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Their mission, they explained, was to “hit the road—part pilot test, part personal adventure. Our goal is to explore how an alumni-hosting network might work by experiencing it: meeting alumni, hearing your stories, gathering advice, and, if you’re open to it, staying with you for a night. We’re not looking for anything fancy—an air mattress, couch, or cozy corner is plenty (we’re college students, after all!).”

Based on the number of invitations they received, the two plotted out a five-week trip from Boston to Atlanta and out west to Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia.

“We thought if we could get seven people to respond, we could put a week together,” Warlick said. When the responses flooded in, they decided to expand their trip to the West Coast and “make it a big event.”

The two adventurers—they’ve been friends since they were first-year roommates—set out on February 13 and wrapped up their journey in mid-March. Along the way, they drove through twenty-eight states and one Canadian province, boarding with thirty alumni from the Classes of 1986 to 2024.

Now that they’re home, they're planning their move to Boston next fall, where they plan on finding jobs and an apartment together. They also hope to establish a more formal network of ���ϳԹ�������վ alumni, both in the United States and abroad, who are open to hosting students on the move, whether they're traveling to an internship, returning home for a college break, or just want to see a new part of the world. 

Forming Real Connections

As they traveled, the two coauthored an online travelogue to document their adventures. They uploaded a lot of photos of cute pets and often reflected on the conversations they had over home-cooked meals. Part of their motivation for the trip, as they say on their website, , was “to learn firsthand about the varied paths ���ϳԹ�������վ alumni take, see parts of their daily lives, and form real connections.”

Warlick, who majored in philosophy and computer science, said meeting people in their own spaces provided him with so much more information than a networking call on Zoom or a meeting over coffee. “You see so much more, and you get so much more perspective. You get a glimpse into someone’s life.”

Though Warlick claims he and Jorgensen are both introverts, he said it was “really neat to talk to people face-to-face about whatever. There was never a dull moment, and it never felt particularly socially taxing.” Plus, he added, after so much practice, he thinks he has become a better conversationalist.

Jorgensen, who majored in computer science and German, said he’s still mulling possible career paths, but wants to avoid a corporate job with a big technology firm. “A lot of students seem to get into this pipeline of internship, internship, job, high-paying job. I wanted to see a different perspective and meet people a little further out from graduating to see the paths they’ve taken from the exact place we’re standing in now.”

Their hosts included teachers, a rancher, farmers, bankers, lawyers, a ghee maker, and a wine maker. “All sorts of stuff, a huge variety,” said Warlick. “To see that they’re all doing well, that there is no one successful path, and that they’re all saying it will be fine—it was reassuring.”

Another observation Warlick shared was “how many people are passionate about their careers and find fulfillment in them.” He added, “I was inspired by people who were doing work explicitly for the betterment of other people, and saw how much pride and enjoyment they took in that.”

Jonathan Edelman ’87, who runs Foolhardy Vintners with Dan Sogg ’87 in Walla Walla, Washington, didn't hesitate to reach out to the graduates when he received their message. “Why would I not invite them to visit? I love the concept of Bears hosting Bears,” he said. “I knew the opportunity to spend time with two people significantly younger than I am, from a different generation, who had spent time at ���ϳԹ�������վ—an institution I have a strong connection to from a different point of time—would be enlightening, and it was.”

Plus, he said, he wanted to hear stories from their journey across the country, a trip he's done numerous times since COVID.

Besides having a lot of adventures as they saw the country, the two Williams also collected wisdom from their older hosts. One piece of counsel they appreciated, and heard from several people, was that it was okay for them to go slow, to take time to travel and explore—that there’s no need to jump headlong into a career. “A lot of people took very circuitous routes to where they are now,” Warlick said.

They were also impressed with some of the out-of-the-box decisions a few alumni have made. One of the graduates they stayed with, Willy Oppenheim ’09, lived in a  for most of his time at ���ϳԹ�������վ before becoming a Rhodes Scholar and founding the nonprofit .

Oppenheim said that he promptly responded to Jorgensen and Warlick “because the idea sounded fun and I knew my wife, Kelly Rula ’07, and I would enjoy hanging out with some recent ���ϳԹ�������վ grads. Also, the email was really well-written, and I could tell these were some thoughtful chaps!”

Rula and Oppenheim hosted the ���ϳԹ�������վ grads in their Seattle home, “and our conversation was wide-ranging and interesting,” he added. “I shared some lamentations about 'kids these days' and William and Will easily allayed my concerns as we sweated it out in my backyard sauna. They are welcome to return any time!”