• D.C. Alumni club looks to 2001 programs
• Alumni Board ends contract with MBNA
• Two new Alumni Board members discuss plans, share defining moments

D.C. Alumni club looks to 2001 programs

Jessica Napier Efird ’96 has big plans for the Washington, D.C. Alumni Club in 2001.

As the club’s volunteer coordinator, Efird has already assisted in the planning of such club events as a day at Camden Yards, a visit to Wittenberg’s oldest living alumna and a day helping Habitat for Humanity.

The club has hosted regular Happy Hours, which offer D.C.-area alumni the chance to get together for an evening.

Now she and the D.C. club hope to expand the club’s offerings by tackling more community service projects and assisting in admission-related work.

“I think performing community service continues the tradition of service we all learned at Wittenberg,” Efird said. “In addition, I have heard from many alumni in the D.C. area who would like to help promote Wittenberg to current high school students.

I think it is only natural for alumni to want to share their college experience with potential Wittenberg students and help others discover the unique benefits of a Wittenberg education.”

A member of the club since 1996, Efird decided to take on the challenge of coordinating all the club’s activities after the club’s previous coordinator, Steve Pearson ’93, joined the university’s Alumni Board two years ago.

“Since Steve took on the responsibilities of the Alumni Board, I have taken over planning most of the events,” she explained. “The good thing with our Alumni Club is that it doesn’t require a huge amount of time to plan events.”

Outstanding Young Alumna Award-winner and Congressman Hobson staffer Stacia Rastauskas ’98, for example, has helped Efird plan the club’s larger events, including its annual Christmas party and its day at the ballpark every summer.

“The D.C. Alumni Club is really an ever-changing group of people,” Efird said. “This area is so transient that often people stay in this area for only a year or two. I think the best benefit of the D.C.

Alumni Club is the sense of the Wittenberg community post-college that it provides. I know meeting up with those alums I knew at Witt and meeting new alums has helped ease the transition from Witt to ‘real life’ for me.”

The Washington D.C. area is home to more than 1,000 alumni, parents and friends of Wittenberg University, so its Alumni Club consistently draws a large crowd.

The July 22 club event at Camden Yards to cheer on the Baltimore Orioles, for example, brought close to 100 alumni together.
“So many of us cherish our college experience but find it hard to find a close-knit group after college,” Efird said.

“The opportunity the D.C. club provides to reunite as Witt friends, to meet new alumni, and to have fun together has been invaluable.” Amy Krosnosky Demchak ’92, director of alumni relations, agreed.

She has worked to help alumni volunteers establish Wittenberg Alumni Clubs across the country and has even created an Alumni Club manual to assist alumni in a club’s development.

“Wittenberg Alumni Clubs are a fun and easy way for alumni to volunteer and reunite with each other,” Demchak explained. “Alumni club volunteers help plan 2-3 alumni events each year in cities with significant alumni populations.

The time commitment is only an hour or two each month. This volunteer experience is easy to fit into the busy lives of Wittenberg alumni and is so appreciated by the university.”

So far, Wittenberg has seven Alumni Clubs in addition to the D.C. club. The clubs are currently located in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis and Boston.

Demchak hopes to expand that number to include clubs in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Reading, New York City and Southern California in the near future.“Wittenberg Alumni Clubs don’t have to fit one model or philosophy,” Efird said.

“We have done a lot of events for alumni in the past couple of years, but I am sure there are many different and new ideas on how to involve all the alumni in the future.”

For more information about starting an Alumni Club, contact Amy Krosnosky Demchak ’92 at (800) 677-7558, ext. 7414 or via e-mail at alumni@wittenberg.edu.