News & Events

From the President: ’96 Annual Update and Fall COCP Report

Posted: 11/13/2018

Email sent via Classmail 11/12/18

Greetings classmates,

I’m emailing out our annual update this year (last year I tried the Facebook video feature but most didn’t take advantage of it so back to email). I will continue to use Classmail for the more “official” announcements to reach all of those not on Facebook. Remember that we also have a website (this one right here!) that Cara keeps up date date and has done a LOT of work to get up and running.

SAD NEWS

I hate to start off with unfortunate news, but this week we lost our classmate Jeff Dixon. Funeral service/visitation will be Thursday 1:00-4:00 in Westminster, MD. Please keep his family in your thoughts. (Link for details)

CLASS GIFT

For some time, we have been talking about our 30^th Reunion Class Gift and our effort to raise $600,000 is support of USNA. We have decided to lead the way with a new pilot for raising money for Class Gifts. Rather than rely on a few large donations, we want to push for record levels of smaller donations and much larger participation rates than is the norm. To that end, please consider making a minimum pledge of $30 a month for 96 months ($2,880 total over 8 years).

Our project consists of Conservation of the 1^st/2^nd Class Benches (see previous post for photos), Project Based Learning, Athletic Excellence, and the Naval Academy Fund. It does not seem unreasonable that we could get the 208 classmates we need to reach our $600K goal.  In fact, we would love to blow past that participation rate. Please spread the word and reach out to your Class Officers or Company Reps with any questions.

We had hope to get this drive up and running for on-line donations, but USNA Foundation issues with their software provider is delaying progress. Please excuse our 20^th century methods and please donate the old-fashioned way to help us reach our pledge goal before the Army-Navy Game! Just email,scan, fax (seriously? what is a fax?), or call in your pledges. Details are on the downloadable pledge form: Class of 1996 Pledge Form $30 for 96 months

POC is Brian Reardon (Brian.reardon@1996.usna.com)

Last note –  to those that give to other priorities (Rugby, Crew, D&B, Cyber, etc.) please consider supporting our Class Gift in addition to your other annual donations. To those that plan to give more than $2,880 over the next 8 years, feel free to up your $30 pledge, make larger annual gifts, or supplement your current giving by adding a pledge to our Class Gift.

25TH REUNION

The planning for our 25th Reunion is well underway. The Committee has chosen Air Force weekend, 01-03 October 2021, as the tentative dates for our event. This choice allows the group to move forward with planning and vendor negotiations. Expect the dates to be finalized when the football schedule is published in Winter 2021. Please feel free to contact me directly if you want to contribute or help with the planning.

POC is Thomas Leahy (leahyt@gmail.com)

COUNCIL OF CLASS PRESIDENTS (COCP)

This year, Cara Albright attended the COCP on 8 Nov. Although this was a very abbreviated meeting, there were a few things that she wanted to pass along:

• Suicide Prevention – This initiative began with ’98 in response to their own personal situation (50% of class losses that are not operational are due to suicide) and will be discussed at great length at the spring ’19 COCP.
• A lot of discussion on reunions (lessons learned, costs, alternative venues, etc…).  All these things have been fed back to our Reunion Planning Committee.

COMPANY REPS

We are still looking for a few more volunteers to be their company rep. It’s really not that much work but helps when we need to reach out to large groups.

Looking for reps for 7th, 26th, 29th, 32nd, and 34th still….

You get to help us track down your company mates and make sure they are getting all the information on class news.

FOOTBALL TAILGATE

Another awesome year is almost over (JUST HAVE TO BEAT ARMY!!). Each week is like a mini-reunion and we often get people that are on work travel for the week to stay an extra night to come to the game on Saturday.

The donations in the tailgate kitty pay for all of the sustainment (~$3000 a year). This year, all of the prices went up pretty significantly but we are still about breaking even. All the funds we receive to the paypal account help to pay for any of the larger upgrades (e.g., eventually we will need a new trailer, etc). If you feel like throwing a few dollars that way to help make our spot one of the most envied tailgates, please send them to paypal at USNA1996Tailgater@gmail.com

POC is Nikki Battaglia (n.battaglia96@gmail.com)

There may be a few 96 jerseys (link here) left if you didn’t get a chance to get your personalized one!

ARMY/NAVY GAME

As usual, many of us will hit the town Friday night. Some of us will try to meet up so let me know if you want to join. Saturday, I’ll do the standard no-host social at Tir na Nog in Philadelphia starting about 10:00. Every year they allow us to hog a section of the restaurant to stay warm, eat, and drink before the game. Hopefully the weather will be better than it was last year.

 

And with that, I’ll wrap up this update.

Nagel Sullivan

Class President

BEAT ARMY!

« In Memoriam: Jeff Dixon

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