Harvard Club of Saint Louis

Welcome to Harvard Club of Saint Louis

September 10, 2020

Fellow Harvard Alumni:

Welcome to the 139^th Year of the Harvard Club of St. Louis, 2020-2021, and thank you so much for your support of our alumni club.

We all hope that you and your families have remained safe and healthy this past year, in spite of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Our lives have changed instantly and incredibly, more than any of us could have ever imagined.

In spite of the constraints of this epidemic, however, our St. Louis Harvard Club has enjoyed a superb year of energy, innovation and implementation of new and old programs of value. Although our club went virtual beginning in late March, we were able to finish the year with a flourish. As promised, the club’s “reset button” was favorably engaged. Our club By-Laws have been reviewed and revised and plans are afoot to transform our club’s digital information system.

We are enjoying our highest membership in many years and new alumni blood is already revitalizing our old programs----inventing new ways to serve you and our St. Louis community, together.

All-Ivy STL Collaborations:

Our All-Ivy STL partners have been exceptionally helpful. The All-Ivy STL Asian Dim Sum Chinese New Year Luncheon, a crowd pleaser, entertained and sated our palates, as always. Our All-Ivy STL TEDx Talks Dinner Show played to a sell-out crowd, which was charmed by our speakers. On the service side, All-Ivy STL and Operation Food Search, a non-profit, anti-hunger food provider, launched the All-Ivy STL-OFS All-Metro 2020 Covid-19 Hunger Appeal to serve our community’s most vulnerable, nutrition-challenged families. An inspired campaign achieved an All-Ivy STL goal of over $25,000, worth over $500,000 in goods and services. Mega-thanks to all Harvard and All-Ivy STL alumni, who generously supported this worthy cause.

Harvard Club Interviewing:

We are pleased to report that St. Louis Harvard College Admissions are alive and well. Harvard competes annually for the best and brightest students with potentials for future success. The competition for the Class of 2024 was substantial, as usual. 10 of 11 HCSL admits have accepted the offer of a place in the Harvard College Class of 2024, an admirable achievement! Our interviewing efforts continue with S&S Co-Chairs Carrie Roy (our President-Elect) and Eli Lustgarten. This year will witness an exclusively virtual, interviewing format. Please contact Carrie (carriearoy@gmail.com) or Eli (eslustgarten@aol.com) if you wish to interview Harvard College applicants this year. Your help is very much appreciated. We also award Harvard Prize Books to worthy students across the St. Louis area every year.

Harvard Club Networking:

HCSL networking is about making new friends and sustaining contacts with old ones. Our networking events offer LGS (libation, grub and smiles) on a consistent basis and are extremely popular. Our HBS group and our Young Alumni have joined forces to offer the HBS Global Networking Night (GNN), along with other networking nights. These include valuable, expert “nerd talks” plus others. Stay tuned to our Harvard Club STL Newsletter and website and Facebook pages for dates and details. Feel free to contact us with any networking ideas of your own.

Harvard Club Events:

Besides our All-Ivy STL events, almost all of our Harvard Club events are meant to “inform” or “entertain”, and often both. Our Early College Awareness event presented with the Aim High organization, annually seeks to inspire middle school students to aspire to higher education. In the Fall, our Educational Disparities Group presented a multi-disciplinary, All-Metro Conference on Food Insecurity. The Annual Harvard Yale Football Game (“The Game”) was celebrated for the final time at Schneithorst’s in November. The restaurant is gone and, hopefully, Yale’s winning streak with it. The Annual Harvard Holiday Party, held graciously by Harvey and Judy Harris in their CWE home, was celebrated for the 40^th and final time in December, with a capacity crowd, who joined in tribute to thank the Harris’s for their years of dedication to our club. Thank you, Judy and Harvey. Our Harvard Club of St. Louis Annual Dinner was held virtually with a collection of speakers, videos and awards and played to an appreciative audience (the home- concocted “Crimson Cocktails” helped a bit, I’m sure).

Harvard Club Service Activities:

Besides our numerous community service activities, our Service Committee bi-annually awards generously-sponsored, Summer Community Service Fellowships for current Harvard students. This year, we presented the Harvard Club of St. Louis Community Service Award to Operation Food Search, which partnered with our club and All-Ivy STL on the All-Ivy STL-OFS All-Metro 2020 Covid-19 Hunger Appeal (detailed above).

Harvard Club Leadership and Membership:

As stated last year and understood for some time, the Harvard Club of St. Louis is looking for “a few special alumni” to lead and plan and “do stuff” for our alumni, our alma mater and our community.

Please consider joining the Harvard Club of St. Louis or renewing your membership. You can join with or without a Harvard Key: Please click here for more information about how to join or extend your membership. We need your commitment and your ideas.

Upcoming Plans:

At this time, our Harvard Club Fall, 2020 and Winter, 2021 activities will most probably remain virtual in nature. Please check your e-mail, the Harvard Club STL website and your Harvard Newsletter for details and registration instructions.

A number of us wants the Harvard Club of St. Louis to be known as a group that cares, that benefits our alumni and that serves our community. With your help, we can make our virtual identity a reality.

Feel free to contact me by e-mail, text or voice mail, as desired.

We wish you a safe, healthy and happy year.

Warmest regards,

Bill

R. William Morris, MD, MBA

President

The Harvard Club of St. Louis

E: bizmedbill@gmail.com

M/T: (314) 973-5646