It’s the biggest week of the year on campus at Coppin State as the Eagles hail home all of the alumni and folks all over the country (and world) to come back to West Baltimore to celebrate the legacy and impact of the university. Kimberly Nelson invites Nestor on campus for Homecoming Week and the alumni legacy of education and spirit of the tens of thousands of proud graduates.
Nestor Aparicio and Kimberly Nelson discuss Coppin State University’s upcoming Homecoming Week from February 15 to 22, highlighting various events including a financial planning basics seminar, a Coppin-themed cooking competition, alumni happy hours, and a Commitment to Excellence Awards ceremony. The week culminates with a basketball game against the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Nelson emphasizes the university’s legacy in education and its global alumni network, with alumni in 47 out of 50 states and 15 countries. Coppin’s growth, including new buildings and initiatives, is also noted, along with community engagement through events like the summer concert series.
- [ ] Follow up with Nestor Aparicio about the spring concert series details and provide requested information after Homecoming
- [ ] Continue building and organizing Coppin State alumni chapters across the country to reach the target of 15 chapters (currently 9 active)
- [ ] Provide quick campus tours to alumni who call or request a visit
Coppin State Homecoming Week Announcement
- Nestor Aparicio introduces the show, mentioning various sponsors and events, including the Maryland lottery and GBMC.
- Nestor highlights his long-term involvement with Coppin State, promoting their games and events.
- Nestor introduces Kimberly Nelson, the Director of Alumni Engagement at Coppin State, and welcomes her to the show.
- Kimberly Nelson thanks Nestor and discusses the preparations for Coppin State’s Homecoming Week, scheduled for February 15-22.
Coppin State’s Legacy and Alumni Engagement
- Nestor shares his positive experiences at Coppin State events and the sense of family he feels there.
- Nestor recalls a conversation with Mayor Scott about the impact of Coppin State teachers on the community.
- Kimberly Nelson emphasizes the importance of teaching and education in Coppin State’s legacy, with alumni spread across the country and world.
- Nestor and Kimberly discuss the diverse backgrounds of Coppin State’s student-athletes and the support system provided by the university.
Homecoming Week Events and Community Involvement
- Kimberly Nelson outlines the various events planned for Coppin State’s Homecoming Week, including financial planning basics, a COPpin Chopped event, and a Commitment to Excellence Awards ceremony.
- Nestor expresses excitement about the events and mentions the importance of alumni engagement.
- Kimberly highlights the importance of reconnecting, giving back, and celebrating accomplishments during Homecoming Week.
- Nestor and Kimberly discuss the significance of the Homecoming Week for both alumni and the community.
Year-Round Alumni Engagement and Community Events
- Nestor inquires about Kimberly’s role as the Director of Alumni Engagement during the rest of the year.
- Kimberly mentions the summer concert series, which features local musicians and businesses, and is open to the entire community.
- Kimberly discusses her efforts to engage with alumni, understand their experiences, and build alumni chapters across the country.
- Nestor and Kimberly talk about the growth and improvements on Coppin State’s campus, including new buildings and statues.
Coppin State’s Growth and Community Impact
- Kimberly shares her observations on the changes and improvements on Coppin State’s campus since she joined.
- Nestor and Kimberly discuss the pride and excitement alumni feel when they visit the campus and see the changes.
- Kimberly mentions the positive impact of Coppin State on the surrounding neighborhood and community.
