"RAPP X & Friends" Meet-Up - Tomorrow at 1PM

RAPP X alumni Damon Heard and Tamara Williams Van Horn realized they were both going to be in Cincinnati at the same time and have put together a mini-reunion of sorts for friends and alumni of RAPP.

At 1:00PM on Friday, July 19th, all are welcome in the RAPP Office (669 Steger Student Life Center, UC Clifton Campus) for some reconnecting, some reminiscing, and some good RAPP Office conversations.

RSVP through the Facebook Event if you'd like or just stop by!  All are welcome!

RAPP Office Updates - Check Us Out!

RAPP's on-campus home for the past half-dozen years has been in 669 Steger Student Life Center. 

The office was originally Diversity Education's.  When RAPP became its own independent functional area in Student Activities & Leadership Development (SALD) in 2008 with the financial support of the Diversity Council, we began sharing the office.  Beginning in 2010, Diversity Education was no longer a coordinated area of SALD with a dedicated Program Coordinator - instead the concept of it was shared under several programs coordinated throughout SALD.

With that change, the office became solely RAPP's.  It also began to be open much more throughout the week since our RAPP Public Ally and interns worked primarily out of the space.  It is now kept open nearly all day Monday through Thursday and Friday afternoons by our great team of Public Ally and interns.

We took a lot of things down for last spring's 25 Year Reunion and have been slowly reorganizing the office since then.  I'm happy to say that we've got some great things finally finished that I encourage everyone to come check out!

New RAPP Sign

Our previous Public Ally Kinsey started a project involving several RAPPers to create some art for our office.  Our current Public Ally Marjorie finished the main painting over the break and we hung it for all to see! Check it out below (my camera-phone doesn't do it justice).

Re-Hanging of RAPP Photos

One of my favorite parts of the RAPP Office has always been the display of photos of all the groups.   In 2008, the Diversity Education Program Coordinator and I rehung all the photos around the top of the room because the wall they were on ran out of space for the new photos.  I loved that we were encircled by our history!

When we hung them in 2008, we knew we'd run out of space for photos in 2011.  I already had hopes for the reunion to be that year, so it was an accepted issue.  We took all the photos down for the reunion and they have been stored in the office since waiting for us to find a new way to hang them all.

Over the break, Marjorie laid out a design and she and I put some hanging tools to use!  The photos now encompass the entire east wall of the office and we've made room for them to be hung in this way through RAPP XXXI (which is hopefully when the 30 Year Reunion will be held!).

Though you can see all the photos on our history site, it's amazing to come and see photos of all 26 groups and three reunions in one space.

RAPP XXVII Photo Rosters

I don't know whether this was done in the past, but since RAPP XXIV I've enjoyed putting up photo rosters of the RAPP groups in our office.  My hopes are it helps people learn names, it highlights who is going through the process, and it previews who will be added to the photo wall above.


Marjorie prepped the posters and we got them back over the break.  They're on display in the RAPP Office now so that RAPPers current, former, and future can stop by and see who is doing the great work that is participating in the RAPP process.  Check out our 66 current members and eight leaders below!

Still Ahead

Nothing is ever really finished - there are still different projects ahead in the office.  Keep an eye out the rest of the academic year for:

• An award display that highlights the many ways RAPP has been recognized since 1986.
• A RAPPORT photo section.
• A framed RAPP I sweatshirt, thanks to a generous donation of his sweatshirt by RAPP I member Reed Adler.
• More homemade artwork highlighting RAPP's mission & mottos and possibly more!

This office hopes to continue striving to be small but mighty!  Thanks to the amazing folks over the years that have made it what it is!

-Rebecca

RAPP 25 Year Reunion Photos - Here They All Are!

After a summer of well-intentioned but not well followed-through-upon plans to release the RAPP 25 Year Reunion photos in slow bursts, I've decided it's time to let it all out!

Below is a link to a photo album of the best 161 photos taken by our photographer, Sam Greene, at the event!

RAPP 25 Year Reunion

Assuming I can get the html code to embed on the UC website system, the photo album will also go up as a slideshow on the reunion page on our regular website.

