Purdue Alumni Association // President’s Council // John Purdue Club

Purdue

Alumnus

Check out the latest issue of our
award-winning magazine!

Check out the latest issue of our
award-winning magazine!

EXPLORE THE WORLD WITH US

Who’s up for an adventure? The Purdue for Life Foundation offers you the world through a
wide variety of exciting international and domestic travel opportunities—trips made even
more memorable because you’ll be traveling with your Boilermaker family. All aboard!

EXPLORE THE WORLD WITH US

Who’s up for an adventure? The Purdue for Life Foundation offers you the world through a wide variety of exciting international and domestic travel opportunities—trips made even more memorable because you’ll be traveling with your Boilermaker family. All aboard!

Purdue for Life Foundation

2024 Impact Report

The next giant leap starts here.

Purdue for Life Foundation

2024 Impact Report

The next giant leap starts here.

We’re here for you

The Purdue for Life Foundation helps you and everyone who loves Purdue stay connected, get involved, and give back.

Purdue for Life brings together organizations you know well—including the Purdue Alumni Association, President’s Council, and the John Purdue Club—and adds even more ways for you to engage.

It’s a great day to be a Boilermaker, and for that, we have you to thank. When you participate on Purdue Day of Giving, encourage your neighbor’s kid to consider Purdue, and share the news about the world-changing discoveries and innovations being made by Boilermakers on campus and around the world, you are advancing our university. Thank you.

WHAT IS PURDUE FOR LIFE?

Play Video

STAY CONNECTED

Launch your student’s journey as a lifelong Boilermaker with a PASE membership!

GET INVOLVED

Thousands flock to campus for Purdue Homecoming 2024

GIVE BACK

Purdue School of Industrial Engineering to be named for Edwardson following $25 million in philanthropic commitments

Keagan’s story

I’m walking with Grandparents University tour group near the steps of Hovde Hall. It’s a Thursday morning in July, and the only students around are between the ages of 7 and 14. I catch a snippet of a conversation between a grandmother and her grandson as she details the pranks she pulled with her friends around this area.

I smile because just a few months ago I was doing the same thing.

Grandparents University (GPU) is a two-day event where grandparents and their grandchildren embrace Purdue and all it has to offer.

Participants choose a specific major to study and attend a class taught by Boilermaker experts. The majors aren’t exactly like the ones we have here at Purdue, but they do get to do cool activities like creating hot sauce, designing monsters, flying drones, and cooking in a Purdue kitchen. It’s a great opportunity to see wisdom and curiosity combined in the classroom, as grandparents and their grandchildren collaborate on these projects. They’re equally willing to learn from the instructors —and from each other—while creating lasting memories.

They might not know it yet, but this Purdue experience at such a young age will help with their college decision in a few years.

My mother started working at Purdue when she was pregnant with me, so I’ve been familiar with the university my whole life. Many of my childhood memories are associated with different parts of campus, and these memories played a big part in my decision to attend Purdue. I was going to a place that I knew—a place I already considered a home away from home. In the same way, when these children make their college decisions, they will already have built connections with Purdue through Grandparents University.

It will also help they already have a Purdue degree!

At the end of GPU, the kids graduate just like regular students by walking across the stage of Elliott Hall of Music. They even have their own caps to decorate and keep—which is great because robe rentals would be a nightmare.

I had been to nine commencement ceremonies before my own in May, so I’m well-versed in Purdue graduations. Nevertheless, it was still fun to watch this one.

These children had learned so much more than what was taught in their major. They learned more about their grandparents and strengthened their connection with them. They learned about the university and what’s in store for them when they (hopefully) become Boilermakers. And at the Block Party, they befriended students they had never met before and hung out on Memorial Mall—just like regular college students.

It was almost exactly what I experienced throughout my college career. Yes, I got my degree and now have a job as was intended on this life path. But I also made lifelong friendships and went outside my comfort zone in ways that helped me grow as an individual.

Purdue shaped me and continues to shape me. I credit a lot of my growth as a person and a professional to my college career here, and a lot of what I know to the professors and instructors I had throughout my education.

Through Grandparents University, you have the opportunity to provide the same transformative experience for future Boilermakers. You can be the Purdue instructor that inspires a path that lasts a lifetime.