# A notable alumni display that shows students every path a graduate can take

> A notable alumni display that sorts graduates by career, from nurses to engineers to welders, so students can see where people like them ended up.

Source: https://history-showcase.com/use-cases/alumni-career-wall · HistoryShowcase · Updated 2026-10-26

Not every notable graduate wins an award. Show the nurses, engineers, chefs, pilots and small business owners who came from your school, sorted by career, so students can picture their own next step.

## What is a notable alumni display?

A notable alumni display shows graduates doing interesting work, from nurses and electricians to engineers and business owners, so current students can see real paths that started at their school, often near the counseling or career center. With HistoryShowcase, profiles are grouped by career field, visitors can filter by training path, and new graduates can be added whenever an alum sends in their story.

- Made for: counselors, career center coordinators and alumni directors
- Where schools put it: Counseling and career center, Near the career and technical wing, Career day
- Layouts: Profiles, Photo gallery
- Visitors can filter by: Career field, Training path, Year
- Cost: Free to use. No payment details required.

## Students can’t aim for jobs they’ve never seen.

Ask a ninth grader what graduates of your school do for a living and you may hear about one famous name. Few have heard of the alumna who runs the hospital’s intensive care unit, the electrician who started a company in town, or the graduate who designs bridges for the state. Those are paths students could actually picture taking, if anyone showed them.

A notable alumni display organized by career gives those graduates a place. Each profile covers the job, the path from graduation to the work and what the person studied or trained for. Counselors can walk a student to the screen during a career conversation, and new profiles can go up whenever an alum answers your call for stories, not just once a year.

## How does a notable alumni display compare with an alumni bulletin board?

| What matters | Alumni bulletin board | HistoryShowcase |
| --- | --- | --- |
| How graduates are sorted | Whatever was pinned up most recently | By career field and training path |
| Depth of each story | A clipping or a photo | Job, training path and a note to students |
| Finding a career | Scan the whole board | Tap a career field, then filter |
| How long it stays | Until the board is cleared | Profiles stay and grow year round |
| Who can see it | Students passing that hallway | Students on campus and alumni at home |

## What a notable alumni display shows

- **Graduates by career field.** Collections for health care, trades, education, the military, business, the arts and more, each filled with your own alumni.
- **The path, step by step.** What they took in high school, where they trained or studied, and the first job that led to the next one.
- **Paths without a four-year degree.** Apprenticeships, certificates, military service and starting a business, shown with the same pride as college.
- **Recent graduates.** Alumni five or ten years out, close enough in age that students can picture themselves there.
- **A day at work.** Photos of the graduate on the job, from the operating room to the job site.
- **A note to current students.** A sentence or two from each graduate about what they wish they had known at sixteen.

## How to set up a career-focused alumni display

Sort by career, not by class year. Students arrive wondering what people do, so the career field is the first tap.

Site: Where Our Alumni Work

- **Health care** (Profiles): Nurses, therapists, technicians and doctors, each with their path.
- **Skilled trades** (Profiles): Electricians, welders, mechanics and builders, including apprenticeships.
- **Business and public service** (Profiles): Owners, managers, teachers, officers and elected officials.
- **Alumni at work** (Photo gallery): On-the-job photos alumni send in.

Visitors can filter by: Career field, Training path, Year.

## How do you set up a notable alumni display?

1. **Ask alumni what they do.** Send a short request through your alumni newsletter for a photo, a job title and a few sentences about how they got there.
2. **Import the replies.** Collect answers in a spreadsheet, one row per graduate, with columns for career field and training path, then import it.
3. **Keep adding all year.** Add new profiles whenever replies come in, preview them privately and publish in small batches.

## Where should a notable alumni display go?

- **Counseling and career center.** Counselors can browse it with a student during a career conversation.
- **Near the career and technical wing.** Students in shop, health science and culinary classes see where those classes can lead.
- **Career day.** Open it on a screen at the event so visiting alumni can show students their profiles.

## Notable alumni display questions

### How is this different from a distinguished alumni wall?

A distinguished alumni wall honors a few graduates chosen by a committee. A notable alumni display can include any graduate doing interesting work, organized by career so students can explore.

### How do we collect alumni stories?

Ask through your newsletter, social pages or reunion mailings, then type the replies in or import a spreadsheet. Smart Add can also read a document of collected stories and suggest entries for review.

### Should we include alumni without college degrees?

Yes, if you want students to see every path. A Training path filter lets students find apprenticeships, military service and certificates as easily as universities.

### Can alumni see their profiles from home?

Yes. The published site has its own web address, so you can send the link to alumni and they can share it with their families.

## Related

- [Distinguished Alumni Wall](https://history-showcase.com/use-cases/distinguished-alumni-wall): Honor graduates chosen for their careers and service, with full stories and each year’s new honorees.
- [CTE Student Showcase](https://history-showcase.com/use-cases/cte-student-showcase): Student projects, credentials and competition results for every career and technical pathway.
- [Alumni Engagement Display](https://history-showcase.com/use-cases/alumni-engagement-display): Give alumni a reason to look, share and send in stories: class pages, old photos and news from graduates.
- [Alumni Military Service Display](https://history-showcase.com/use-cases/military-alumni-display): Graduates serving today and seniors bound for service academies, enlistment or ROTC, with their stories.

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