Clubs

If you were not able to attend the annual Club and Affiliated Group Officers Weekend or were too engrossed in conversation to recall, congratulations go to the following clubs for 2003 honors: Small Club of the Year, Dartmouth Club of Kentucky; Medium Club of the Year, Dartmouth Club of Eastern Fairfield County (tied with) Dartmouth Club of Southwest New Hampshire; Honorable Mention, Dartmouth Club of Western Pennsylvania; Large Club of the Year, Dartmouth Club of the Midwest; Sustained Excellence, Dartmouth Club of Long Island; Metro Club of the Year, Dartmouth Club of Washington, D.C.; Special Award for Community Service, Dartmouth Club of the Upper Valley; Club President of the Year, Rob Albright '89 of the Dartmouth Club of the Midwest; Affiliated Group of the Year, Dartmouth Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Alumni/ae Association.

For those who don't see your club's name up there, make sure your club officers are submitting their annual reports—the next one is due now! If your club did submit a report and you are not an officer, please volunteer to help them out and don't forget to pay your annual membership dues!

Yet another successful weekend was had during the Officers Weekend March 19-21. Attendees learned a lot and heartily enjoyed themselves in the process. As Steve Donovan, director of alumni affairs, puts it: "It's quite gratifying to see our volunteer leaders leave feeling so energized about Dartmouth and their roles as club or affiliated group leaders." The enthusiasm was infectious indeed.

We thought we would share with you what attendees told us they learned at the weekend. If you'd like more information, please follow up with Steve Donovan (stephen.j.donovan@ dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-3497).

Top 10 Things You Learned that You Didn't Know Before:

1) There are templates and online resources to help you put together a Web site.

2) Paypal is a great way to increase dues and make it easier for young alums to join online; evite.com great for RSVPs; surveymonkey.com s20/month for 1,000 e-mail addresses for super surveys/reports.

3) Collaborating with an affiliated group can actually bring other constituents out who are not a part of the affiliated group but see that the club is open and accepting.

4) The breadth of community service activities that clubs are doing and that a club really can do a huge service event with no club funds (just sponsorships/in-kind contributions).

5) The president and trustees actually do like the fraternity/sorority system.

6) Buzzflood is a new student-run e-mail newsletter designed to promote the College.

7) DEDs have a new online candidate information management system that really helps simplify the interview process.

8) Invite recipients of book awards to your holding party, take a picture of matriculants and award recipients and send them to the local newspaper.

9) Demographics are changing; club volunteers are no longer well-meaning amateurs but trained, professional staff and clubs need to adapt to the need for volunteers to build new skills and get recognition for their time.

10) The new and improved club officers manual is now online: www.dartmouth.org/ about/clubs/undergrad/officers/club_officers_ manual.html.

David Eichman '82, president of the Dartmouth Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Alumni/ae Association (D-GALA), tells us they are "busy planning the next all class reunion to be held in Hanover the weekend of October 13. Activities include a welcome reception with President Wright, panel discussions with students, faculty, administrators and a trustee, an awards dinner featuring Massachusetts marriage case plaintiff Hillary S. Goodridge '78, a ceremony of remembrance and a farewell brunch. For more information, please visit www. alum.dartmouth.org/affiliated/dgala. Those interested in sponsoring or assisting with the reunion, please contact reunion co-chairs Trevor Burgess '94 (trby2@aol.com) or Susi Kandel '00 (susi@alum.dartmouth.org)."

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