A note from our President:

Hello everyone!

First off - WOW and THANK YOU!! I am so impressed and so proud of our class! These past two weeks, we went from getting our butts kicked in the class giving "race" to being on top! Here's an update since my last email...

- Approx. 80 classmates donated.

- We broke the 200th donor mark, and our annonymous donors ponied up the (first of four) $10K they pledged.

- We hit a 23% participation rate (235 donors)...best of the 10 classes (so far).

- To reach the next $10K bonus from our annonymous donors, we need 65 more donors (even a $1 donation counts...which might be worth it to get us off your back). :)

While this is tremendous progress, we can't rest on our laurels just yet. There are 2 months left before the MIT fiscal year ends, so there is plenty of time for the other classes to catch up. If you have not donated, please do so (http://giving.mit.edu).

We are so close in hitting the 300 mark. So please help us, call up your friends and encourage them to participate. We want to do our part in meeting Martin Tang's challenge AND make our annonymous donors pay up! They have pledged up to a total of $40K if we hit our numbers so don't let them leave money on the table!!

We can't stress enough how all we care about is PARTICIPATION not amount. Thanks again to all of you who have donated and are helping us rally more donors. This would be a great way to mark our 10th year!

-Jenn
Class of 1997 President

PS: Our reunion goal is 500 donors. Think it can't be done? Class of 2006 had 517 donors last year!

To see our class progress, click here.

To see who has donated, click here.

A note from Jenn about the upcoming class elections:

Hello everyone!

In just a few months, we'll be celebrating our tenth reunion (June 7-10, 2007), which also means it's time for class elections! Every five years (coinciding with our reunions), we elect class officers to lead our class and keep our class connected. Thus, the officers elected this year will serve a five-year term (July 2007-July 2012).

Are you interested in running for an office? Do you know someone who would be a great officer for our class? Then submit a nominatation! For your information, here is the current list of officers:

- President: Jennifer Yang
- Vice President: Lajos Molnar
- Secretary: Jay Grayson & Amy (Richards) Grayson
- Treasurer: Berenice Belizaire
- Webmaster: Debbie Hyams Walton
- Class Agent: Gary Brackenridge (this is an appointed position)

To nominate someone, send me (jasmine@alum.mit.edu) the name of the person you would like to nominate and the position. Deadline is Fri., March 9, 2007 5PM EST.

Once we have the nominated candidates, we will review and reach out to them to get a personal statement and photo. We will be conducting elections online May/June.

So send in your nominations! I can't wait to see you at reunion!

-Jennifer
President
MIT Class of 1997

PS: For more information about being an officer and the nomination process/timeline, go to https://alum.mit.edu/ccg/classes/volunteers/class-elections/index.html

NEED FOR REUNION VOLUNTEERS
We need your help to plan for our 10-Year Reunion! If you've ever thought about volunteering for an MIT committee, now is the time to help make this a special event.

To volunteer, please email our Reunion Co-Chairs - Christina Hsu or Julia Rosolovsky Greer.