Tandem Alumni Newsletter

In
Tandem

Alumni Newsletter
Fall 1997

Page 4

Please click the photos for captions and enlargements.

[ Pg. 1 | Newsbriefs | Spotlight On | From the Board ]

[ Pg. 2 | Alumni Notes ]

[ Pg. 3 | 1997 Alumni Reunion ]

[ Home | Online Form | Contact ]

Up on the hill...

Leading off the news from the hill this edition is a piece by a current senior, detailing the physical changes the campus is undergoing. Notes have been added [in] the passage in order to help alumni visualize the current campus and to show just how much the physical plant has changed over the years. Please visit and see the changes for yourself.
Changes
by Abigail Rosenthal, senior
It's September 2, and you're back at Tandem for the first time in three months. This is Tandem, isn't it? Don't worry, you've come to the right school, although probably not from the same old entrance, and you'll find quite a few cosmetic changes. The construction workers have been busy, so here's the brief on the changes you'll need, or at least want, to know about before you show up in the fall.
THE ENTRANCE: Thanks to the new road connecting Avon St. and 20 South, Tandem is going to have a convenient new entrance, minus the pot holes and steep slope of the old driveway, across from the new high school. While the new entrance will not be completed until December, don't try to go up Tandem's old entrance off Rt. 20. You must turn onto the new county road, south of the old driveway, and follow the signs to Tandem.
THE FIELD HOUSE: The long awaited gymnasium, locker rooms, and classrooms are on their way. Footings have been made for the foundation, and the building should be ready by December or January. [Located on top of the old tennis courts.]
THE B-BALL COURTS: The excess dirt from the construction of the Field House has been put to good use in widening the outdoor basketball courts. With the shrubbery cleared, and the ground leveled, we have room for one regulation size basketball court, without cutting down any large trees.
THE SOCCER FIELD: Another dirt moving story: we've used the dirt from the construction of the new entrance on the one and a half acres purchased from the County to widen the field to regulation width.
SIDEWALKS: The old walkways between the Main Building and the New Building are being replaced, to match the new sidewalks that run between the Main Building and the Community Hall.
THE BACK LAWN: The County is has installed Albemarle sewage and water connections to the school, a requirement for building the Field House. Maybe there will be grass on the lawn in the spring?
THE STEPS: The rickety steps on the south side of the Main Building, outside of the kitchen, have been removed, along with the door at the top of the stairs. The lower door on that side of the building, which leads to the kitchen and the basement, is still in use.
MUSICAL ROOMS: Teresa and Don (business manager) have moved from their respective offices into the old Middle School Art building [the 8th grade lounge, for those alumni here after addition of grades 6-8], which is now the official business office. In echoes of older times, the Henrikson room [the old Head's office across from Alling room] has returned to office space, this time for Admissions, and the Reading Room [actually the LRC room; the old Reading Room has been the Head's office for several years] has become a classroom once again. Mary (librarian) will be moving into Don's old office in the library [the old balcony], and plans are being made to turn the Jam Room [Middle School library] into a space for tutoring.
INTERNET: Tandem has set up a local area network throughout the school, so that each classroom can have e-mail access and be connected to the Internet. The computer room will have ten connections to the Internet, and the library will expand to four computers, each hooked up to the Internet. Ideally, the school will eventually be able to provide an Internet address for each student and teacher.
The school has been lucky to be able to make many of these changes relatively inexpensively, because the construction equipment was already on the site for other projects. It is a little surprising to drive up the driveway into the face of all this change, especially at a time when we are physically surrounded by so much other construction. Try to keep in mind, however, that this work has given us the opportunity to finally have a regulation basketball court and soccer field, to have Internet access in the classroom, and more. Don't get discouraged if you can't find Teresa's office, or if you find yourself trying to open a door that doesn't exist. Just relax, try not to walk on the grass seed, and say hello again to the same old Tandem.
(From August edition, The Hilltop)

[ Pg. 1 | Newsbriefs | Spotlight On | From the Board ]

[ Pg. 2 | Alumni Notes ]

[ Pg. 3 | 1997 Alumni Reunion ]

[ Home | Online Form | Contact ]

Tandem joins the Friends Council on Education!
Many of us may remember the ringing of three bells as a call to whole-school meeting. Late last Spring, those three bells sounded across the campus and students and staff filed down the walks to the meeting room in the Community Hall. Looks were exchanged that said, "what has happened?" "why are we here?" and "thank you for getting me out of Physics!" From the contented expression on her face, Head of school Rosalyn Berne clearly had a secret she wanted to share with everyone. In front of the whole community she announced that Tandem had just made history by becoming the first school not founded as a Friends school to be accepted into the Friends Council on Education.
Faculty member Charlotte Matthews, through her work on the sdiool's Spiritual Life Committee, has been involved in every stage of Tandem's transition and the evaluation by the Friends Council. I asked her to reflect on what she thinks Friends membership will mean for the school in the future.

