HIGH POINT, N.C., Oct. 13, 2014 – High Point University welcomed more than 1,000 visitors to the city during its annual HPU Alumni Weekend held Oct. 10-12. Alumni not only enjoyed a variety of events at their alma mater, but also provided an economic boost to the city of High Point.
Events included men’s and women’s soccer games, campus tours, Witcher Athletic Center and School of Communication open houses, community service projects, networking opportunities and class reunions. An awards banquet was also held to honor the work and service of three outstanding alumni.
The three alumni honored were:
- Jorge Lagueruela, a member of HPU’s Class of 1979, was honored as the 2014 Alumnus of the Year. As the founder and president of Trinity Furniture Inc. in Trinity, he has received many awards and accolades including four-time recipient of The Business Journal Fast 50, the U.S. Department of Commerce Exporter of the Year, two-time recipient of The Business Journal Top Ranked Hispanic Business of the Year, and the HPU Award for Distinguished Service to his Profession. An active board member with the Archdale-Trinity YMCA, Lagueruela is also very active with the Hopewell United Methodist Church, serving on the Board of Trustees, chairman of several committees and a member of the choir.
- Adam Walsh, HPU’s Young Alumni Achievement Award winner, has held a managerial role with multiple men’s basketball programs since his HPU graduation in 2000. Walsh’s work has spanned Barton College, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Odessa College, and Paris Junior College, before joining the Centenary College Gentlemen in 2007 as an assistant coach. In 2010, Adam was named head coach and was named SCAC Co-Coach of the Year in 2013. During his first season coaching, the Division I team had only four scholarship players and finished with a 1-29 record. The team finished the 2013-14 season with a winning record of 18-10 in only their second year in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, the best of Walsh’s four-year tenure as head coach.
- Forrest Ferrell received the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award. A member of the Class of 1960, Ferrell practiced law in Hickory until elected as a Superior Court Judge in 1974. He served in this role for seven years and was then elected Senior Resident Judge for the same district, a position he held until 1998. Ferrell has been involved in several professional organizations, including serving as the vice president of the North Carolina Bar Association and as the president of the Conference of Superior Court Judges. He has also been involved in several community-based organizations, holding positions as former president and vice-president of several high school PTAs, coach of his daughters’ state champion basketball teams, and has served on the Board of Directors for the Catawba County Council for the Arts.
HPU’s Alumni Weekend is just one of many events each year that attracts visitors and results in a major economic boost for the Piedmont Triad Region. For example, the recent Fall Family Weekend, held Sept. 26-28, brought more than 4,000 students and their families to campus. The High Point Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates the economic impact of last year’s Fall Family Weekend was $1,967,569.