The Beyond Fifty Fellowship will welcome  alumni back to their alma mater during BJU’s fourth annual Homecoming and Family Weekend.

This event, hosted by the Alumni Relations office, will be held in the Applied Studies Assembly Hall at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13. Alumni who attend the Beyond Fifty Fellowship are those who graduated more than 50 years ago.

Alumni will have been out of college for half a century, so the event will be a fitting celebration as they return to campus and reunite with former classmates.

The event typically attracts visiting alumni from all over the country. It will be held in a meet-and-greet format, with dessert, and the Alumni Relations office will showcase videos and clips highlighting the University’s history.

Emily Gutschow is one of the event coordinators for the Alumni Relations office. She said that alumni are a critical element of BJU. She said that the alumni relations office wants to reach as many members of the BJU family as possible, and the Beyond Fifty Fellowship is a great way to reconnect graduates with their classmates.

For alumni, the Beyond Fifty provides an opportunity to reunite with former classmates and friends that they may not otherwise be able to see.It also allows alumni grateful for Bob Jones University’s impact to revisit a college campus that had a great impact on them in their formative years and see how it has changed but stayed consistent over the years.

Bob Shelton is a BJU alumnus and board member  who graduated in 1951 with a Bible degree.He met his eventual wife at Bob Jones University and a University missions trip allowed him to discover his calling to 70 years of missionary service in Asia.

“I’m really indebted to Bob Jones,” Shelton said. “They not only did what a college is supposed to do for a young man during his college days, but the Lord used them to direct me.”