RAPP Reunion Photos: Highlighting Speakers

In order to give as much time as possible for mingling and reminiscing, the RAPP 25 Year Reunion planning committee determined to keep the formal program brief.  We fit several speakers and a group activity into a thirty-minute program.

The program kicked off with an official welcome from UC Vice President of Student Affairs & Services and Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Mitchel Livingston - a long-time RAPP supporter and co-chair of the UC Diversity Council that made RAPP's recent elevation possible.

This was followed by a video greeting from Dr. Niloufer Merchant, currently a professor at St. Cloud State University and founding graduate student of the Racial Awareness Pilot Project and RAPPORT.  She sent greetings to the event as well as reflected on how her involvement with RAPP & RAPPORT has affected her personally and professionally.

Next up was Kimberly (McGinnis) Bonner, RAPP VIII member and program coordinator of RAPP for eight years.  She shared reflections on RAPP & RAPPORT's impact and on the power of the reunion.

Dr. Robin Selzer, Program Director in the UC Alumni Association, spoke about the Association and the opportunities it provides.  Robin was a key member of the planning committee and, through her, the Alumni Association made much of the reunion possible!

Dr. Bleuzetter Marshall, RAPP VI member and Development Director in the UC Foundation, spoke briefly about RAPP and the Linda Bates Parker Scholarship Fund.

Rebecca Lehman, RAPP XXII member and current RAPP Program Coordinator, emceed the program as well as gave final reflections on the reunion and led participants in a brief activity connected to taking a group photo.  All participants were asked to take a group photo, after which members of RAPPs I through X were asked to set out and face the group (a photo of this group was also taken).  These member introduced themselves.

During this portion, Robbin Parker and Breland Parker spoke about Linda Bates Parker and her legacy on campus through RAPP and her many other amazing accomplishments.

Many thanks to all who spoke and participated in the program!  It was great to take a brief, structured time to formally reflect on the event amidst all the informal interactions that the night was primarily about.

Dr. Mitchel Livingston kicked off the program with his greeting!

UC Blue Ash student Alyson Montgomery provided ASL translation for the program.

Kimberly Bonner gave reflections on RAPP.

Dr. Bleuzette Marshall spoke on behalf of Linda Bates Parker's latest legacy, her scholarship fund.

Dr. Robin Selzer connected the group with the UC Alumni Association

Rebecca Lehman emceed and led the final group activity.

RAPP Reunion Photos: Highlighting Volunteers

The RAPP 25 Year Reunion, celebrated on May 14th, was made possible through the hard work of a dedicated team of volunteers.

Some served for up to fifteen months on the planning committee, which began working in February 2010.  The committee included:  Kimberly McGinnis Bonner (VIII), Robin Selzer (UC Alumni Association), Mel Davis (XXVI), Bobby Filbin (XXV), Danielle Thomas (XXV), and Stacy Randle (XXVI).  This team worked to connect with all the RAPPers we could find and to put together the evening's activities.

The evening's activities were conducted by a great team of capable, flexible volunteers, some of whom are pictured below.

Jessica Roberts (XXIV) and Dr. Nicole Ausmer (SALD) planned and led the pre-party campus tour.
Terri Hurdle (SALD), Nicole Mayo (SALD), Robin Selzer, and Kaila Noland (XXVI) prepared the room, rearranging furniture and creating & placing decorations.
Catalina Florea (XXVI), Siva Nagi Reddy Inturi (XXVI), Robin Selzer, Matthew Woodruff (XXVI), and Kaila Noland staffed the registration table throughout the evening, getting everyone checked in and distributing gift bags.
Mel Davis (XXVI), Stacy Randle, and Kinsey Brown (XXIII) all staffed the food table, helping set up the food as it was delivered and keep the table organized throughout the night.  Mel also coordinated the ordering of food and labeling system.

Bobby Filbin was our A/V guru - making the playlist and running the sound and video equipment all night long.
David Taylor (XXVI) and Chris Flowers (volunteer) staffed the bar all evening, distributing free non-alcoholic drinks as well as running the cash bar that fund-raised for the Linda Bates Parker Scholarship Fund.

