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| Greetings inhabitants of the Nutmeg State! At this writing, it feels more like we are inhabitants of Minnesota, what with 20 knot winds and temps in the lower fifties! However, we all know that in a week, we will probably have temps in the upper seventies and be wishing for temps in the fifties! Such is life in Connecticut.
We are once again the victim of “Shipmate publishing lag.” By that I mean that our most recent dinner meeting will be history by the time you read this. Specifically, the meeting held in the Tashua Knolls Restaurant at the Tashua Knolls Golf Club on June 19th in Trumbull, will have already occurred. I will report details on this event in the August issue of Shipmate because this is being written in mid-May. This unfortunate situation does serve to emphasize the importance of frequently checking our Chapter website at www.usna.com/Chapters/US/Conn. in order to stay current on all aspects of Chapter activities. All communications conducted by the Chapter are currently electronic. The sole exception is the written words found in these Connecticut Chapter inputs in this magazine. Given the inevitable time lag described above, it is important, nay critical that those graduates who are residents of Connecticut, and who use the internet and who are interested in being kept informed regarding Alumni Association activities, have an up-to-date e-mail address on file with the national alumni association at www.usna.com. I picked up some interesting statistics at a recent Chapter Board of Directors meeting. Our chapter uses the information from the database on file with the national alumni organization. That database reveals that there are 886 Naval Academy graduates resident within the state of Connecticut. Of that number, 375 graduates have either incorrect or no e-mail addresses in the database. That means that the Chapter leadership is unable to communicate with approximately 42 percent of the graduates within the state. This, therefore, is a fervent plea for all graduates resident within the state to update their personal information in the USNA database. Much discussion at the aforementioned Chapter Board of Directors meeting was focused on how we can involve more individuals in our activities and hence better serve the alumni. Clearly we must take little steps before we can take bigger, bold ones and the first step must be for us all to insure that the USNA database contains accurate information on all of us.
The Chapter Secretary, Chris Pierson, ’81, will publish complete minutes of the Board of Directors meeting held at Ray Boyd’s, ’73, home in Guilford on May 10th. I will therefore summarize only a few topics which may be of general interest. Ray reported highlights of the Chapter President’s meeting and the Board of Trustees meeting which he attended in Annapolis. An extended discussion was held on the current status of the Chapter By-Laws and the need (or not) for their being revised and updated. Further work on this topic was assigned to a sub-committee. Tom Maxwell, the State Blue and Gold Program Coordinator, reported some interesting statistics. The USNA Admissions Office received 10,900 applications for the Class of 2012. 5,500 of those who applied were nominated and 1200 were admitted. Is that selectivity Or What?? Once again, Ray and his wife Christine, were gracious hosts at a dinner which followed the formal business meeting. Our sincere thanks are extended to both of them for their warm hospitality. Dave Boyd, ‘59 |