Valencia: Alumni Meeting marked by the election of a new Pope

On Thursday, May 8, Valencia was the city chosen for a new stop in the Alumni Meetings series. Alumni Meetings of the University of Navarra. Despite the heavy rain and the fact that, an hour before the event, the world had its sights set on Rome, many alumni decided not to miss the quotation. Minutes before the event, the attendees were able to follow live the advertisement the new Pope, sharing the joy of this moment.

After this unexpected start, the event continued as planned, with a roundtable entitled "Solidarity as a driver of change", moderated by Fernanda Parias, Deputy Director of Alumni. The conversation approached solidarity from complementary perspectives - health, business, family and Educationand offered an enriching vision of how this value can transform very different environments.

"From the hospital, solidarity is lived by being there for whatever is needed," shared Dr. Alfredo Sanz, who also spoke of his experience in a medical mission statement in Ghana, where he understood that "you have to know how to help people as they want to be helped, without imposing another way of life".

María Furió, from Family Up, spoke of the role of the family as a social engine: "We realized that the family has an impressive financial aid capacity". Her organization develops projects such as La Torre se viste de blancowhich promotes the rehabilitation of housing for the elderly or people in vulnerable status and where hands are still needed.

From the business world, José María Palau explained how, during the pandemic, financial support mechanisms were put in place for small businesses that could not find backing. "That drop of support made the difference," he said.

On behalf of the University, the Vice President for research and Sustainability, Paloma Grau, defended that "solidarity can also be learned", and explained how teaching and research can be put at the service of society. She mentioned initiatives such as Tantaka, the Atlantesgroup or Bioma, and stressed that "the University has to be in the last street, in the last house... and until it is not there, it is not a University".

At the end, the attendees participated in a reunion cocktail, which allowed them to continue the exchange of ideas in a more informal atmosphere and to continue strengthening ties between alumni and professors.

As the slogan of the meeting said: "As in those days of class, but in your city".