- Nestor concludes the interview by promoting Coppin State’s Homecoming Week and encouraging listeners to attend the events.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Coppin State, Homecoming Week, Alumni Engagement, Education, Basketball Game, Financial Planning, Community Events, Summer Concert Series, Alumni Chapters, Legacy, Student Support, Campus Growth, Teacher Impact, Baltimore Community, Event Highlights
SPEAKERS
8
Kimberly Nelson, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively getting through a cup of soup or bowl. We are giving away the Maryland lottery, scratch off some candy cane cash, also our friends at GBMC, putting us out on the road here, through the Super Bowl and into pitchers and catchers reporting in spring training. We have a new sponsor in Farnan and Dermer. They were keeping my H back together, as well as a little bit of plumbing, but a whole lot of H back and a whole lot of make sure you get you through the winter here and all of that. And I, I’ve been getting through the winter. The only sporting event I think I’ve attended all winter was over Coppin. When dawn, Stanley brought the lady gamecock’s up to be much taller than the Lady Eagles were on that particular afternoon. But always I promote my friends over Coppin State. We have been the longtime voice of Coppin State for about 15 years now. We’ve run their games here, but we’ve upped our game a little bit that I’m involved with Dr Jenkins and talking about education and AI and business and strategy and entrepreneurship, and this time around, I’m really gonna enjoy this. I I believe I met Kimberly Nelson a couple of times running around at some copping events, but usually we’re not talking much because we’re dancing, singing, hey Coppin, we’re all having fun and and a lot of the events that involve alumni, Kimberly, first off, welcome. How are things on campus. Have you dug out over there yet?
Kimberly Nelson 01:23
Absolutely Good morning, Nestor, and thank you for having me. It is always a good time here at Coppin, and always an even better time when you’re here with us. We have dug our way out of the snow. Our campus is beautiful despite the snow, but we are looking forward to it melting soon, hopefully, because we are preparing for our homecoming, you mentioned dancing and having a good time cop in as you know, basketball is what we surround our homecoming around. And so our homecoming week of events will take place February 15 through the 22nd we have a full week of events planned leading up to the big game against University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. So we hope that you will come out and join us.
Nestor Aparicio 02:05
Well, you know what? I didn’t go to Coppin, but I feel like when I’m there, I get treated like family, but more than that, your events and the alumni engagement that you speak of, and I’ve learned this, and I didn’t learn this through Dr Jenkins or through anybody. I’ve learned this through vibing out and being at your events, right? And you had the big 125, going on, things happening and the education of the history of the school. But I didn’t, I guess, as a young guy, I knew it was cop at Teachers College, and they would say Teachers College. I had mayor Scott on before he was the mayor, maybe, I mean, he might have been city council president, and he talked about being taught by Coppin teachers and educators that you know, you know, half teachers of mervo went to Coppin and teachers through the eras of the 70s, 80s, 90s, went to school, got a job, taught other people, lived in the community, and they are first and foremost to come to homecoming events, because they still live here. They’re still a part of it, and they maybe they’ve never left. And I like, I’ve met Miss peaches, I, you know, I, I know a bunch of your folks, but I need you to tell me the story of that, because am I right or am I wrong about that? But that’s me piecing it together, that when I talk to people at your events like, I’m a teacher. I’ve been a teacher. I’m a teacher. I’ve been a teacher for 25 years, and that’s just such a beautiful legacy, because then I meet the mayor, who I consider to be a young guy who was taught by a bunch of COP and people,
8Kimberly Nelson 03:33
yes, absolutely, absolutely. So teaching and education is definitely a valuable part of Coppins legacy, and we have a ton of amazing teachers all throughout Baltimore City, Baltimore County, the whole state, to be honest, and honestly, we have teachers across the country, while most of our alumni do reside in Maryland. We have people everywhere. We have alumni and probably 47 out of 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and probably 15 countries everywhere from Peru to Romania, the St Lucia. So all
Nestor Aparicio 04:13
over Africa, you had Representatives representing African nations in the Olympics. Yeah, sure. You know, I see that through sports, because I think, and I would invite anyone, you know, challenge anyone, go to Coppin State sports, click on any sport you want, women’s, men’s, spring, fall, and just look at where the student athletes are coming from Hawaii, on the baseball team, you know. And I just looked at it and I’ve talked to so many of the coaches like, you know, what makes cop and attractive in that way? And I think there’s a lot of things that have made cop and attractive to me as well. Living six miles away.
