Clark McGinn (MA 1983)

Like many graduates, I gave bits and bobs in dribs and drabs if a campaign letter fell on the mat from the Uni which caught my eye; but it was six years ago that I became more active.

My family and I were working in New York when the idea of a Burns Supper for our alumni in Boston was floated. One of the big parts of my undergraduate life (probably too big in some professorial eyes) was debating in the Union and since then I have been a semi-professional Burns speaker, so the combination of having survived the Union audience (the most critical in the world) and eating all that haggis, meant I could get the ball rolling by addressing the haggis and toasting the Immortal Memory.

It was great fun! People from various backgrounds and ages, with a common link through our University brought together in the greatest Scottish celebration of all, the Burns Supper.

It is now a fixture in the Boston calendar, and in Washington DC and Chicago. I enjoy entertaining alumni and friends to the fun of seeing a kilted man talk to a sausage before hacking it apart, then sharing jokes and observations about the genius of Robert Burns, before leading off the ceilidh (to burn off the whisky!).

My wife and I are the first generations of our families to graduate from University and that changed our lives. So now, when it is increasingly complex and expensive for young people, it's time to try and give something back. I have seen our alumni activities do two equally important things: to allow all of us to participate in the wider University community, but secondly, to do that while having fun as only Glasgow grads can!