The Georgetown University Alumni Association has sponsored the event since 1952.

“John Carroll Weekend has become an increasingly important and well-attended opportunity for the Georgetown community to come together, to be inspired, engaged and reminded of what makes Georgetown so special,” Alumni Association Executive Director William Reynolds said.

The weekend included four days of events ranging from social activities to academic lectures, covering a wide variety of topics including sustainable energy, sports and Latin American business. Most events were held at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel.

The celebration drew distinguished speakers, well-known faculty members, alumni from all undergraduate and graduate schools and Latin American leaders. Notable speakers included former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, former National Football League Commissioner and Chairman of the board of directors Paul Tagliabue (CAS ’62) and National Geographic Emerging Explorer and filmmaker Alexandra Cousteau (COL ’98), a water resource management advocate.

“There was one [event] on creating new models for global education that President DeGioia was a part of,” Kirsten Harmon (COL ’09, LAW ’14) said. “There was a really great luncheon on the role of women and business in Latin America and a really fantastic panel on driving business expansion in Latin America.”

The Latin America Alumni Leadership Summit, now in its fourth year, was held Feb. 20 in Miami as well.

“I think having that [the summit] in conjunction with the John Carroll Weekend added a lot of energy and enthusiasm,” Harmon said. “There were a lot of people came who hadn’t necessarily been to John Carroll Weekend before, myself included.”

Since 1952, John Carroll Weekend has travelled to a different city each year to celebrate the best of Georgetown. The weekend offered participants the opportunity to engage with one another, Georgetown faculty and world leaders, while experiencing a new city.

This year, participants experienced the city of Miami through events like Salsa Night at Bongos Cuban Café and the Food Network’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival, which featured tastings tents of Latin-inspired cuisine. Attendees also got the chance to view the championship trophies of the two-time National Basketball Association champions, the Miami Heat.

“Georgetown really pulls out all the stops,” Thomas Lane III (COL ’14) said.

The main event of the weekend was the John Carroll Awards Banquet, where five alumni and one “friend of the university” were recognized for their involvement and dedication to Georgetown. The alumni association bestows this honor to people who have upheld Georgetown’s mission of excellence, service and leadership.

“They weren’t just being awarded for their individual accomplishments so much as that in addition to that, they continued to remain involved and really serving and giving back to the Georgetown Community,” Harmon said.

This year, alumni Jane Hopkins Carey (CAS ’79), John C. Courtin (CAS ’70, LAW ’78), Robert M. Flanagan (GSB ’67), Joseph L. Guarriello (GSB ’71, LAW ’74) and J. Clifford Hudson (LAW ’80) received the John Carroll Award.

“You got the sense that they really felt they had received a lot from Georgetown and had really committed themselves to giving back as they moved on in their lives so that was definitely really inspiring,” Harmon said.

Irene Ryan Shaw, the mother of three Georgetown graduates, received the 2014 Patrick Healy Award, which is the highest honor bestowed by the alumni association upon distinguished non-alumni for whom the university has a deep respect and admiration.

Following the banquet, a cappella group The Georgetown Chimes sang with past members.

“We’ve got a really strong alumni connection,” Lane, a current Chime, said. “We sang together with these guys for about a half hour so it was really quite a treat.”

While the John Carroll Weekend is mainly meant for alumni, there could be benefits to encouraging more graduate, or even undergraduate, students to attend.

“There are very few undergraduate students, but it’s a really cool event all the same,” Lane said.