Recently we learned that the Five for Five Challenge was a success – in total, $8.38 million was raised, exceeding the College’s goal of $8.1 million. 41.1% of alumni participated, a 5 percent increase over last year. This is great news overall, but how did our class stack up?

 

 

19% of us gave a gift of some kind, with 123 total gifts that amounted to $3,632. Not bad for being just one year out of college! One of our head class agents, Melanie Haber, weighed in on the subject.
“Our number of gifts this year was great because, of course, every alum and every dollar we get goes towards helping the Mount Holyoke Fund,” she said. And participation is key. Any amount helps, especially when it comes to funding the day to day operations of the College. “So even if you can give $1,” Melanie adds, “we will graciously accept!”

When reunions come around, especially major ones, there tends to be a bump in giving. For those who attended the Alumnae Association meeting following our Laurel Parade, you may remember that our grandmothers had an exceptional 100% giving rate. While our goals are not so lofty (for now), we too had an impressive rate in 2010 with a 45% giving rate in the form of our Senior Gift, setting the bar high for our two-year reunion.

Melanie notes that there is more than one way to give back to the school, extending an invitation to become a class agent. “It’s simple and it goes a long way,” she says. “We would love to have anyone who is interested in getting involved!” If you would like to become a class agent, or simply learn more about what is involved, fill out our “Contact Us” form and we’ll send you more information.

Calling all 2010ers – we want to find you!

With reunion planning in full swing, it’s so important to make sure that your contact information is up to date. The mini bio you (may have) filled out on the Alumnae Association’s website is the only information your Class Board and the College itself have when it comes to sending out invitations to reunion, keeping you up-to-date on what’s going on, and distributing the Alumnae Quarterly. For many people, the home address you listed as a student is the only one on file.

Your info page is a feature of MHC Connect. There are several ways to access it, all available through the alumnae portal on the MHC website, or by just clicking here. Use the username and password that you created when you first logged in here (different from your MHC email!). If you can’t remember what that password is, just click the link below the login boxes to retrieve it.

While the Alumnae Association website is clunky, it’s worth exploring a bit as there are some good resources on it, including networking opportunities through LifeNet and a calendar of upcoming events.

So again, please update your contact information!

 

Through August 12th, Gallery 6 in Islamabad, Pakistan is showing Lila’s artwork alongside local artist Humeira Ghaznavi. Read more in this review from The Express Tribune. Congratulations, Lila!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Danielle Demers was recently interviewed by MHC Office of Communication’s Max Pearlstein regarding the political situation in Yemen, where she lived immediately following graduation. Yemen’s future is uncertain as the spirit of the revolutionary movements in the Middle East, in what has been coined the Arab Spring, inspires Yemenis to rebel against the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Watch the interview here.

Exciting news from Rensselaerville, NY!

Erica Catalano’s first solo art show opened at the Way Out Gallery on May 28  and hosted a packed house. Hillary Ossip, Julia Nash, Erin Schaeffer ’09, and yours truly (Joanna Arcieri) made the trip to upstate New York to show our support. Here are some pictures from the afternoon.

Congratulations Erica!

Senia was recently invited by a Danish NGO to speak about Saharawi refugees in Algeria and the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. Read about her talk, as reported by Newstime Africa.

 

Shortly after graduation, Abby left the US for a Fulbright in Haifa, Israel, studying “novel hybrid organic-inorganic materials with photovoltaic applications.”

Not sure what that means? Check out this video, filmed by the US Embassy, in which she talks about her research!

Hannah Ryan was just featured alongside Natalie Kulikowski, MHC 2011, in the Gazette for the lovely ice sculpture they created in downtown Northampton as a part of an ice sculpture festival.

“…in front of Urban Outfitters, Natalie Kulikowski, a senior majoring in architectural studies at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, was putting the finishing touches on her ice sculpture. She’d created it with Hannah Ryan, who graduated from Mount Holyoke last year.

They’d wanted to make something attractive and functional, Kulikowski said, which led them to ponder furniture. Since it’s Valentine’s Day weekend, they also wanted their work of art to be about love. And there it was – a love seat.

‘Oh, it’s very sittable,’ said Kulikowski, ‘but not for long. Twenty seconds tops.'”

Read the full text here!

 

 

 

Read this article in full on the Mount Holyoke news and events page.

<< The College recently earned a grade of A- from the Sustainable Endowments Institute in its annual College Sustainability Report Card and was included on its list of “overall college sustainability leaders.”

Perhaps more significantly, Mount Holyoke has met and exceeded its 2010 greenhouse gas reduction goal to shrink emissions and bring them back down to 1990 levels.

“This is a cause for celebration,” said Nancy E. Apple, the director of environmental health and safety for MHC and Hampshire College. Indeed, according to Five College energy manager Todd Holland, the College emitted 15,405 tons of carbon dioxide in 1990; that figure now stands at 13,867 tons. Emission levels for 2010 were nearly 10 percent lower than in 1990–and 33 percent lower than MHC’s peak in 2003.

“Not only have we reduced our emissions below the rate for 1990, we’ve accomplished this despite a 9.5 percent increase in our building footage and a substantial increase in equipment such as computers,” he noted. “Think about how much more demand that can create. We’ve been bucking that increase by being more efficient.” >>

Hey 2010! Tell us what you’re up to!

Pasangi and Joanna are trying to put together the Class Notes for the next Alumnae Quarterly, and have heard very little.

You don’t have to be changing the world (yet) or getting international recognition or doing something totally unusual to report to your scribes. We just want to remain in touch and feel that despite our distances we remain connected as a class.  Did you meet up for coffee with a fellow 2010er recently, make it back to campus for an event, or get a job? Are you working toward grad school, in grad school, or newly admitted to grad school? Have you traveled anywhere interesting lately? Let us know!

Soon we will have a form for you to upload your class notes directly to this site. In the meantime, get in touch with Pasangi and Joanna through this email: scribe10|at|mtholyoke|dot|edu.