hill at MyWMU.com/NowShowing.
Learn more about all of our events at MyWMU.com/events.
The image above features the Grand Opening Celebration of Heritage Hall from October, 2015.