Many thanks to our dedicated team!  Thank you for making it possible for twenty-five years of RAPPers to connect!

Mel & Stacy working hard to get the food ready!

Siva & Catalina smile during a pause in registrations.

Mel checks in with Bobby, our AV superstar!

Jessica taking RAPPers around campus during the pre-party tour.

Nicole giving cheerful instructions during the pre-party campus tour!

David & Chris at the drink station/bar.

Back to the Reunion: More Photos

Though the RAPP 25 Year Reunion was over a month ago, we've still got many pictures to enjoy releasing.

Below are some snapshots from the event.  My plan is that photos will be added to the RAPP Facebook page as they are released here.

RAPP XXVI member Shy talks with Reunion Planning Committee and RAPP XXV member Bobby

Members representing the early years - David (VIII), Carmen (VIII), and Andrea (V) - take a break after participating in the Pre-Party Campus Tour

RAPPers from XXVI - Sara and Joey - connect with Andrea of RAPP V

The room filled quickly with RAPPers from many years!

Jojo (XXIV) and Tiara (XXVI) check out the history tables

We'd Love Your Thoughts the RAPP 25 Year Reunion

Survey responses have been coming in steadily about the RAPP 25 Year Reunion.  Already I've learned some great things about what people thought worked and what we could do better next time - as well as some great ideas for the years in between.  Please keep the feedback coming!

If you were able to attend the reunion, please take a few minutes to complete this survey.  If you're a RAPPer who wasn't able to or didn't want to attend, we'd also love to learn from you about that - please take a few minutes to complete this survey.

Maurice H (VI) and Elmann C (X) checking out the photo table decorations.

RAPP Reunion: Spotlight on Food

For the RAPP 25 Year Reunion, we tried to be intentional about our purchases, especially around food.  Our food selections were made and arranged by the food sub-committee, which was chaired by RAPP's Communication Intern Melissa Davis.

At the beginning, the committee set the criteria that we wanted a multi-ethnic buffet that was mostly heavy hors d'oeurves rather than a formal served meal.  We thought this would encourage people to mingle more as well as give us the opportunity to be creative.

We also wanted to be inclusive in our food choices, ensuring that we made the food accessible to those of varying diets and dietary needs.

Finally, we wanted to support smaller, local businesses, preferably minority owned.

In general, we met most of our goals!

Food sub-committee chair Mel and committee member Stacy set up fare from Mt. Adams Pizza & Deli

Mt Adams Pizza & Deli:

Mel found this relatively new pizza & deli owned by Steve Lin.  The restaurant stood out for its variety of vegan and gluten-free offerings, as well as offering food that is safe for folks with nut allergies.  The pizzas are wood-fired and the customer service is outstanding!

RAPP XXIV Wednesday graduates Jojo & Abby dished themselves some delicious Jamaican food from Island Frydays!

Island Frydays:

This restaurant specializing in Jamaican cuisine is located right near campus and is growing in popularity as a caterer for campus!  Island Frydays, owned by UC Alumnus Leo Morgan, offers fast food service, delivery, as well as bustling catering business.  Very popular at the reunion were the jerk chicken wings, the meat patties, and steamed vegetables!

The end of the buffet included a mouthwatering array of treats!

AmandaCakes & All Things Food Catering:

Our sweet tooths were filled with delicious desserts courtesy of UC Alumna Amanda Morris' sweets.  Chef Morris offers both meals and desserts in her catering, but we ordered only her locally famous latter.  AmandaCakes offers an extensive vegan menu that most in attendance couldn't believe were vegan due to their creamy richness and full flavor.  She also brought an array of yummy nut-free desserts and a rich reunion-themed cake.

All foods were labeled by name, ingredients where possible, and tagged around vegan, vegetarian, nut-free, gluten-free or pork containing.

RAPP Reunion: Video of Pre-Party Campus Tour

The RAPP 25 Year Reunion photos are in!

Our photographer was Sam Greene and he has sent in a bevy of great snapshots from the evening. 

