Spider neighbors

When Kakie Pate, ’19, moved to the Boston area for graduate school, she was surprised by the number of Spiders in the area.

“I always thought that Richmond alumni congregated mostly in New York, Washington, D.C., and a little bit in Richmond postgrad,” she said.

She decided to build more connections with alumni in her new home by organizing a low-key, fun meetup at a local institution in her neighborhood, Southie. She took the Spiders bowling.

“It was a true New England experience because it’s candlepin bowling,” she said. About 30 people came — a cross section of young alumni that included familiar faces and new Spiders she met for the first time.

Small-scale, casual meetups like this are happening in cities across the country as part of a new initiative launched by alumni relations. Alumni have arranged taco crawls, played tennis, met at a brewery, and more — typically small affairs drawing 10 or so Spiders. Dagny Barone, ’18, arranged one at a popular farmers market in Richmond.

“The idea was to really just make it an informal meetup that people could attend as part of their normal day going to the farmers market,” said Barone, who helped launch the meetups initiative as part of the Recent Grad Regional Council.

“I think folks are much more informal now, and they’re looking for social events that are much more relaxed.”