Dear '69 Classmates,
At last week's VOX Conference for alumni class and club leaders, a dozen awards were presented to classes recognizing exemplary activities during the 2019-2020 fiscal year. Half of those awards recognized activities prior to the pandemic and half were for activities after the pandemic reached the U.S. The Great Class of 1969 received an award in each of those categories!
In the pre-pandemic category, we were recognized for moving to Zoom as a platform for Executive Committee meetings, allowing classmates unable to physically attend Homecoming to attend our Homecoming 2019 activities virtually, including our class meeting and social events. This made the move to virtual mini-reunions, Homecoming, etc., much smoother once the pandemic hit.
In the pandemic-era category, we were recognized for our virtual play readings, specifically for the first reading of As You Like It. Special kudos to our mini-reunion chair and lifelong amateur thespian, Arthur Fergenson, who organized it.
For those who remember awards from past years (Class of the Year, Reunion Class of the Year, and others) those awards were not given this year. The Class Officer Associations Executive Board and Alumni Relations felt that this year was so different that class awards had to be reimagined.
If you have not been participating in our virtual class activities, such as the play readings, informal social hours, and casual conversations, and would like to join your classmates, reminders are sent out on the class discussion listserv. You can join the listserv by emailing our Webmaster, Peter Elias. Alternatively, if you would like to be added to notifications for a specific series without joining the listserv, you could email me (for informal class social hours), or Arthur Fergenson (for casual conversations and play readings). There are some virtual special interest groups, as well. A regular virtual AA meeting for classmates has been organized by Tex Talmadge, and Bruce Alpert recently organized a virtual discussion group on Jewish culture.
Stay well and stay involved!
Jim Staros '69