Columbia College Today

Sara Velasquez ’02 in front of NZX Centre, the home of the New Zealand Exchange Limited.

PHOTO: RAELENE LORD

The journey Sara Velasquez ’02 had to make to her Alumni Reunion Weekend — about 9,000 miles, from Wellington, New Zealand, to Morningside Heights — was longer than most. Perhaps it’s appropriate that her enthusiasm for Columbia is oversized, too.

A long-haired, graceful California native, Velasquez first came to the campus at 16, during a model UN conference. Though she was interested in attending an East Coast school, she had never heard of the University. But once she walked through the scrolled iron gates at 116th Street, it was love at first sight. Velasquez says, “It was like … lights coming down, angels singing.” She took a campus tour and decided, “This is where I want to go.”

During her first year, she made an appointment with Dean Austin Quigley so she could thank him in person for her College experience. Velas¬quez majored in Hispanic studies and also took classes in photography. The Core, she found, and the New York setting complemented each other. Both were competitive environments, places where you needed to be “strong, smart, savvy”; both could produce a person who’d be “a well-rounded citizen of the world.”

Which was, in fact, what Velasquez turned out to be. After graduation, she moved overseas, first with a boyfriend to London, then to New Zealand for what was supposed to be six months. In New Zealand, she took a temp job at the local stock exchange, NZX. (Small world: It turned out that the head of NZX also had a degree from Columbia: Mark Weldon ’97L.) Velas¬quez has been at NZX for four years and works in the listed products section, helping companies through the listing process, whether by initial public offer or compliance listing.

Though she loves New Zealand’s natural beauty, she misses New York and was eager to come home for her reunion. As early as last fall, she e-mailed the alumni office to make sure that her first trip home in three years would coincide with her class’ five-year gathering. Finally, on the night of June 2, Velasquez mingled with classmates and friends under a white tent on South Lawn at the Class of ’02 dinner. The faint sounds of chatter and music drifted over the grass on a mellow summer night. It had been a long trip, but it was worth it.

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Sara Velasquez 02’s Long Trip Home