Kimberly Nelson 04:49
Yeah, absolutely. I think we definitely have a lot of our athletes travel from, from, you name it, everywhere, our softball team, all of our sports team. I think. May come for the sports, but they stay for the education, for the family that you mentioned, and just that support system that you get. Going back to speaking of Coppins legacy and educators, we have so many. I’ve had alumni who will say, Oh, Miss peaches was my teacher when I was in school, and now she’s an educator. And because of Miss peaches and and I hear those stories so many times, and just the legacy that Kaplan has makes my role as the Director of Alumni Engagement so meaningful. Just to hear the stories, there’s so many families I’ve come across where someone will say, Well, my grandmother went here, my mom went here, my dad went here, my cousins, my aunts, and so we have so many alumni families where there’s just legacy, generations of COP and graduates
Nestor Aparicio 05:48
8well, and I, when I come, I feel like people have been coming forever, and it, it really is a familiar. It’s a part of their family and and coming back, and it’s always celebratory in some way. You know, there’s music involved, there’s revelry, but there, there is something that’s joyous about being a part of cop, and if you’ve been a
Kimberly Nelson 06:08
part of it, absolutely. We started out our conversation talking about Homecoming, and I was chatting with some alumni, and I’m always trying to understand and just really listen to their story. What brings them back to Coppin year after year, not only for homecoming, but for other events on campus. And I had an alum tell me Coppin is my happy place, and it just it did something for me, because it told me how important Coppin is in people’s lives and how much they value the experience they had, not only as a student, but the relationships that they still carry to this day, not only with alumni that were here at the same time they were but just reaching back two generations before them and reaching forward to our students, to support and to mentor and to provide guidance. So it truly is a family environment and where we’re trying to all just build each other and move forward throughout the community.
Nestor Aparicio 07:05
We’re chatting with Kimberly Nelson. She is the Director of Alumni Engagement over Coppin, and we’re trying to direct and engage some alums and maybe not some non alums come over, participate watching basketball over Coppin homecoming weekend. So what weekend? I shouldn’t say week. I’m sorry. It’s a week. A lot of places do weekend. You do it bigger over there, I guess what’s going to be happening over there next week? Sure.
Kimberly Nelson 07:28
So we have probably 20 events in total happening on campus. Some are only for our students, some are for our alumni, but other events are for the whole community, where we encourage everyone to come out. Our faculty, staff, community members come as well. Some of those events include we host a we’re hosting a financial planning basics, even just because we want to, before we get to the partying and having a good time, we want to make sure that we are taking care of ourselves and our families. So we’re hosting a financial plan and basics coming up, where people can ask questions and just really plan for their future. We host our own version of COP and chopped, where we’ll have a different team, students, alumni. Oh, is that food? Yes. All right,
8Nestor Aparicio 08:18
I got my attention. My ears got bigger. What are we doing? What are we cooking up?
Kimberly Nelson 08:23
Um, well, they’ll find out, similar to on the TV show, all of the participants will find out what they’re cooking on that day.
Nestor Aparicio 08:30
So give me a tough item, you know what I mean? You give me a bad item in the basket, right?
Kimberly Nelson 08:34
8It’s tough, right? Absolutely, but I’m sure that they will rise to the challenge on that day, but it’s certainly a good time. So that’s an event that we open up to to everyone to come and really enjoy. Of course, we’ll have, like, a happy hour for our alumni. We have an event called Commitment to Excellence Awards, where we’re really just celebrating our some of our donors, some of our alumni who are just doing amazing work in their careers in the community. Of course, our basketball game on Saturday with our men and women playing University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and we’ll end the week with the worship service and the jazz brunch. So you’re welcome to come to Indy jazz worship.
Nestor Aparicio 09:17
Hold on. We can come on through, man, you’re not food. We got it all going on, right? Dancing. I, you know, when I go up to the site the homecoming, and by the way, you can just Google copping.edu, Homecoming, and it pops right up. Everything that’s going on. I’ll feature it all out of Baltimore positive. The first picture is everybody dancing. So I’m right. I’m not wrong. You know, my wife knows we get invited to something with Coppin. She better wear comfortable shoes, you know? We sort of know that, right?
