Annual Club Meeting 2020
The Smith College Club of the Peninsula Annual Meeting 2020 was fun and engaging, and we got things done! 22 members were in attendance ranging from classes of 1961 through 2016.
The meeting kicked off with a quick scavenger hunt, wherein participants were challenged to find household objects and be the first person to get back to their web cams with the object in hand. 2 points were awarded to the first person to show each item, and 1 point was awarded to each member who showed the item within 60 seconds. The big winner: Elizabeth Jensen Young! Here’s a screen capture of our intrepid members showing off their toilet paper.
Next we went around the Zoom Room and introduced ourselves including our graduation year, house, current occupation, and a favorite memory of Smith. Some of our reminiscing was moving, some hilarious, all special and unique to the Smith campus and community.
Alex Frizzell, 2019-2020 president, gave us a recap of the year which included a new website and navigating the challenges that COVID-19 presented to our recruiting and social efforts.
Marylou Cronin, 2019-2020
Alumnae Admissions Coordinator
, presented this year’s application, acceptance and admission numbers. This year from the Bay Area Peninsula we had 74 applicants (73 first years, 1 transfer) and 15 students who had planned to matriculate in the Fall.
With the announcement in early August that the campus would remained closed this semester, a few of those 15 students decided to defer their entrance. To support our local students and give them a chance to experience the special community feeling that Smith and Smith Alums can provide, we designed and produced a custom-made mug and tucked some goodies inside each (tea and a cookie) and sent them to each of the 15 new Smithies.
Jean Davidson, treasurer 2019-2020, gave us the following update for the past fiscal year ending August 31, 2020:
Total receipts $8,436, which includes $4,026 in prepaid dues/alumnae donations and $2,135 donations from the Benevity Fund
Sixteen alumnae chose a discounted 5-year membership option
Total expenses $3,464, which includes $1,900 donated to Smith College:
$1,000 to the Club’s endowed scholarship fund
$500 to the Annual Fund
$400 to the Students Emergency Aid Fund
Total cash remaining on hand $9,565
Nisha Thatte-Potter, membership chair 2019-2020, informed us that we currently have 49 members ranging in classes from 1940 to 2020. This is up from last year’s 41 members.
Alix Davie, VP and events chairperson 2019-2020, reviewed the wonderful events we were able to have in person in the past year, and the ones where we took the gatherings to Zoom. For the coming year the Club is planning more virtual teas and cocktail hours, continuing the virtual book club, and new virtual gatherings like scavenger hunts, paint nights, cooking and cocktail tutorials, and more. WE NEED YOUR IDEAS!
Sally Smith, book club chair 2019-2020, told us that the book club has not been daunted by sheltering in place, and has continued meeting regularly via Zoom since March, reading a wide variety of books, most recently Galileo’s Daughter and Just Mercy. Upcoming, the club will read and discuss Washington Black by Esi Edugyan. All are welcome!
Marylou Cronin presented her work as the chair of this year’s nominating committee, successfully recruiting new members to join the board!
Jun Helzer presented this year’s voting results for the 2020-2021 executive board and chair people. We had an impressive 64% rate on voting (which Alice Smith ‘61 pointed out was higher than US voter turnout in 2016) and 100% voted yes on all 5 items in the ballot. The new executive slate is as follows:
President: Alix Davie, ‘08
Vice President/Program Chair: Jun Helzer, ’02
Secretary: Indira Deonandan, ’08
Treasurer: Marylou Cronin, ‘88
Additional committees and efforts will be led by the following members:
Alumnae Admissions Coordinator: Joy Silver, ’96
Membership Chair: Nisha Thatte-Potter, '88
Webmaster and Communications Chair: Amy Gardner, ‘92
Young Alumnae Coordinators: Donna Dong, '14 and Reem Ladadwa, '18
Student Care Packages Coordinators: Christine Hoffman, '14 and Trang Le, '20
Book Awards Coordinator: Eugenia Yee, '16
Book Club Coordinator: Sally Smith, '64
The Club would like to send out a huge thank you to departing President Alex Frizzell, ‘12, Communications Chair Samantha Li, ‘09 and Treasurer Jean Davidson, ‘73 who are transitioning off of the board, but have made themselves available for advice and guidance as others take over their roles.
We ended the Annual Meeting with a round-table discussion of ideas for the coming year. The Zoom chat was lighting up throughout. Here are the links that members offered up via chat as part of our discussion:
Smith College china pattern: https://maytimechina.com/
Ordering the custom mug that we gave to the matriculating Smithes… contact Amy Gardner directly.
Diana McDonough has founded Global Grandmothers, a non-profit that allows you to become a grandmother to the world’s children. www.globalgrandmothers.org
Alice Smith works tirelessly to fight voter suppression through National Voter Corps. https://nationalvotercorps.org/
Amy Gardner is leading a free online Zumba class sponsored by the Los Gatos JCC on Sunday, September 20 at 9:15AM. Registration is required: https://apjcc.org/event/zumba-with-amy/
Nisha Thatte-Potter reminisced about the questionable pizza delivered by Florence MA-based Pizza Factory, especially the whole wheat crust option: http://www.callpizzafactory.com/
Alex Frizzell and Marlou Cronin reminded everyone to check out the Club’s website at https://www.peninsulasmithclubca.org/
Alix Davie encouraged everyone to connect with the Club via our social media channels:
Facebook: Smith College Club of the Peninsula https://www.facebook.com/groups/450547468331107/
Diana McDonough threw in a chat-based-shout-out to Sally Smith for her ongoing leadership of the Smith College Club of the Peninsula Book Club: https://www.peninsulasmithclubca.org/book-club
