With the recent dedication of Hampden-Sydney College’s (H-SC) Brown Student Center, we were provided with fresh reason to commend the school for doing an outstanding job of training its students and for providing a learning environment which young men want to join.

There can hardly be a more effective evidence of success than having the people you serve happily proclaiming to others, in word and deed, how pleased they are with that service.

Recently, H-SC placed highly in rankings released by The Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report, and it also came in 10th in The Wall Street Journal’s list of “top schools for career preparation.”

All of these rankings were derived from the feedback of H-SC students.

A key reason cited for why the school is excellent at career preparation is the outstanding quality of its alumni network.

H-SC officials noted in a press release that The Princeton Review ranks Hampden-Sydney’s alumni network as the ninth-best in the nation.

Alumni pour time and effort back into the school and also money.

The H-SC website states that the new Brown Student Center was made possible in large part by a major gift from Orran and Ellen Brown. Orran is a 1978 graduate of the college and is a founding partner of a successful law firm in Richmond. Major funding also came from other alumni, including Robert K. Citrone, a 1987 graduate, Robert D. Taylor, a 1973 graduate, William L. Pannill, a 1977 graduate, and the Class of 1979 Reunion Gift.

What a testament it is to the success of Hampden-Sydney that its alumni not only readily give back to the institution but also have the professional standing affording them significant wherewithal to do so.