Alumni Association Update

Year in Review

I am pleased and proud to provide an update about our Derryfield Alumni Association and some of the exciting initiatives we have in the works to better support our alumni community.

▪ ALUMNI SURVEY & YOUR FEEDBACK In January 2021, the Alumni Office sent out a survey to all alumni and asked for your feedback in a variety of areas. We asked how we could support you, how you would like to stay involved, and how best to keep connected with you. Many thanks to the 200 alumni who participated and provided invaluable feedback. Last summer, our team sifted through the information collected from your survey. First and foremost, we hear you. We hear that you want to stay connected to your Derryfield memories, cherished friendships, and pay it forward for your peers, current students, and our community at-large.

Over the last year, we’ve had the tremendous privilege of getting back down to basics—having enriching conversations, learning about what so many of you have gone on to do with your lives post-Derryfield, and doubling down on connecting you with your peers and current students for a variety of educational and professional opportunities. It’s no surprise that this has been wildly successful. Our renewed focus brought alumni into the classroom, student mentorship, more engaging alumni profiles in our Derryfield Today magazine than ever, and much more. Thank you to everyone who participated with us this past year.

▪ DERRYFIELD CONNECT To serve more alumni in our community, and help you better connect with each other, we rolled out a brand new online community—Derryfield Connect. Think of Derryfield Connect as a fun, interactive LinkedIn where you can reach out to your friends and peers and also help current Derryfield students. If you prefer to connect with us through more traditional means, please reach out to alumni@derryfield. org or to my amazing colleague Jordan Cady at jcady@derryfield.org. We’d love to hear from you!

▪ REUNION CELEBRATIONS One last important update to share with you. Over the last few years we analyzed our reunion attendance and discovered that alumni classes in their 5th, 10th, 25th, and 50th boast the highest attendance and engagement. Given that discovery, we will focus our Reunion celebrations on folks in those milestone years. As always, all alumni are welcomed back for Reunion, but outreach from Derryfield to get together for your milestone reunions will be focused on those specific classes. We are commited to listening to your needs and will follow your lead. We look forward to rolling out this new focus and welcome your thoughts and questions.

Our mission for the alumni relations program is to celebrate our alumni individuality and passions by cultivating and continuing relationships with one another, students, and the DS Community. We do that through our Sanborn Society, mentorship, alumni connections, alumni profiles, alumni social media, alumni tours, and alumni events, and I’m pleased to lead the effort on improving the ways we may deliver that mission. If you would like to connect, tour the campus, share your story, or something else, please give us a call or send an email. We’d love to hear from you.

Warmly,

Jennifer Lorraine, Director of The Derryfield Fund and Alumni Relations

DERRYFIELD CONNECT

Join Derryfield Connect at http://derryfield.alumnifire.com.