“It’s amazing to think that over 7,000 lives have been touched by the education they’ve received as a result of graduating from WSU and TJSL.” Those were the words spoken by Western State University College of Law graduate George Cretton ’87 while attending the private Western State luncheon honoring alumni from 1969–1994 that took place on Saturday, October 11 on the 8th floor of the TJSL campus.
“Thank you all for being here,” said Dean Thomas Guernsey. “This law school exists and will continue to exist because of our amazing WSU and TJSL graduates. The point of the luncheon this afternoon is to focus on our WSU grads. They are among our most distinguished alums and have made their imprint on our legal community very clear, and we truly appreciate that.”
As part of the Inaugural TJSL Alumni Weekend, alumni, faculty and staff also joined together on Friday, October 10th at the 19th Annual Alumni Golf Tournament and Saturday, October 11th to help celebrate the schools 45 year anniversary.
On Friday, beginning at 9:30 a.m. at Salt Creek Golf Club, faculty, students, staff and alumni competed for prizes in a shotgun style golf tournament followed by a cocktail reception and awards dinner where the rock band, The Innocent Bystanders, consisting of Professors Steve Berenson, Jeff Slattery, Kaimipono Wenger, Steve Semeraro and former Communications Media Relations Director Chris Saunders played.
The Annual Alumni Golf Tournament raised funds for the Thomas Jefferson School of Law Veterans Legal Assistance Clinic and the New Guaranteed Merit Scholarship Program.
On Saturday, TJSL and Western State Alumni came together to mingle with current TJSL students at the 6 p.m. reception held on the 8th floor of the TJSL campus.
Before heading up to the 8th floor on Saturday, October 11 for the 6 p.m. reception, alumni and their guests gathered for a social hour at the newly opened Bottega Americano located in the Lobby of the TJSL campus.
Throughout the day, participants also took tours of the TJSL campus from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
In addition to the Saturday WSU luncheon at noon and TJSL reception at 6 p.m., TJSL also hosted an MCLE Seminar in room 325. The seminar provided four opportunities for participants to earn two general and two ethics MCLE credits. The MCLE seminar was free for TJSL alumni.
This year also highlighted the first ever Reunion Giving Challenge which invited alumni to make a gift, in honor of their class year and demonstrate their class’s superior commitment to TJSL’s mission. The class of 1974 was recognized on Saturday evening at the Alumni Awards Reception.
Two distinguished alumni were also honored on Saturday evening. Craig A. Sherman‘93 received the Outstanding Service to Community Award and the Honorable Roger T. Benitez ‘78 received the Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award and was also inducted into the Alumni Wall of Fame.
“What an amazing feeling to see so many wonderful alumni, from the 1970’s to 2014, all gathered in one place to celebrate all of their outstanding accomplishments and 45 years of Thomas Jefferson School of Law,” said Director of Alumni Relations Stephanie Marquez. “I would like to thank all of the dedicated staff, faculty, student and alumni volunteers who made this entire weekend such a smashing success!”