Kimberly Nelson 09:43
Yes, absolutely wear your comfortable shoes. Bring your appetites, you know, but we’re going to have a great time dancing. We’re we’ll definitely enjoy a meal, but it’s about their reconnection. It’s about giving back. It’s about celebrating. Our accomplishments, honoring the past and looking forward to a future for alumni, but also for our students after homecoming, where I’ve worked with some of our other colleagues across campus to plan events for our students so they can hear from our alumni. So we’re going to host an alumni impact day, where we’ll have a panel of alumni come and talk about what their careers are, where students can ask questions, where they can really, you know, just ask in an environment without feeling like, can I ask this question and really get feedback from people who have literally been in their shoes, who have sat in the same seats, who have been educated by the same professor. So we’re doing a lot over here at Coppin.
Nestor Aparicio 10:43
Coppin homecoming is the 15th to the 22nd of February, and of course, our part, it gives me a chance to wear my my Eagles belt buckle here. So I’ll be over there for some basketball, trying to duck out on Morgan a little bit. But I’m over Koco’s this week having some crab cakes on the east side. I’ll make my way to the west side. Kimberly Nelson is the Director of Alumni Engagement. So when, when this is over with end of the month? What? What does the Director of Alumni Engagement the other 11 months of the year? This is sort of the Super Bowl and then a Super Bowl week, but homecoming, sort of the Super Bowl for alumni engagement. That’s what it is, bring everybody back, right? Well, the other the rest of the year, well, I’m sure you’re doing other things. And I’ve seen your alums at all sorts of celebrations that you’ve been having around the 125th
8Kimberly Nelson 11:25
anniversary as well. Absolutely, absolutely so after our Super Bowl open alumni engagement, I love that we are we host a series of summer concerts during the summer, and that’s a really a community event. It’s certainly open to the Coppin campus community, but we have a lot of our neighbors through West Baltimore. We’ve had people come from the other side of the city and from surrounding counties come and it’s a really great time where we feature local musicians, local businesses. So it’s it’s a great time, and it’s a festival, right? Literally, our summer concert series, so we host that June, July and August. So that’s something to look forward to, and we certainly invite you to join us for that. Outside of that, I’m engaging with our alumni. I’m talking to them, I’m learning about their experiences. I’m understanding what brought them to Coppin, what keeps them coming back. What can we do to inspire and to motivate their their children, their grandchildren, their nieces and nephews to consider Coppin as well. I’ve been working really hard with our alumni association, executive board, an amazing group of people, to build our alumni chapters across the country. So we are are working towards building 15 chapters across the country. We have nine so far that are really just active, engaged alumni across the whole country. So we have chapters in Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania. We’re just building and growing and making sure that we really work to build a strong alumni network, where people see Coppin in the community, and it inspires them to check us out, learn more about what we’re doing.
Nestor Aparicio 13:07
Eagle spreading their wings, Coppin state’s been our partner for a decade and a half for sports, and we’ve run a lot of games, a lot of volleyball, a lot of basketball here over the last 15 years, but now we talk about the actual university and what’s going on, and building it make it stronger. Last thing for you, you mentioned an alum wanting to bring their child and see the campus, and they had a good experience, I’m sure. And you’ve been a cop in almost six years, you’ve seen somebody come in and literally say, I went here, check it out. I don’t think there’s any better endorsement for that than when someone has that kind of experience that they want to bring their child and say, I want you to have the kind of experience I had. But more than that, I would say it would be better, because we’re I was on Coppins campus in the 90s with Fang covering sports, and, you know, back in 98 when the big basketball thing happened. I mean, it really is, and this isn’t just for COP and the same would be true for Morgan. The same be true for Towson, or any even Loyola, but now on that campus, they all improve, right? I think there’s a point where if you did go to Coppin in the 90s and you have or the aughts, and you have a child of that age, you could come back and literally say, this place has gotten bigger, better, brighter, shinier, because it has.