Given all that went into the event and how powerful the night was - as well as how we're not likely to have another one for at least a few years - I'll be milking the release of the photos. :)

Below, check out shots from the pre-party campus tour!  Many thanks to RAPP XXIV member Jessica Roberts and SALD Program Coordinator Dr. Nicole Ausmer for leading RAPPers on a memorable tour of our much-changed now most-beautiful-in-the-world campus.

Seeking Feedback on the RAPP 25 Year Reunion

The RAPP 25 Year Reunion was held just over one week ago - and it's still a hot topic around these parts!

The committee that planned the event would like some feedback from the RAPP community and are collecting it in two surveys:

Over 100 people were able to participate in the reunion!  We'd love to hear from those people what they like about the event as well as what could have been improved.  If you were able to attend, please take a few minutes to complete this survey.

For the 500 or so RAPP alumni who weren't able to attend, we'd love to learn how to make the event more accessible, affordable, or desirable in the future.  If you're a RAPPer who wasn't able to or didn't want to attend, we'd love to learn from you about that - please take a few minutes to complete this survey.

We'll repost this a few times to get as much feedback as possible!  We're also looking forward to posting "official" event photos soon - as soon as they come in from the photographer!

UC Vice President Dr. Mitchel Livingston, Kimberly McGinnis Bonner (VIII), and Kaila Noland (XXVI) smiled for a snapshot!

Registration Still Open for RAPP 25 Year Reunion

Our initial push for registration was to be able to order accurate food and gifts. We anticipated there being lots of registrations after that, so even if you haven't registered yet, you're still welcome and invited to the reunion.

In the hopes of stirring up some competition, I've put together a chart of registrations thus far by group year:

As you can see, the two most recent years are our biggest group of registrants (probably due to the near-constant nature of the reminders to register they've been getting for a month).

Earlier years - let's get our registrations up!  This party is a great opportunity for recent RAPP graduates to celebrate, but it's an even bigger one for all of us who've been out of RAPP for a while to reconnect and to share with "the noobs" what RAPP was like "in our day."

Registration is still up:  Simply go to www.regonline.com/RAPP!

Register Today for the RAPP 25 Year Reunion!

One final gentle reminder:

Please register for the RAPP 25 Year Reunion today!  Having registrations in now makes it possible for us to plan well.  It's easy and free for most.

Whether you can attend or not, please take a few moments to share your RAPP memories!

Register Now for the RAPP 25 Year Reunion! - "Reunion by the Numbers"

To be able to order the right amount of food & drinks and to get the right amount of gifts for participants, we've been asking everyone to register for the reunion by May 1st (though we can get by with by Monday morning, the 2nd).

Registration is easy - and free for most!  Simply go to www.regonline.com/RAPP and complete the forms there.  It takes many only two minutes to complete!


For inspiration to register if you haven't already, the reunion "by the numbers":

600 Estimated number of RAPPers
250 Estimated RAPPers we've reached
49  RAPPers registered [for the reunion] on Friday [today]

15  Years since the last reunion
16  Months the committee's been planning the 25 Year Reunion

18  Volunteers working the reunion
45  Minutes the campus tour lasts

3   Hours the party lasts
∞  How long the memories last!


The 25 Year Reunion - It's kind of a big deal.


Register now!

Please Register for the RAPP 25 Year Reunion by Monday Morning!

We're 3 days away from when we most need your registration for the RAPP 25 Year Reunion and 16 days out from the reunion itself!

If you haven't yet, register online for the reunion at this link!

Toni of RAPP X said "I am attending to see How things have changed in the past 10 years and to hopefully impart some wisdom to the next generation."

Abigail of RAPP VIII won't be able to attend but said she wants to be there because "RAPP is single-handedly one of the greatest experiences in my whole life" - she still talks about her experience regularly today as a motivational speaker.

I'm going because I've been in awe of this phenomenal program since I started at UC in 1998 and have wanted to be connected to the whole community of RAPP for a long time.

Why are you attending the reunion?  Or, why do you wish you could?  What has RAPP meant to you in your life?

Let us know here!