"The 'peculiar mission' of a Friends school is to educate for goodness, not by requiring its members to live certain truths but by enabling them to live their lives in ways that reveal Truth to themselves and through themselves to others. A Friends school, therefore, should bring each, in the words of George Fox, to the 'teacher within.'"

- Douglas Heath

That we have been invited to join the Friends Council on Education is affirming. Now, in the company of other schools, Tandem can pursue its "peculiar mission" with even greater conviction. As chair of the Spiritual Life Conunittee, I am heartened by this news and believe our membership will buoy us even more in our work of educating for goodness.
Charlotte Matthews
Upper School English teacher

[ Pg. 1 | Newsbriefs | Spotlight On | From the Board ]

[ Pg. 2 | Alumni Notes ]

[ Pg. 3 | 1997 Alumni Reunion ]

[ Home | Online Form | Contact ]

Q&A
New! For this edition of In Tandem, we have reversed roles in the question/answer department. This time around, we get to ask the questions and you get to answer. The first correct response to either of the questions below will receive a Tandem hat. Specially designed for the 1997 reunion, these hats are cranberry with a green bill. "Tandem" and the tree logo are embroidered on the front. Contact Alumni Affairs with your correct answer through any of the methods at the bottom of this page [or use the online form]. Good luck!
1. When did the tradition of the surprise senior class entrance at graduation begin?
2. What was the middle school building used for before it housed the middle school?

Q: Why should I check out the Tandem alumni web site (Okay, so no one really asked this question. We are merely using the opportunity to shamelessly promote something we think is really neato and under-utilized)?
A: The Tandem alumni web site is designed and maintained by our own Coleman Kitchin '81 who has been incredibly generous with his time and energy in continuing this project. The site contains the most recent edition of In Tandem. Newsletter photos are restored to their original color (or black and white) glory and Coleman adds some great links to other places in the site, outside web pages, etc. The site is also a place where you can send updates on your life and activities straight to the Alumni Coordinator, without the hassle of a stamp or phone call. In the past, reunion registration was also available on-line and we expect this will again be the case in the upcoming year. Even as you read this, we are working on developing some kind of interactive database for alumni use on the site. Ultimately, you would be able to search the site for a list of alumni with a particular occupation or state of residence. You would then automatically be sent a list of addresses for these alumni. This newest feature is still waiting in the wings, pending a few confidentiality issues we have yet to work out. The alumni site also links you to the Tandem Friends School home page. Check it out!

[ Pg. 1 | Newsbriefs | Spotlight On | From the Board ]

[ Pg. 2 | Alumni Notes ]

[ Pg. 3 | 1997 Alumni Reunion ]

[ Home | Online Form | Contact ]

Alumni Council News

Part of every summer's reunion festivities is the annual meeting of the Tandem Alumni Council. This past June, the Council met for two very productive sessions. The growth of the Council to include representatives from a wider range of class years allowed for a great mix of opinion and viewpoint in Council discussions. The Council is still open to new members and, particularly those from classes of the 70s and early 80s.
The Alumni Council is your representative body in Tandem. Council members want to address issues and take up projects of importance to the school and, most importantly, the Alumni Body. Following are meeting highlights excerpted from the Council minutes.

Council business
Council terms are for 2 years and are indefinitely renewable.
Any alumnus/a may serve on the Alumni Council, regardless of geographical location and frequency of meeting attendance (communication with Council facilitator by mail, phone, etc. may replace meeting attendance).
As Tandem is now a Friends school, there will be no voting at Council meetings. Decisions are made by consensus.
The Alumni Affairs Coordinator, as an intermediary between the school and the alumni, is currently best positioned to act as the facilitator for the Alumni Council.

Fundraising
Requests for money should come from current students as well as alumni.
Fundraising letters should be personal and focus on the experiences of students at Tandem.
The Alumni Newsletter should include information about giving (see pg. 15).
When asked where they want their money to go, alumni almost always name scholarship funds or faculty support. An Alumni Endowment Fund has been established to meet these needs. Money donated to this fund will be used to support students, faculty, and alumni service projects (Please see pg. 15 for details).

