Alumni Association Annual Review and Accolades 2018

Breakfast at the zoo. Building eight miles of trails at James Monroe's historic home. A day at the ski slopes in Colorado.

These were just a few of the chapter events honored in this year's Annual Review & Accolades for alumni chapters, affinity groups and volunteers. This new awards process is designed to encourage alumni engagement leaders and Regional Alumni Engagement team members to work together to reflect on the alumni engagement activities of the past year, celebrate successes, plan for the future and stay organized year over year. The ARAs evolved from the Standards of Excellence, a points-based system used by the Alumni Association to annually review chapter programming and board activity.

For its inaugural year, more than 80 percent of chapters throughout the country submitted their Annual Review, and 15 chapters applied for Accolades. This September, the William & Mary Alumni Association Board of Directors approved the Accolades awards, highlighting and acknowledging the dedication of our alumni engagement leaders to strengthening alumni engagement in their chapter area.

There are two categories of Accolades: Overall Awards and Programming Excellence Awards. The four Overall Awards focus on the vision of the board, ability to connect to alma mater, highest Net Promoter Scores and highest board percentage of annual giving participation.

The winners of the Overall Awards for 2018 are:

The seven Programming Excellence Accolades recognize and honor the hard work and creativity of our alumni volunteers. These awards also recognize the diverse slate of chapter events executed to engage different ages and stages of alumni. The winners of the Programming Excellence Awards for 2018 are:

Some highlights of the Programming Excellence awards include the Best Family Event won by South Hampton Roads for “Breakfast at the Zoo.” Attracting Tribe members of all ages, this event was a hit with families and children.

The Best Service Event given to the Charlottesville-Highlands chapter brought alumni to Highland, the William & Mary-owned historic home of alumnus and fifth U.S. President James Monroe, or as the chapter calls it, “William & Mary West,” to build a new eight-mile trail system. The chapter continues to work with Highland to expand the home’s educational and recreational offerings.

The Best Unique Event went to the Colorado Chapter for “William & Mary Day on the Slopes” at Copper Mountain. The day kicked off with a continental breakfast at the lodge and everyone wore green and gold bandanas so members of the Tribe were easily identifiable on the slopes.

The William & Mary Alumni Association has a goal of creating world-class alumni engagement programs for alumni and friends of William & Mary. Alumni engagement leaders and the chapters they serve diligently work to keep William & Mary people connected — with each other and alma mater. The ARAs honor and award these volunteers’ commitment to fellow alumni, students, families, friends and alma mater.

“We could not be more excited of how thoughtful and thorough our alumni volunteers were in providing such complete and comprehensive Accolades submissions for their chapters. It filled the Alumni Association Regional Alumni Engagement board committee with Tribe Pride to see such dedication and love for alma mater as expressed through the hard work and commitment of the alumni chapter leaders," says Kirsten Shiroma ’05, William & Mary Alumni Association board member and chair, Regional Alumni Engagement board committee.