If the thought of eating with a stranger seems uncomfortable or awkward, imagine having dinner with a dozen unfamiliar people, whose sole connection is a mutual affiliation with UCLA.
This concept is the most appealing factor in the UCLA Student Alumni Association’s annual Dinner for 12 Strangers, hosted throughout February and March.
The tradition began in 1968 through the efforts of the Prytanean Alumnae Association, a group of UCLA alumni who wanted to reconnect to their alma mater, said Tracy Lorenz, the Dinner for 12 Strangers executive director for the Student Alumni Association.
Forty-one years later, what was once a small dinner group consisting of a few students and some favorite professors has now become 162 dinners hosted by over 200 alumni, said Lorenz, who is also a third-year communications studies and French student.
“It’s to talk, network and ask questions,” she said. “Alumni like to find out what’s going on at UCLA.”
The foundation of the program is built around a small home-cooked dinner hosted at the home of an alumni, in which students, faculty, staff and alumni are able to interact and connect with each other, Lorenz said.
The dinners are mainly hosted within a 30-minute driving distance from UCLA, with a few exceptions in Orange County.
The Dinner for 12 Strangers committee, which is comprised of students, is formed at the beginning of the year and immediately begins to recruit faculty and staff as guests, as well as sends invitations to alumni to inspire them to get involved, Lorenz said.
“We try to get faculty from all parts of campus for a more diverse dinner,” she added.
Student participation is also high, with over 1,600 students attending dinners last year.
“It’s interesting to see the mix of people at UCLA,” said KC Souza, a fourth-year economics student and event director for the Dinner for 12 Strangers committee who attended a dinner last year. “I was able to meet people from all age ranges.”
This tradition also has a reputation across the nation.
Dinner for 12 Strangers has won numerous district and national awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and CASE Affiliated Student Advancement Programs.
The popularity of this annual event has not gone unnoticed by other universities across the nation.
“Dinner for 12 Strangers is the most copied student program in the university system in the United States,” Lorenz said.
“Over 100 different schools put this on.”
Some of these schools include fellow UCs, such as UC Davis and UC San Diego, as well as private universities like Northwestern University and Emory University.
Emory hosts a similar program known as Dinner with 12 Strangers, which has been running for six years. However, dinners are not solely hosted by alumni, but also by Emory supporters in the Atlanta area.
“We host this program to increase participation between students and alums,” said Avaleen Morris, assistant director of Annual Giving.
Emory’s program is held in September and included over 40 dinners last year. Student participation is high, with over 200 students attending dinners.
At Northwestern, the similarly named Dinner with 12 Strangers is in its fourth year of production.
Created by two alumni, who had heard about alumni-hosted dinners from her daughter at Emory, this event has grown from initial door-knocking campaigns to find willing alumni in the local area to a much larger event, which is now open to all alumni in the Chicago area, said Lauren Herpe, coordinator in the department of career services, students and alumni at Northwestern.
This past year, Northwestern’s Dinner with 12 Strangers was hosted in October and consisted of 25 dinners.
The Northwestern Alumni Association and the Northwestern Class Alliance student group co-sponsors the event.
“We want to encourage as many people to sign up as possible,” Herpe said. “We want to unite the Northwestern community ““ students want to get to know alums, and alumni want to connect with the campus.”