Alumni Activity
A goal for the Council is to work towards an "Alumni Day" during which alumni can attend classes, teach workshops or Wednesday activities and get a feel for the school today. This event may take the form of an alumni speaker series until interest level is high enough for a full day event.
Construction of the new Tandem Field House will provide us with the opportunity to establish an Athletic Hall of Fame. This idea came from a school which, like Tandem, was no athletic powerhouse, but had many talented individuals and teams that thrived on the joy of playing, win or lose. The Field House will be finished mid-winter and the idea was tabled until then.
The Main Building seems to always be in need of some repair. Alumni will be called on to pick up a hammer, hoe, or paintbrush to spruce up the building and grounds on an upcoming Alumni Work Day.
The Distinguished Alumni Award, established by Tandem last year, should continue to come from the school itself and not the alumni body. Alumni will give awards to teachers and students as part of their annual Alumni Fund work.

What Alumni Want
News from the Board of Directors should be conveyed to alumni. As the Board of Directors now has two alumni members (Blair Williamson '83 and Ken Brown '90), we should be getting information from them (see pg. 3).
The bi-annual alumni newsletters are not enough. The Alumni Affairs Coordinator will mail additional "update" mailers between newsletters, which focus on what's going on at the school and upcoming events.
For several years, alumni have supported the idea of an alumni networking database that would include occupational and residential information. We are making the first steps towards providing a searchable database for alumni use, possibly through the alumni site on the World Wide Web.

Mission Statement:
"The mission of the Tandem Alumni Council is to provide service to the Tandem Friends School community by continuously building and maintaining alumni involvement in the school through on-grounds service, fundraising, and annual student and faculty gifts. Council decisions are made, in the Quaker tradition, by consensus."

[ Pg. 1 | Newsbriefs | Spotlight On | From the Board ]

[ Pg. 2 | Alumni Notes ]

[ Pg. 3 | 1997 Alumni Reunion ]

[ Home | Online Form | Contact ]

$$ Leaves on the Tree $$
In response to the Alumni Council recommendation for fundraising information in the newsletter, this column will be a regular feature of In Tandem.

Alumni Endowment Fund
At their June 8, 1997 meeting, the Tandem Alumni Council agreed that all donations from alumni, unless otherwise designated, would be put in an alumni endowment fund. Possible funding designations will be clearly listed on return envelopes and all other solicitation material.
Each year, either at a meeting in December or in the spring, the members of the Alumni Council will decide how to spend that yearOs alumni endowment fund proceeds, choosing at least one of the three areas listed below.
The Alumni Endowment Fund will be used to support three areas:
1. With nominations from current students and faculty, the council will award a need-based scholarship to a student who demonstrates school spirit and service to Tandem. Until the endowment is large enough to support a scholarship, a smaller gift may be presented.
2. The council will donate money for faculty support in honor of a current or former faculty member. The nomination system is still being discussed; perhaps the 25th reunion class, perhaps all alumni, or perhaps alumni, current students, and faculty.
3. Funds may be used to buy supplies for school beautification projects done by alumni or to support other projects in which alumni are providing a service to Tandem.

An opportunity to double your money:
Tandem has been offered a $30,000 matching gift for alumni giving. This means that up to $20,000 of alumni giving will be matched dollar for dollar. The other $10,000 will be awarded if at least 50% of alumni give a gift of any size this year. To put this all in perspective, last year alumni giving totalled $9,000 (not including two one-time gifts totalling $13,000) and 20% of the alumni body gave. However 50% of Tandem alumni have given at one time or another. What does this mean? This is an ambitious goal, but not unrealistic. We need to broaden our base of alumni support in order to achieve both of these goals. [To contribute, try our online form.]
The gift will be used to support one of the Alumni Fund's three areas of focus, faculty support.

[ Pg. 1 | Newsbriefs | Spotlight On | From the Board ]

[ Pg. 2 | Alumni Notes ]

[ Pg. 3 | 1997 Alumni Reunion ]

[ Home | Online Form | Contact ]

Alumni Affairs
Tandem Friends School
279 Tandem Lane
Charlottesville, VA 22902
(434) 296-1303

To the Tandem Friends Home Page

To the Alumni Home Page

You may contact me with comments & suggestions about the web version.
My web page is LaPage.com - Kitchin '81

To contact Tandem Alumni Affairs, visit http://www.tandemfs.org.