Larry Driscoll, associate professor of criminal justice, incorporates alumni from many professional areas to teach seniors in his social science class the responsibilities they hold after graduation.

“I tell them you just can’t take, you must give back,” Driscoll explained. “By bringing in alumni, the students learn the history of the University from the people who walked the hallways before them.”

Having alumni come to speak to his class, Driscoll said, gives the students a connection to Wheeling Jesuit’s history and helps them learn that choices made today can impact their future.

Dan Haller and John Egan McAteer, both from the class of 1961, recently visited Driscoll’s class and shared stories about successful classmates, as well as encouraged them to “aim high” in their own career pursuits.

Driscoll noted the alumni talk about how he or she got from the classroom to where they are today – something he believes is important for today’s students to see. Important Driscoll said, because it teaches the students what they must do once they graduate to be successful.

“We told them to be honored to be a part of this Jesuit heritage and that they are part of a legacy that they can be proud of,” said Haller. In his class, Haller explained that more than 70 percent of his classmates received advanced degrees and they had one Rhodes Scholar finalist in Dr. Michael Santer and Lee Flanagan won a Woodrow Wilson scholarship to Brown University.

“To our minds, it is valuable for alumni, faculty and students to have these encounters. For our part, we as alumni get a chance to meet some of the impressive young people who are part of the continuum at WJU,” Haller added about his classroom interaction.

Haller said meeting and interacting with students and faculty at his alma mater “reinforces the pride I have in WJU and its mission. And faulty members have a chance to reconnect with their former students and see the success of their own efforts. I think it is a win, win, win opportunity.”

Driscoll said he plans to bring in other alumni from other disciplines to speak to his class before the end of the semester. He said the more they hear about the history of the University and the alum’s journey of how they got to today, “the more it helps current students understand what lies ahead and what their responsibility is for the next generation of WJU students.”