South African Spiders

The world seems smaller around the dinner table at Cape Town’s Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. Many were meeting for the first time, yet one pair of alumni discovered a shared career passion. An alum-student pair figured out they lived in the same room in Keller Hall. And another pair discovered they’re both from the same town.

Connections come easy among Spiders, whether in Richmond or all the way across the sea.

The alumni office now supports regional groups in London, Panama, and Shanghai. In several more countries, alumni connect with Spiders who land in areas farther afield.

In South Africa, the bench is small but passionate. Between Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Pretoria, nearly a dozen alumni call the country home.

In July, two UR staff members — Ashleigh Brock, ’05, and Paul Brockwell Jr. — brought together alumni in Johannesburg and gathered Capetonians with 10 students who had recently arrived to study abroad this fall at the University of Cape Town.

“In 10 years, I’ve actually never had the chance to connect with Richmond like this,” said South African native Paul Kelly, ’05. “It’s amazing.”

The connections didn’t stop at the dinner table. Our pair of staff ran into another alumna visiting Table Mountain. She spotted their Spider shirts and knew she’d found friends, confirming the notion that wherever you may roam, you should keep your eyes open for the red and blue.