Clubs

Devoted Dartmouth alumni volunteers trudged up to Hanover on Winter Carnival Weekend to participate in another successful Club and Group Officers Weekend (CAGOW). Memories of Hanover in the midst of winter quickly came back to mind as club and group officers watched the flakes from winter storm Nemo as they enjoyed each others company and shared best practices. The accomplishments of the clubs through the past year are astonishing. Alumni volunteers and clubs around the globe gave out 851 book awards at more than 800 schools, interviewed 7,805 applicants for the class of'16 and hosted 754 events with a total of 27,911 attendees.

Several clubs and groups were acknowledged throughout the weekend for their level of alumni engagement, service to the College and creativity. The following awards were presented at the Saturday night dinner in front of all club and group officers and their guests: Large Club of the Year honors went to the Dartmouth Association of the Rocky Mountains; Medium Club of the Year honors went to the Dartmouth Club of Greater Miami (now the Dartmouth Club of South Florida); Small Club of the Year honors went to both the Dartmouth Club of the Gulf Coast and the Dartmouth Club of Central Ohio; and Group of the Year honors went to Dartmouth Alumni in Entertainment and Media.

Alumni and guests started off the weekend with tours and presentations at the new Black Family Visual Arts Center. Professors Maiy Flanagan and Louise Hamlin proudly spoke about the great work that is being done in the new facility around digital humanities and art. The workshops throughout the day on Saturday addressed a variety of hot topics for club and group leaders including running successful events of all sizes, building resources and utilizing social media. One of the most interesting sessions was "Momentum through Video Magic: Taking Your Club to the Next Level." Ray Gottesfeld '73, Tauna Dowling '89 and Ken McDonald '89 from the Dartmouth Association of the Rocky Mountains gave an outstanding presentation about utilizing pictures and videos from events to create YouTube videos that enhance the club's/ groups communication strategy. Dowling '89 showed several examples of the videos that she had created for the club with a variety of methods. Attendees at this session walked away with suggestions for a tool kit to get started and energized to start implementing these techniques in their respective club/group. The weekend activities brought alumni together at Dartmouth to reconnect with each other, learn new ways to engage alumni in their club/group and enjoy all the wonders of Dartmouth during Winter Carnival weekend.

Many thanks to the staff in alumni relations who worked tirelessly to organize an amazing weekend. Ask how you can become more involved in your alumni club or group so that you don't miss out on this exciting weekend next year.

209 Vernon St., Worcester,MA 01607; (508) 340-5336; cherie.comeau@ahm.dartmouth.org