Kimberly Nelson 14:18
You’re absolutely right. I think even for me, you mentioned I’ve been here just little over five years, five going on six years now, and Coppin has changed since I’ve been here. We rededicated our College of Business is beautiful. We have added the Fannie Jackson Coppin statues since I’ve been here. We’re building a new dorm. So there’s always Coppin is growing by leaps and bounds, just so that we can expand the number of students that can live on campus. And so we’re growing. And I’ve had alumni say, you know, I’ve drove past the campus, but I it looks so different that building is new, and I haven’t seen this. And so I’ve had people just come and stop. I call and say, Can you give me a quick tour? And I will, and we do that. We’ll walk the campus. We’ll take pictures. They talk about, you know, where things were buildings used to be when they were here, like our old gymnasium, and just tell just to hear the
Nestor Aparicio 15:13
8story I was in that one.
Kimberly Nelson 15:17
So to hear the stories about how this used to be our gym. Then it was a parking lot, and that was going to be the site where our third dorm will be on campus. It’s just amazing when to see alumni’s eyes light up when they see how much the campus is growing, and then to bring you know the next generation I’ve had. I was talking to an alum last week, and her niece is a student in here now, and you can tell that just the pride that the alum has because her knees followed in her footsteps. But I think to see her look up to her eye and say, Okay, I get it now. I understand why, why they made that decision, and just to really follow in their footsteps. It’s amazing to watch.
Nestor Aparicio 16:02
I think we, you know, we get to be an age, we go someplace we’ve been before, or spend special time. My example will be Dundalk High School. My High School’s ripped down now. It is this shiny, and I’m a member of the Dundalk high Hall of Fame, so I should throw that. But when, when I go back to my old high school. It’s like, big, beautiful, great, doesn’t it’s not my high school anymore. But when I go I just, I get filled with this sort of they made it better. What I mean? Because not everything in life is better. You know what I mean? I also grew up in East Point mall, and the mall was better 30 years. You know, there’s some things where you go back and you’re like, it’s not as good as it used to be, or whatever. Coppin is definitely one of those places. I don’t think who you are when you went at any point, if you haven’t been in a while, you go back and again. This will be true for Morgan. This would be true for a lot of places where you go back and you say, wow, they made this. Look at what they did in the neighborhood here. And Coppin is definitely one of those places.
Kimberly Nelson 16:59
It definitely is when I think about just copping in the extension of the value that we bring to the neighborhood. I mentioned our summer concert series, and that’s an opportunity where I really can speak with some of the members of the community, and they talk about, you know, I’ve been living in this neighborhood for for 30 years or for 40 years, and how it’s changed, and just you can see the pride that they have for the university, and they may not have ever actually stepped foot on in the in a dorm or any of our buildings, but you can tell that the neighborhood loves this campus, that they support us and that they’re proud of what we’re doing the we have a partnership with the mill on North next door, The food hall, and just the relationship that I see growing and how the the management team at the mill on North supports our university and our students. It’s amazing.
8Nestor Aparicio 17:51
Baltimore’s coming back. I tell people this every day, let’s get the snow to hell out of here and make the streets a little you fix it up, but spring will be sprung. You will be having concerts. We promoted those last summer as well. And no mask this summer. We don’t need any of that stuff from five years ago. I I just need, I need a 65 degree day. Kim I just do, you know, we all do. Kimberly Nelson’s here. She’s the director of Alumni Engagement at COP. And Hey cop, and we’re getting over for homecoming in two weeks, all the information will be up at Baltimore positive. You can find it at COP and.edu Thanks for coming on and being a part of Hey, make sure you get back to me on that spring concert series. All right, let me know what’s going on. People winning Grammys here in Baltimore last week. So we’re having a good time around here. Lucas, I’m gonna give him an Oscar or an Emmy or a FIFA award for covering the Orioles in the Ravens here, our W NST tech service is brought to you by cold roofing and Gordian energy, also available at the website. If there’s any breaking news Orioles, get any pictures, anything else going on with the ravens, you will get that first a little bit of sports, a little bit of fun, a lot of community. I’m Nestor. We are W NST am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore. Positive. You.
