Dear Mansi, Yanu, Eduardo and Justin,
At the end of an amazing three-year term (and in Mansi’s case even six years!), words feel insufficient when trying to sum up all the memories we made and the accomplishments you leave behind. Moreover, saying goodbye in the current global context means having to do it from a safe distance, which is very different from how we imagined this to take place. We would have loved to celebrate this special moment together with a live gathering, surrounded by students, staff and alumni.
Until we meet again in person, we want to express our heartfelt THANK YOU through this letter. We are immensely grateful for your exceptional dedication, time, effort, creativity, energy and overall the wonderful work you did as an alumni board! You have been an inspiration to us and the IHS alumni community of urban professionals and we are incredibly lucky to have you!
We look back with satisfaction and joy at all the milestones of your successful time as a board, which speak volumes about your passion and commitment. We will always treasure memories of events like the IHS Alumni International Urban Professional and Youth Awards which took place during the IHS 60 years anniversary, the World Urban Forum and even Habitat III. We also recognize how impactful your overall activities and presence have been for the community: the contact with alumni and kind support to the students, the really popular webinars which provided relevant insights and showcased the knowledge this network possesses; the online gatherings - creating much-needed connection during the pandemic, the alumni survey, our online alumni platform Makingcitieswork.net and so many more formal and informal initiatives we had the pleasure of collaborating on.
We can wholeheartedly say that you embody the IHS Alumni International slogan “Sharing Urban Knowledge”. You have built an impressive legacy that we will continuously strive to uphold. We cherish all your efforts, time, the countless hours you invested in each project, your determination to bring your ideas to life, all the discussions, calls and meetings we had, as all these small and big moments acted as stepping stones to our common goal of having a flourishing alumni community. The achievements you leave behind will serve as inspiration and motivation to the new board to build on the solid foundation you created and continue the incredible work you have done in developing this unique global community of city changers!
With our warmest regards,
On behalf of IHS and the Alumni Office,
Kees van Rooijen IHS Director