After a yearlong hiatus, the Alumni Association was at long last able to properly welcome the classes of 2024 and 2025 with the annual Freshman Welcome Picnic event. Held July 28, 2021, in the new Randall L. Roberts Amphitheater at the Loma Linda University Church, the evening provided a chance for the School of Medicine’s newest student physicians to get acquainted with one another and introduced these soon-to-be alumni to their Alumni Association.

Close to 250 students attended the event, including approximately 50 representatives from last year’s freshman class who did not get to experience this annual event when they were incoming freshmen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Alumni Association provided a dinner of delicious burritos, and the students were thrilled to receive freshly baked homemade cookies supplied by Merle Hildebrand and the Women’s Auxiliary Club. Gina J. Mohr ’96, chair of the Alumni Association Student Affairs Council, acted as emcee for the program. Representatives from the class of 2024 planned mixer games and activities, and every student walked away with an assortment of door prizes from local businesses.