W&L Class Agents Demonstrate School Spirit in Action For nearly 100 years, W&L has benefited from engaged alumni volunteering to connect with their classmates.

By Amanda Minix
October 20, 2025

For nearly 100 years, Washington and Lee University has benefited from engaged alumni volunteering to connect with their classmates. Today, Class Agents touch base with their peers throughout the year, sharing university updates, showing impact our donors and volunteers have on W&L and encouraging support for the W&L Fund. Roughly 200 volunteers currently serve in the role, with many returning year after year to build and nurture connections with fellow alumni. While everyone has different reasons for offering their time as a Class Agent, there are recurring themes, from wanting to support their alma mater to thriving on the connections with their peers.

Laura Beth (LB) Ellis Telep ’14 began volunteering as a Class Agent shortly after graduating and has served more than a decade. “I wanted to become a Class Agent to continue to stay close and connected with my classmates and to have a chance to make new friends even well after graduation,” she said. While at a wedding for a friend who did not attend W&L, Telep was surprised to see so many of her W&L connections there, from sorority sisters to parents of W&L friends. “We’re truly connected wherever we go, and it’s a blast,” she said.

Washington and Lee’s Class Agent program took root not long after the university hosted its first reunion in 1924. It began under President Francis Pendleton Gaines’ leadership as a class secretary program in the 1930s, with volunteers sharing W&L news and gathering contact information for alumni. By 1934, volunteers had helped the Alumni Office reach more than 90% of living alumni. The earliest Class Agents proved themselves indispensable when a fire destroyed Tucker Hall in 1934, and they rallied to help the university raise money for reconstruction. Decades later, Class Agents continue to play a crucial role in fostering a vibrant university community.

“Serving as a Class Agent is an expression of my appreciation for all W&L afforded me. The education and experiences I received are invaluable, and I believe involved alumni are the best way to ensure that the ethos of W&L continues to thrive so the university can offer the same opportunities to future classes.”
~ Cate O’Kelley ’22 

Dave Weaver ’60 is the longest serving Class Agent, with 32 years under his belt, joking that he is unable to say “no” to W&L. “I enjoy being in touch with my classmates,” he said. The Class of 1960 has contributed more than $1 million to the Leading Lives of Consequence campaign so far, thanks in part to Weaver’s outreach and enduring connections. Judy Mohler, a longtime W&L staff member and part of the Class Agent liaison team, has been working with Weaver since the beginning of his volunteer journey. “Working with Five-Star volunteers has been the highlight of my job — they set the standard for maintaining lifelong connections with classmates, built out of shared campus memories, and growing those bonds into a deep, lasting commitment to one another and to W&L.”

Engagement is at the heart of the Class Agent program; volunteers maintain regular contact with classmates centered around shared experiences at Washington and Lee. These volunteers not only strengthen the foundation for the celebrated W&L network, but they fuel the university’s drive for continuing excellence — now and for generations to come. Prolific volunteer Powell Starks ’83, ’88L has served as a law and undergraduate Class Agent, among numerous other roles. “The most immediate reason for my service as a Class Agent is to give back to the school and community that was so important to forming the person I have become and to make sure that formative opportunity survives for future generations,” Starks said.

With a competitive spirit to achieve goals and support current students, Class Agents have been instrumental in the W&L Fund reaching annual goals of $10 million or more over the last decade, providing critical resources to every area of the university.

This year, Class Agents will participate in regular group video calls along with other volunteers and members of The President’s Society, the university’s leadership giving recognition program for the W&L Fund.  Aimed at focusing on the strength of W&L connections, these expanded volunteer calls, titled Behind the Colonnade, will unite a broader cross section of W&L community members across class years and affiliation, inviting them to be at the forefront of campus news as some of Washington and Lee’s best ambassadors.

Cate O’Kelley ’22 is a second-generation W&L alumna whose mother, Carol, graduated in 1991. O’Kelley was a member of the Senior Gift Committee and already knew how the W&L Fund supports the university when she became a Class Agent after graduating. Keeping up with her classmates on a regular basis is a wonderful bonus to the work, but the service itself offers O’Kelley a sense of fulfillment.

“Serving as a Class Agent is an expression of my appreciation for all W&L afforded me,” she said. “The education and experiences I received are invaluable, and I believe involved alumni are the best way to ensure that the ethos of W&L continues to thrive so the university can offer the same opportunities to future classes.”

Interested in becoming a class agent? Let us know using our contact form.