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Letter from the President
2007-2008
Dear Fellow Alumni,
As you are reading this, our club is entering a new year, and as your new club president, I want to congratulate and encourage you. Congratulations for surviving yet another sweltering test of our collective willpower dealt by the Sonoran Desert Sun. I also want to encourage you to come out to our events and to celebrate the diverse spectrum of alumni that are attracted to our growing sun-soaked region. It seems that everyone you meet in Arizona is from somewhere other than here. Cornell Alumni continue to migrate into our city, bringing with them rich life experiences. This leads to a number of interesting conversations and perspectives on life throughout the networking process. You may find that this helps you deal with your unique personal challenges and opportunities in life. We appreciate when you show-up and choose to be a part of the Cornell Club of Arizona. This is your club as well as ours.
I invite you to come out and enjoy some of the fun and purposeful occasions scheduled for this year’s calendar. This is done by connecting face-to-face (still my favorite way of relating) and by working elbow-to-elbow on worthwhile causes with fellow Cornellians. This can mean giving back and paying it forward with donations of your time, money and talents. Being a Cornell Ambassador through the CAAAN organization can really make a big difference in a young student’s quest for knowledge. What better way to point them to Cornell University than to share your own story?
Dues are a key part of the financial equation for healthy club operations. The dues will remain level for this next year. Bear in mind that they empower us on the board to plan events and also to allocate a portion each year for investment back into the scholarship endowment fund managed in Ithaca.
Over the years I’ve witnessed the compounding growth of the scholarship fund and have served in the student selection process. It is the most rewarding part of the board member process to me. Every year, I get the sense that our efforts are stretching beyond our state’s borders to supply the next generation with knowledge and light to improve our world. Your dues matter to us and make a difference for our students on campus. We’ve decided at the board meetings that this year’s fundraising efforts should be fun. We will gather together and share dinner for a good cause. Our plan is to host various dinners about the "valley of the sun" to raise money for the scholarship fund. These themed dinners will be hosted around the growing metro area so you can plug-in and enjoy one relatively close to you. The food will be quality, the company delightful and the purpose noble. Please make plans for dinner with us this year.
Now is a good opportunity to take a look backwards as well. I think a token of gratitude should be extended to Christine Marchell ‘75 for the tactful way she reinvigorated our local alumni group over the last two years. What started with the "breaking of the bread" over a phenomenal dinner in Tempe perpetuated into a full-fledged revival of the alumni network! When you see Chris Marchell please pause to thank her. It is my aim to continue building on that solid track record of participation.
The unique Cornell experience is a big part of what draws us all together. It is as a "point of commonality" that we value in life. Let’s remember to reconnect, reminisce and celebrate all that it means to have been a part of Cornell University.
See you at an event soon,
David A. Calvino ‘94