For many UW-Eau Claire students, the bonds they build while participating in activities through University Recreation are ones they remember long after they leave the university, said University Recreation Marketing Assistant Sarah Crowe.

University Recreation recently developed an alumni database in order to stay connected with students after they graduate, and to provide another way for alumni to connect with each other. The database is accessible from University Recreation’s Web site.

“The alumni database is something that is different than the UW-Alumni (database),” Crowe said. “It’s just for the Rec department.”

Lisa M. Schuetz, student service program manager for University Recreation, said the database allows university rec and alumni to find students based on specific events or groups that they participated in.

“The alumni office on campus is absolutely fantastic,” she said. “But for example with sport club, it was hard for them to narrow down (and locate) by sport or activity, like bowling.”

The database will include anyone who has participated in any sort of activity with recreation, Crowe said. This means the database will include everyone from those who participated in massage therapy or aerobics to those who played basketball or volleyball.

Schuetz said the department aims to have current students who participate in recreation activities sign up to be in the database.

“We want (students) to keep it in mind when they graduate or leave campus,” she said. “We want to be able to stay involved with them.”

The database will be especially helpful for the department when trying to organize alumni events, Crowe said.

“It has been a problem in the past,” she said.

A marketing campaign will be launched in the fall, Schuetz said. However, information about the database is being spread primarily through word of mouth, she said.

In the database, features such as an alumni search database will not be available until fall, Crowe said.