 |
UTAH NAVAL
ACADEMY PARENTS' CLUB
Mary Tam, President - Matatlanta@aol.com |
|
This site Hosted by... 
|
Thanks to the members of USNA-Net for hosting this website.
Lisa Dolan, President
September 18, 2002
Dear Parents:
Thank you for your patience while we get up and running with the Parents Club. I feel we are heading in a positive direction, and would like to bring everyone up to date with what is planned for the next few months.
The mission of the Naval Academy is: "To develop midshipmen morally, mentally, and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, honor and loyalty in order to provide graduates who are dedicated to a career of naval service and have potential for future development in mind and character to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government."
As members of a Parents Club, it is important for us to not only provide support to our midshipmen and their parents, but to support the mission of the Academy and the efforts of the Blue and Gold Officers in allowing the best and the brightest the opportunity to attend the Academy. As many of you know, there is only one Utah mid who entered the class of 2006, and since then, her parents have moved to the Washington DC area. We are concerned that we have not filled our congressional quota, and have pledged our support to the USNA Alumni Association and Blue and Gold Officers to help in any way we can to get information about the Naval Academy out to Utah's high school students. The Alumni Association and Parents Club have joined together to pay for, and help staff a booth at the college fair being held on September 25th at the Expo Center in Salt Lake. The cost of $150 was split between the two organizations. Gerri Imai ('81) and Alberto Alberto ('88) will represent the Blue and Gold Officers and Kevin and I will be there to collect information from interested individuals. We have prepared a presentation board, and arranged for posters to hang in the booth and Academy brochures to give interested students. Last year the Naval Academy was not represented at this college fair, and it became our goal to make sure we were there this year.
We also are calling the senators' and congressmen's offices to speak with their academy liaisons regarding the possibility of having an information night where interested students could come on an informal basis and hear presentations from each academy. Karen Shepard sponsored one several years ago, and there was an impressive turnout.
We are
in the process of getting a web site up and running. We will have a link
from the USNA-net.org web site to the Utah Parents Club. For those of
you who have looked at the present site, you will notice that it is very
outdated and since we no longer have contact with the person who designed
the site, it was much easier to start from scratch. Mike and Sandi Zets
have offered their assistance and will arrange for the domain name and
any postings and changes. Because of their efforts, we will save a lot
of time and money on this project. I wish to propose we donate $50 each
year to the USNA-net.org group to help with their costs and upkeep
· If I have not heard anything, I will send them a check on or
about October 15th. Since we don't have an official board of director
or group of officers, I'll hope we can make group decisions.
· We would welcome any and all people who would be willing to serve as officers in the Parents Club. Please call me if you would like to share your talents with the group!
I am sending birthday cards to each mid (some of them are a bit belated to date) and including a $5 Gift Certificate for the Dry Dock. I should be up to date on cards as of Friday, September 20th, so if I missed your mid, please let me know.
Next
on the list are the Halloween Goodie Boxes. I am assembling 20 plastic
boxes, shipping boxes, and assorted Halloween decorations and goodies.
The plan is to assemble them on Wednesday October 16th and Saturday the
19th, mail them by the 19th at 3:00 when the post office closes and allow
seven (7) days for the post office to get them to our mids, which gives
them about a week before Halloween. I welcome all the helpers I can get!
We will be making Rice Krispie treats shaped like ghosts and bats, and
packing the boxes.
· Please let me know if you are available either or both of those
days.
I have been using Parents Club funds - however any contributions would
be welcome. We had a surplus of funds this year because we did not have
a mid gathering in March. We did not collect membership dues from you
this year, but if you would like to donate any items (20 of each, please)
or contribute money toward the expenses, it will leave more in the fund
for Valentine treats!
Our next
goal is a monthly newsletter - posted on the website to save on copying
and mailing expenses. If you do not have access to the internet, we will
send a hard copy. We would like to include monthly updates on activities
at the Academy and share information about each mid. We will need that
information from you.
· We would like a picture of each mid to include with their personal
information.
If you have a scanner you can email it to me in jpeg format, or send one
to me - and I promise to get it back to you. We hope to post our first
newsletter by Thanksgiving. Gayle Higgins has offered to continue with
editing our newsletter, and we will coordinate our efforts to get you
all the information we can. There are calendars and upcoming events listed
on the USNA-net site, so we will try to keep our information pertinent
to local events and issues.
The Army
and Navy Alumni Associations have invited both Parents Clubs to join them
for the Army/Navy Game party to be held at Iggy's Sports Grill on December
7th at 10:00 am. Iggy's is located at:
677 South 200 West
Salt Lake City, UT
(801) 539-9999
It is a "pay as you go" party - and lots of fun for those of
you who have not attended in the past. There are big screen TV's, good
food and drink, and plenty of free parking. Wear your Navy gear - and
be prepared for a good time.
I have
enclosed an information update form and a return envelope.
· Please complete these and return along with a picture of your
mid (unless you can email one to me) and a paragraph about what he or
she is up to this year.
Email addresses will be used for all future correspondence whenever possible.
We will collect dues on or about January 1st of next year. Dues will be $25 per year. In December of 2003 it will be Navy's turn to host the Christmas dinner/dance, and we need a little surplus to cover the up-front costs involved. Otherwise, dues will be used for newsletters, the summer picnic, spring mid gathering and supporting our Mids with birthday, Halloween and Valentine treats.
If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. I welcome suggestions for the direction of the Parents Club as well as volunteers for vice president, secretary or treasurer.
Sincerely,
Lisa
Dolan
Beat Army!