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Class of '74 Newsletter

Class of '74 Newsletter
September 2003

To the SC Class of '74 - Norm Kosciusko

Dear Classmates,

This will be the last Class Newsletter before our 30th Reunion. Planning sessions are scheduled and you will be hearing more about this gala event in the coming months. All of our reunions have been grand events and I have no doubt that our 30th will be the best ever. The great thing about ’74 reunions is our participation. We have set records for attendance! In order to keep that tradition alive you need to set the time aside on your personal calendars now. The reunion dates are June 10-13, 2004. It’s very hard to carve out time for ourselves. All of us have busy lives and in many cases we find ourselves over-committed. Setting time aside for a college reunion is not easy but you owe this to yourselves. If you set aside the time to get back to Springfield College and reminisce with your classmates, you will return to your busy lives refreshed by the memories of how you got your start. Carol Calak Doyle has just sent out an announcement and it includes a survey and pre-response form. Please take the time to fill them out so we can use the information to make the reunion a truly memorable experience.

Message to Class of ’74 Members who have never attended a reunion

You don’t have to return to campus or get together with classmates to be a member of the Class of ’74. If you graduated from Springfield College in 1974 you shared a common experience with all members of our class and that is forever. Only a handful of classmates have come back for all our reunions. With each passing reunion, the attendance has grown. When people come for their first reunion, they want to come back for more. For me, personally, this has been a most interesting dynamic to observe. If you’ve never attended a reunion you may wonder, “Why do these folks take such great pleasure in re-connecting with their Alma Mater and classmates?” I can’t explain but if you come back for one reunion, I think your question will be answered.

Another mystery; why are some of my closest friends, classmates I barely knew in College? I have forged great friendships with classmates that I barely spoke with in College. Reconnecting with classmates is a remarkable phenomenon. Come see for yourself!

We are a close-knit class. We get together more often and in greater numbers than any class I know of. I have a great fear that people who are not in communication with classmates or attending our class functions will feel like outsiders. We celebrate new participants! This is how we measure our success. No matter how long it’s been since you have talked to classmates or visited the campus know that you will be welcome and your participation will be celebrated.

Please consider joining fellow classmates at SC for our 30th Reunion next June.

I ask a favor: If you are not planning to return to campus next June, would you be kind enough to share with me your reasons for not attending? A better understanding of classmate’s time commitment issues will help me serve class needs more thoroughly in the future. Please feel free to contact me by Email, Phone, US Post or carrier pigeon. Norman Kosciusko, 2152 West Vina Del Mar, St.Pete Beach, Florida, 33706 Tel- 727-360-4336, Norman.kosciusko@fmcti.com

Springfield College, Homecoming, October 24-26, 2003

I hope to see as many of you as possible make it back for Homecoming. The first item on our agenda will be to relax, have fun, and catch up with one another. We do have a few pressing secondary agenda items. We have a meeting of the reunion planning committee scheduled for 6:15 on Friday night, October 24th. This will be followed by what has become our annual class get together at the Pueblo. For those of you who haven’t been back to campus in awhile, The Pueblo is at Freshman Camp. This is always a lively affair featuring live music from class celebrities like, Keith Naylor, Michael Patrylo and anybody else who is musically inclined and wants to sit in. Typically they are joined by our friends from the class of ’75 like Donny Gallagher. The class grapevine tells me that Roger Winkelman, SC ’75 is coming all the way from San Francisco to participate. On Saturday morning, October 25th we will conduct a class meeting on the deck behind International Hall. This will be a great opportunity for you to provide input to the reunion planning process. The reunion is for all class members and we want to feature a reunion agenda with something for everybody. Come to the class meeting with thoughts and ideas and will bounce them around over donuts and coffee.

After the class meeting we will make our way over to the football field and socialize in and around the designated tailgate area before the game. Hope to see you there!

Class Treasury

It takes money to fund our class functions and in some cases, communications are charged to the class. We send out more than most! We pay for this with money from our class treasury. The bulk of the treasury money is used to fund our reunion activities. Money for the treasury has come from two sources; Class Dues and Tee – shirt sales. (We designed our own 2 striper, “STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS”.)

Our class dues are $5 per year. After the last reunion, I encouraged classmates to pay one lump sum of $25 in advance. By doing this they would be covered for class dues for five years and we would gain the benefit of interest accrued by the treasury money. Some people paid in advance. Some people paid year to year. Some people paid when they felt like it and some wait to pay just prior to reunion. All in all, it is an accounting nightmare!

The good news! We have $2,065 in our treasury
The bad news! That is about half what we will need for our reunion!

For those of you who have paid your class dues, Thank You!
For those of you who have not paid, Please send in your $25 or your outstanding balances. Remember dues should not be confused with that very important annual Alumni Fund gift. More about that in the next section.

There is a Dues Voucher at the bottom of this newsletter.

Class of '74 Alumni Fund Campaign

Thanks to all who contributed to the Class of ’74 2003 Alumni Fund campaign. In terms of total dollars collected, our class was sixth of all SC classes and # 3 of the non-reunion classes. Thank you for your generosity and thank you for your continued support! Please join me in thanking our class agents, Tom Frew and Pammy Miller Hogarth for running a great campaign.

We are about to start our reunion year Alumni Fund campaign. I am confident that the Class of ’74 will lead all other classes in terms of total dollars contributed and total number of classmates participating. You will be solicited in the near future. Please remember this is our reunion year. I intend to double my normal annual contribution and I would ask all of you to consider doing the same. Please be as generous as you can.

The Spirit of ‘74

This past year I made some calls to classmates asking for donations and I wanted to share something that happened that epitomizes the spirit of the class of ’74. Two of the classmates that I contacted reported that they had recently been laid off. Upon hearing this I offered my condolences and support. I immediately began back peddling on my request for solicitation for the Alumni Fund. How can you ask somebody without a job and a paycheck to make a charitable donation no matter how worthy the cause? Both classmates reported that they would make donations to the Alumni Fund! I can’t describe how I felt. I was in awe of their dedication and commitment to their Alma Mater.

Class of '74 Bulletin Board

Did you know that the Class of ’74 has our own scholarship endowment? This year’s recipient is Maria Mirisis from Chicopee, MA majoring in Rehab/Disability. There is currently $13,428 in the endowment and the school’s Financial Aid office gives away 5% of the endowment every year. Sons and daughters of Class of ’74 that meet the financial aid guidelines will receive prominent consideration for this scholarship money. If you want to know more about the Class of ’74 endowment, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Did you know that two of our classmates serve on the board of trustees? Dr. Tom Marks and Todd Stitzer are presently serving on the Springfield College Board of Trustees. This gives me great confidence in the schools leadership. Somebody made a great call to pick Tom and Todd to help guide the school.

Getting Connected

Would you like to be reconnected with your classmates? Every day classmates talk to one other by E Mail. We have an enormous group that communicates on a regular basis electronically. You can be part of the network by sending your EMail address to Carol Calak Doyle - caroldoyle@adelphia.net. Carol has done a great job of keeping us connected electronically.

Class of '74 Resources

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Page updated on: 03/07/2008