Several Dallas International School alumni sat on the lit stage of the MPR as pictures of their college and professional experiences flashed on the projector screen behind them. The entire upper campus student population watched and listened, enraptured. Perhaps they were seeing their own future.

Alumni Day at DIS is always a much-anticipated event, but the 2017 version set a new standard. Not only was it one of the most well-attended Alumni Days ever, but the level of alumni-student interaction was unmatched in previous years. Manon Tesche, Cristelle Meza, Michael Jenkin, Victoria Huang, Camille Prulhiere, Marie Prulhiere, Nicholas Prulhiere, Andrew Ksendzoff, Heryt Tequame, Daniel Guinan and Olivia Rosen were present throughout the day, chatting with current students and teachers and showing the entire DIS community what can be achieved through hard work and persistence.

The day began with an alumni lunch in the cafeteria, followed by the aforementioned “Life After DIS” assembly in the MPR. Each of the attending alumni had a chance to share his or her post-DIS experiences with the student body while showing pictures of their accomplishments and fun activities.

“Most people worry about trying to find friends at the beginning of college, including me,” Tesche told the student body. She’s a freshman architecture major at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. “There’s plenty of people to go around, so don’t worry. It’s really not hard to find friends. Do what you want to be doing, and be where you want to be.”

Each of the alumni spoke fondly of their days at DIS and encouraged students to take advantage of the resources they had available.

“DIS really helped me to prepare for college because it helped me push myself,” said Meza, a freshman economics major at St. Edward’s University in Austin. “I haven’t had to pull any all-nighters, because I know how to study.”

The attending alumni had a wealth of experiences to share. Many had moved on to highly-ranked universities in the U.S. Tequame, however, chose to study at Sciences Po, widely regarded as the top university in France. She credits her choice to the love of travel and study of cultures that she learned while at DIS.

“I really wanted to take the experiences I had at DIS and apply them to college,” Tequame told the students. “So I traveled even while I was studying. I did an internship in New York City at a graphic design studio. It was great because it kind of gave me an idea of what to expect after school.”

The alumni stayed long after the assembly, chatting with members of the student council, taking a tour of the campus and meeting with DIS administration to coordinate future alumni activities. It was a day spent not just reminiscing about the past, but planning for the future. That’s what these Tigres have always done best, after all.

“If you work hard, it definitely pays off,” Huang said. “It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s very fun.”