<p>D and I went to the summer meeting of the local Smith Club today. After a year off campus, she felt great to be connecting with her Smithieness, talking to both current students and some '11's that were there with their parents. I mainly spent time talking with some of the alums but I got a chance to talk to several of the incoming first-years and I found them articulate and interesting as Smithies generally are in my experience.</p>
<p>The board proposed and the club membership approved a change to the by-laws allowing for a new class of membership for parents of current or former Smithies. I look forward to being one of the first to join.</p>
<p>We're lucky to have a strong, local club, that organizes everything from Smith alumnae being at high school college fairs to prospective student parties to funding scholarships for local students to organizing social, cultural, and business-oriented events. </p>
<p>SoCal has a decent base to draw from...as of this fall, there are 98 Smith students from the Los Angeles/Pasadena area. </p>
<p>If your area has an active Smith Club, great. But if not, I hope there are Smithies out there who will grab the reins and start one. In some parts of the country one might have to encompass a larger area to get the same volume of participants, but I think it would be doable. From my point of view it's a chance to be part of something special. </p>
<p>And then there's the entertainment value, like the alum from the early 70's today who talked about the required Smith posture class that included lessons on how ladies were to exit from a gentleman's sports car.</p>
<p>just curious here, how are "ladies supposed to exit from a gentleman's sports car"? I probably don't follow any of those rules since I don't even bother using the door for one of my friends mercedes (convertibles are nice for this) and in another friends mustand i just have to duck and squish myself in the almost nonexistant back seat (its normally him, his best friend, and me so being the nice "gentleman" they are i'm always forced to sit in the back). :D </p>
<p>anyone know of a smith club in nj? I'd like to attend one of these prospectives student parties. :)</p>
<p>LOL. It involved keeping your knees together (and assumed you were wearing a shortish skirt) as you pivoted on your butt.</p>
<p>Karen, I used to think that these prospective student parties were universal but I've come to understand that their existence and quality varies widely. I remember talking to one Smith alumni rep in Arizona who said something like, "Those sound like a good idea."</p>
<p>I suspect that if there aren't any in your area that the Smith Alumni office can probably provide you with a file to produce mailing labels for known alumnae within a defined geographical area and that you could start your own. But I'd probably ask first who the local Smith Alumni rep is and see what they have or haven't tried. </p>
<p>Our local coordinator, Vivian Forbes, Smith '50, is a dynamo and I hope I have half the energy she does when I'm her age. Actually, Vivian is now handing over the reins to a younger alum, but she'll still be actively involved and the existing club infrastructure is strong, with even a 2005(?) grad moving into one of the leadership positions.</p>
<p>A side note: I was chatting up the hostess of today's gathering, a woman who didn't finish at Smith but transferred to UC/Berkeley and graduated with a degree in architecture when it was an overwhelmingly male field. She said that she wouldn't have had the confidence to pursue architecture without the two years she had at Smith.</p>
<p>But we got off into a political tangent and all I can say is that she's one of the smartest, most approachable, most clear-sighted Republicans I've talked to in a long-time. We had our areas of agreement, areas of disagreement, and understood where the other was coming from. Nice to have a political dialog without resorting to sabers.</p>
<p>TD, you're right about the Smith Clubs not existing everywhere. My d never heard about anything like the get-togethers you have described. I'm sure she would love to meet alumnae as well as other prospective/current students in the area.</p>
<p>JEM, thanks for posting the link. The populous coastal part of California is indeed very well represented, from San Diego to the San Francisco Bay area. Many states aren't represented at all. </p>
<p>It appears from the front page that there are something called Regional Club Coordinators (RCC) that may be able to provide some preliminary liaison & assistance to anyone wishing to start a club in an area where one doesn't exist.</p>
<p>For me, the local club is a way to start paying back for D's great experience before she even graduates. And as the spouse of one mouthy////// assertive woman and the father of another, it's an energizing and interesting group to be associated with.</p>
<p>Fwiw, just to give you a taste of events, the next public event is a back-to-school picnic/barbecue/ice cream thingy in August for returning and new students & their parents.</p>
<p>There's also going to be a Club Members-only tour of the Getty Museum, limited to 25 people, sometime in the next couple of months.</p>
<p>There various events have different audiences, some for students, some for alums.</p>