Register Online Now for the 25 Year Reunion

The RAPP 25 Year Reunion is only 17 days away!

Our committee has been hard at work since last last February (2010, not 2011) preparing for this event - the first of its in fifteen years!

We found as many RAPPers as we could, talked through dozens of items, and are planning the best party we can!  Now we need the people!

Please register online for the event by May 1st so we can finalize our food and gift orders to make sure there's enough to go around at the event!

Click on this group photo from the RAPP 10 Year Reunion to go to the registration site!

Why We Need Your Help Promoting the Reunion

The graphic above demonstrates a point I've been recently encouraged to share broadly in our RAPP community.

I estimate that approximately 600 people have completed the RAPP year experience.  By mail, we've only been able to find 216 of these people.  We likely are reaching a few more by email and Facebook, but the only hard number I have is those 216 by mail.

When I came into the RAPP Program Coordinator position, I made the unfortunate discovery that we didn't have a record of who had completed RAPP.  No one around at that time was able to pinpoint why and it really doesn't matter why - what mattered was starting to gather that information.

I've been hard at work since November 2008 compiling names.  Countless individuals have helped in that process.  Dr. Abercrumbie, Bleuzette Marshall, Kimberley McGinnis - to name a few - sat down with photos and try to reconstruct groups.  The community on Facebook doubled our list of names by tagging RAPPmates and friends.  A dozen RAPPers have answered the pleas on our history site to contact us with names. Robin Selzer and the staff of the Alumni Association and UC Foundation assisted in finding people through UC records.  Plus, I've kept detailed records of everyone since my RAPP year of RAPP XXII.

All of that, and we've found just over a third of who we think we're looking for.

For that reason, if you're a RAPPer and are in contact with any of your RAPPmates - please take a few minutes to check in to make sure they know about the upcoming reunion!

If you have a few more minutes, head over to our history page and check out your RAPP group.  Who are we missing?

Register Now for RAPP 25 Year Reunion

The RAPP 25 Year Reunion is only a few weeks away!

All former and current RAPPers are invited to participate in this exciting event celebrating a quarter century of RAPP work at the University of Cincinnati.  The reunion is Saturday, May 14th and is being held in the Myers Alumni Center.

All participants are being asked to register at www.regonline.com/RAPP by May 1st.  Registration is free for most - alumni who can are asked to may a $10 donation, but the event is free for current students, recent graduates, and those who can't pay.

Whether you're able to attend or not, we're encouraging RAPPers to share their reflections on and memories of RAPP here. Take a few minutes to share yours!

Need some motivation? Check out this video trip down memory lane!

Keep Those Memories Coming In!

To deepen the personal nature of the RAPP 25 Year Reunion, we're still gathering reflections and memories from people who've participated in RAPP!

We'd love to have your thoughts!  Participating in this project is as easy as completing this Google form!

We'd Love to Hear Your Memories and Reflections!

The RAPP 25 Year Reunion planning committee is still seeking RAPPers reflections and memories on their RAPP experience!

To make this hopefully easy to participate in regardless of where you're at, we're gathering your reflections electronically through this survey form.

If you're a RAPPer, please help us out by taking a few minutes to answer as many questions as you'd like!

RAPPers: Register for the 25 Year Reunion Now!

The RAPP 25 Year Reunion is just over a month away!  The committee has been working away for over a year for this event and are excited and nervous for its success.

A key to its success is accurate RSVPs to ensure we get enough food, drinks, and gifts!

The Alumni Association has been a great partner in putting together the reunion and provided us with easy registration at RegOnline.

All former and current RAPP members are invited to celebrate with us!  Currently, the event is limited to RAPPers due to space restrictions.

Current students and recent graduates (of any college/university, not just UC) can attend at no cost.  RAPP alumni who left school five or more years ago are encouraged to pay $10 to attend.  There is also a pay-it-forward option to help cover the cost of the event - all monies raised through this will offset the cost of those who are attending at no cost, any remaining funds will go into an account for the next RAPP Reunion.

For more information keep an eye on the RAPP Reunion page on the RAPP website.  To register, go to RAPP's RegOnline page!