Berkeley alum Vera Chan says her Boston-bred roots and Chinese-American cultural heritage reinforced education as a path to opportunity, a way to rise above circumstances, and to “find new worlds.”

Susan Lyne describes one of her most defining moments.

“Walking onto Sproul Plaza for the first time was one of the great highs of my life,” Susan says. “I knew I was in the right place.”

Sustaining UC Berkeley’s excellence is especially important to Amit and Anju Sharma now that their two children, son Sumeet ’14 and daughter Priyanka ’16, are Cal alums.

Gary R. Kilpatric says Berkeley is and always will be part of his identity. “Cal shaped my life in so many ways,” Gary reflects.

Anne Grafft Stewart followed in her brother’s footsteps by deciding to go to Cal and ended up starting a legacy of Cal alums in her family. Those initial steps belong to William D. Grafft ’51 M.A. ’59. “My husband’s son went to Cal. My granddaughter went to Cal. We have grandnieces and nephews who went to Cal. I guess Bill and I started something,” Anne says.

You could say the Silcoxes are Berkeley strong. The couple has been giving to UC Berkeley for more than 60 years. “Cal needs our help to achieve its mission,” Hugh says. “I got a top-notch education, and we want to help other deserving students benefit from all that the university offers.”