Clubs

Dartmouth clubs have been in existence since the mid-1800s. The Boston Club was founded in 1864 and New York in 1866. Eleven more clubs were founded before 1900 (San Francisco; Denver; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Detroit; Minneapolis; St. Louis; Concord and Manchester, New Hampshire; Cincinnati; and Montpelier, Vermont). The first international club was started in 1944 in London. Tokyo was second in 1951. While there are far more alumni living in countries outside the United States than ever before, it is often challenging to maintain an organization with alums spread over an entire country and not necessarily concentrated in a major city.

The Paris Club, founded in 1956, has gone through a tremendous resurgence in the past few years thanks to president Evy Chan's leadership. Recently the club came to the aid of a Dartmouth FSP student who was severely burned in a hotel fire by providing her father, arriving from Canada, with alumni and friends serving as translators for him.

The Club of China's membership has been growing steadily since its founding in 1996, with now more than 30 members. During the past seven years, club activities have ineluded an annual event with the FSP program at Beijing Normal University and quarterly dinner gatherings alternating in Beijing and Shanghai. Club members also conduct alumni interviews for more than half of the 10-plus mainland China applicants each year. The club hosted President Wright last fall.

"Membership is concentrated in Beijing and Shanghai, but more and more of our members, especially younger alums, are fanning out across the country teaching English, working in the travel industry or doing short-term research," says club president Bill Reinsch '99.

Club vice president David Spindler '89 adds: "With such a small club, we need to encourage a bounty hunter mentality among members to reach out to alums new to China. The small size of our club certainly affects the frequency and variety of events we can put on. As they say, 'It is, sir, a small club, but there are those who love it!'

The newly recognized Club of Russia is also relatively small, at approximately 30 members. While they have been making much progress in getting off the ground to offer multiple activities similar to the Club of China, they primarily serve as recruiters of prospective students.

The Club of Germany has many more alums but they are spread throughout a large geographic area. This has made organizing activities challenging for this club, though president Tony Perry '99 has successfully implemented a new operational model that may allow other international clubs with similar issues to run more effectively in the future.

As he explains, "We took a two-tiered approach. First, we appointed regional events coordinators, who put together events in different parts of the country on a quarterly basis. This enables more alumni to participate without traveling far from home. At the same time, we ensured that there was central point of contact for the club, giving alumni in Germany and abroad a resource that could assist them in contacting others or obtaining information about the club."

Alumni can e-mail the club at dcgermany @alum.dartmouth.org or visit the clubs Web page at www.dartmouth.org/clubs/germany/index.htm to learn about the club and upcoming

events. Moving? Going somewhere on business? Take a look at the Web sites of clubs across the world: www.dartmouth.org/about/clubs.

If you have any comments about the Club Notes section or would like to share news about your club or its members, please contact me.

3015 Alameda,Menlo Park,CA 94025; (650) 234-8334; dsoave@mindspring.com