Three successful alumni retraced their paths from college to career while visiting campus last week.

Jack Epps Jr., Juli Betwee and John Scott presented a panel discussion for students and faculty Friday morning as part of the second annual College of Arts and Letters Alumni Leaders Program.

“The thing that impresses me is how inspiring the leaders are and how they related their experiences with students,” said Patrick McConeghy, associate dean of the College of Arts and Letters.

Epps, who co-wrote several movie scripts, including “Top Gun” with the late MSU Professor Jim Cash, said he hoped to show students there are no limits to success.

“It’s important to see people with experience so you can gauge where you want to go,” he said. “I hope what I did is pass on what was passed on to me.”

Wendy Wilkins, dean of the College of Arts and Letters, said the program aims to form more useful relationships between alumni and the university.

“There’s been a terrifically positive response from the leaders themselves,” she said. “They stay in touch with us and become reconnected.”

She said the program is a benefit to both the alumni and the students.

Betwee often visits campus as a member of the MSU Foundation Board of Directors, but she appreciated the chance to interact with students during this visit.

“Its helped me realize the value of what I’ve gotten out of the university experience,” she said.

Betwee, now president and founder of Betwee & Company, San Francisco - a management consultant firm - said she sees value in maintaining a partnership with the university.

“It’s very important for us in the mid-to-late stages of our careers to understand how students think about the world of work so we can be agents for them,” she said. “We should really look at ourselves as one big network.”

English junior Andrea Hewitt said the presentation gave her advice about getting into the film industry.

“I really had no idea how I was going to go about getting somewhere, and (Epps) really gave me some ideas,” she said.

Jim Hopfensperger, a professor of art, said seeing alumni shows students a bigger picture.

“We talk about who they are as people, not the details about what they’ve done,” he said. “This builds that bridge for them to understand life changes.”

Scott, a professor of fine arts at Xavier University in Louisiana, said he took a lot of wisdom with him from MSU.

“One of the things I got out of this institution was that teachers demanded that you believe in yourself,” he said. “Hopefully being here will tell (students) their dreams are possible.

“I’ve been successful because I’m too stubborn to quit.”