Volunteers Wanted: Class of 1979 Regional Vice Presidents

 

If you have an interest in volunteer leadership with the Class of 1979 in your local community, please read on and consider becoming a Class of 1979 Regional Vice President.

 

What are we talking about and why are we doing this?

 

As part of our Class of 1979 Five-Year Strategic Plan, we established a goal to increase opportunities for our classmates, spouses and friends to network and participate in Class- or Princeton-related activities or mini-reunions in their local communities – beyond the Campus. Through Princeton’s volunteer leadership services groups, we listened to what some other classes have done to establish local networks and evaluated approaches used successfully by other classes to foster and build local connections. Some common themes emerged, including:

·        Developing a network of enthusiastic class volunteers interested in reaching out and communicating with local class alumni to define, shape, establish, plan communicate and/or sponsor events.

·        Establishing a strong connection with local Princeton Club/Regional Association activities to piggy-back off established Princeton events to make Class gatherings/networking easier to plan and execute.

·        Fostering regional autonomy to allow Classmates to tailor events or networking to local tastes and -interests.

·        Using established University communication mechanisms such as Class email, PAW, letters, web- sites.

·        Providing some level of seed financing within University guidelines to support start-up activities and ensure that Class related events are self-funding on an ongoing basis after start-up through financial participation of attendees.

·        Offering an impressive Class title to attract local volunteers.

 

To begin this initiative in 2004/2005, we used the class web-site (http://www.princeton79.org), PAW class notes, emails and letters to alert classmates about upcoming University regional events and town halls. To our amazement, ’79er’s showed up! We had a great showing at the Terry Silverlight jazz concert in NYC. Most recently, we have had several Classmates “volunteer” to coordinate local class activities with the Regional Associations …so with these landmark achievements, we thought we would try a next bold step - to attempt to launch a regional network of interested Classmates and formally establish a class volunteer leadership role of Class of 1979 Regional Vice President (CRVP). [Note: CRVP was selected from several impressive titles suggested which included: Regional Liaison, Regional Ambassador and Regional Grand PooBah - we settled on the title of Class Regional Vice President since it was already “approved” for use by the University.]

 

Well, you may ask, if I were interested in accepting this impressive title, and serving the class in this role:

·                    Where would we like to establish CRVPs?

·                    What would I be expected to do and how much time would it take?

·                    How much would it pay?

·                    What deep Class and University resources could I tap into to help me? and

·                    How do I sign up and when do I need to let you know?

Where would we like to establish CRVPs?

 

We hope there will be interest in establishing CRVPs in geographic locations where a “critical mass” of enthusiastic ’79er’s are located. Our extensive research shows that ’79er’s tend to cluster around the larger metropolitan hubs both domestically and internationally. So, if you are in New York, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, London, Hong Kong, Rome, Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore or even Bangkok, for example…and are potentially interested in becoming a CRVP to foster networking with your fellow ’79er’s, email Bob Largey at VicePresident@Princeton79.org

 

What would I be expected to do and how much time would it take?

 

You would be expected to serve as the local Class representative to communicate and/or help organize class gatherings in your area. This could include additional communications (email, etc.) regarding local opportunities to get together at planned University events or finding a classmate willing to sponsor a local class event or mini-reunion. You would also be asked to participate with your fellow CRVPs on occasional conference calls to share ideas and to help develop potential class events. The amount of effort is really up to you, but you would be expected to invest some time each quarter to foster the network locally. If you offered to sponsor or organize an event, the time would be driven by the event specifics obviously – Note: some other classes have grown well-established local networks which are self sustaining. For example, participating classmates rotate event planning activities which could be as simple as meeting for dinner somewhere, touring a museum or hosting a local mini-reunion coincident with Princeton Reunions. So, if you would like to spend time networking with or socializing with your fellow classmates, and are interested in helping shape and organize things in your local area…email Bob Largey at VicePresident@Princeton79.org.

 

How much would it pay?

 

You’re kidding, right?…As we all know, the rewards of volunteerism are “priceless.” …so if you would like to tap into the rewards of volunteer leadership for the Class in your local area…email Bob Largey at VicePresident@Princeton79.org.

 

What deep University and Class resources could I tap into to help me?

 

As a class volunteer, you would receive information about classmates in the area, liasions for other classes in your area and contact list that can help you reach out and network with your fellow local classmates. We are also offering to provide some one-time seed financing within University guidelines to help get things launched. So, if you are interested in taking a leadership role to tap into these vast resources to have a blast with your local classmates….email Bob Largey at VicePresident@Princeton79.org.

 

How do I sign-up and when do I need to let you know?

 

If you are interested in serving your class and classmates as a CRVP…or if you and a fellow classmate would like to be Co-CRVPs in your local area…please email Bob Largey at VicePresident@Princeton79.org by mid-November 2005.