Olivia Russo
LV Life Editor
To kick off Homecoming Weekend, the Office of Alumni Engagement created the Taste of ULV for alumni to gather together and reminisce about their times at the University while also celebrating all the different places students and faculty come from.
The Taste of ULV took place Oct. 3 at Citrus Lawn with about 75 people in attendance.
The lawn was decorated with tables for both standing and sitting, outdoor string lights and a white fence closing off the area to those not part of the event. A DJ was playing a mix of older and modern music throughout the evening.
Along the sides of the lawn, there were tables of food and mini bars for different types of alcoholic beverages. Each table had food from a different culture and a wine to pair, as well as a dessert platter and a charcuterie board.
“We have designed this evening to kind of represent the diversity that’s represented in the University through the different stations of food from different places our students come from,” Risa Dickson, university president, said during the opening remarks.
The cultures picked represented some of the top study abroad destinations, including Italy and Japan and the top countries international students come from like China, India and Qatar.
To celebrate the University of La Verne being a Hispanic Serving Institution, a table was set up for foods from different Latin American countries.
The food was a pull for a lot of the alumni attending the event, including Charlene King, an alumna from 1987, who said it was one of the best parts about attending, but also shared her emotional attachment to the school.
“It’s rare for me to miss anything and they’re serving wine,” King said. “I love these people and I always say the school saved my life. I’m extremely attached.”
Alumni from across all years attended the event, with some more recent than others, including the former president of the Alumni Advisory Board and alumna of 2016, Stephanie Hancock.
“I think it’s a way for all of us to still have an impact,” Hancock said. “We come back and we can pour into the current students. We can pour into the staff and just always let them know how much we appreciate them.”
What was the most prevalent feeling throughout the night was the sense of community everyone had together, many alumni had other family members attend the University, as well as reconnecting with one another that they had not seen in a while.
Including that of Ofelia Lopez and Christine Camacho, who both graduated in 2014 for their undergraduate, but met up at the Taste of ULV after a while since their time together.
Both Lopez and Camacho were very involved during their time at the University, sharing they joined the same sorority at the same time and always tried to catch up with fellow classmates at the Davenport Dining Hall.
“I used to live in StuHan before it was demolished and I loved it,” Lopez said. “It was great. I think I loved the fact that it built a community within the halls…and I think I’m always going to have that forever.”
The community that Lopez felt also left a lasting impression on Camacho as well, who did not live on campus while she was a student, but still felt included during her experience.
“My favorite memory is Barb’s,” Camacho said. “It was cool that it was a special place where I could run into my sorority sisters and the athletes.”
Most of the guests likened the event to a family reunion.
“Homecoming is my absolutely most favorite time of the year,” Julie Wheeler, alumna of 1986, said. “I say it’s better than Christmas because I get to see old friends and new friends and just hang out.”
Olivia Russo can be reached at olivia.russo@laverne.edu.
Olivia Russo is a senior journalism major with a concentration in print/online journalism and a minor in criminology. She is the Editor-in-Chief for the Campus Times for Spring 2026. She has previously served as the News Editor, LV Life Editor, a photographer and a staff writer for the Campus Times, as well as a staff writer and photographer for La Verne Magazine.
Joseph Nocero is a senior photography major at the University of La Verne and a staff photographer for the Campus Times and photography editor for La Verne Magazine. His work can also be found at Joseph Nocero Photography.
