Clubs

This fall Erin Dornan '00 organized a weekend outing up to Carpinteria for the Dartmouth Club of Los Angeles alumni to come together and camp by the beach. Erin's report: "There was a mix of alumni and their family/friends in attendance, including me and my fiance Frank, Jethro Rothe-Kushel '03 with fiancee Tiffany, Diahna James '05, AlexandraDorian '05, Annie Son '08 and friend Derek, Amanda Prentice '06, Todd Steiner '95, LanceSweitzer '72 and guest Kerem (a prospective Dartmouth student), Aloke Mandal '85, Corinna Knight '93 and Stan West '78. We enjoyed our Friday evening setting up camp, sharing stories of our time at Dartmouth by the campfire, and being raided by local alumni Kate Kirkmire '98 and her friends Katrina (Steinmetz) Soltero '00 and her husband, David, who brought treats to make smores and other goodies. The rest of the weekend we enjoyed cooking pancake breakfasts, playing board games, taking walks on the beach, braving the waves (Aloke surfed twice) and cooking dinner over the fire. Tish O'Connor '76 gave our alumni a special treat by inviting us to her home in the hills of Montecito for a sunset mingler on Saturday evening. To extend our time together and delay the return trip to L.A. just a bit longer, we stopped by for some great Mexican food at La Super-Rica in Santa Barbara on Sunday afternoon. A great time was had by all this weekend. We hope to plan future camping outings and to expand our interactions and work with the Santa Barbara club."

The Dartmouth Club of Oregon attempted to hold its annual holiday party on December 21, as Laura Walker Chung '95 took over as host from club president Art LaFrance '60. The gathering had but one alumnus attendee, Natalie Todd- Zebell '09, and her parents Niki and Paul, as a result of a historic snowstorm dumping close to a foot of snow in the normally rainy city of Portland. Ironically, the party had been originally scheduled for a week earlier, when a mere dusting of snow paralyzed parts of the city and kept even former Hanover residents cloistered indoors!

Thanks to the extraordinary leadership of club treasurer James Von Rittman '95, the Dartmouth Club of Greater San Francisco has made outstanding use of corporate sponsorships to drive attendance at events, increase the number of paid memberships, and enable the club to host events on a larger and grander scale. The club has established relationships with, among others, Land Rover, Polo Ralph Lauren, Olympic Circle Sailing School, Ferrari, Adobe Systems, San Francisco Giants, Quail Lodge & Resort, Smith Barney, Windy Oaks Estate, Ferrari-Maserati of Redwood City, Monterey Bay Aquarium, San Francisco Zoo and eBay. These relationships have also benefited other alumni groups with whom the club has partnered for various events. These companies provide facilities at which club events can be hosted, contribute their products or services for the benefit of the membership and provide further contacts that help with everything from corporate recruiting to executive mentoring.

Tom Parker '90 of the Dartmouth Club of Miami reports a successful year for the club but requests that we encourage more alums to locate in Miami to expand the size of and participation in the club. Such a move may be quite attractive to many of us at this time of year.

Thank you to all who have sent me notes about your club—please keep the e-mails coming.

15900 South Park Boulevard,Shaker Heights, OH 44120; susanshonsluria@gmail.com