October 2009

Minnesota Daily Alumni Association Newsletter

October 2009

From the Board

Michelle Fure, President

Fall is in full swing. One of the events the Minnesota Daily Alumni Association looks most forward to is choosing scholarship recipients for the semester. Applications are due in a few weeks, and the board will be interviewing candidates at the end of the month. In the next newsletter, we’ll let you know a little more about the students who earned this semester’s scholarships. It’s a great experience for all of us as we gain a deeper understanding of the impact the Daily has made on these students and the contributions they have made to the Daily.

Have a question or interest? Let us know — send an email to me or Board Secretary Courtney Lewis Opdahl. We’re anxious to hear from you!

Upcoming Events

Join us from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9 at Stub and Herb’s for a few happy hours to celebrate the first homecoming game at the new TCF Bank Stadium. Come for a little while or stay all night — the homecoming parade begins at 7 p.m., as well.

Bring a business card or two — we’ll be drawing door prizes during the evening. Come early — the first round is on us. Please RSVP to boardmember@mndailyalumni.com. We’ll see you there.

Staying Connected to the Daily

By Anthony Maggio, Daily Alumni Board

Do you live outside of the Twin Cities but still want to help out current Daily students? The Minnesota Daily Alumni Association has two ways to help.

The first option was detailed in last month’s newsletter – regardless of your location, you can still serve as a mentor to a Daily student. E-mail and phone communication make up most of the mentor/mentee interactions anyway, so being out of town doesn’t impact your ability to offer insights to a current Daily staffer.

The second option is a new initiative recently started by the Alumni Association and is specific to those of you residing anywhere but the Twin Cities. We hope to build a network of contacts around the country — peoople who are simply willing to offer advice about living and working in their city of residence for Daily employees interested in relocating for internships or jobs.

The mentorship program is far from intensive, but this program is even less so. At this point, we hope to collect names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses from those of you around the country and the globe who would be willing to take a few minutes to discuss life in your city with an interested Daily staffer. This list can ultimately serve a dual purpose on the alumni website, allowing those of you who share a place of resident to connect with each other.

If you are interested in being a part of this program, please send your name, e-mail address, phone number and city of residence to Anthony Maggio at magg0006@umn.edu. Thank you in advance for your help as we strive to make this new initiative a success.

Alumni Lunch Speakers

Each month, the Daily is sponsoring lunchtime training sessions where alumni provide practical information to help staffers with their current assignments or just to get some insights into the journalism field.

Recent topics include resume writing, tips for beat reporting, and using social media. Staff are open to topics from different areas of interest.

If you have an idea, or you’re interested in speaking about a particular topic, let us know. Send us a message at boardmember@mndailyalumni.com.

Spring Celebration Speaker: Have an idea for a speaker or speakers for the spring celebration next year? We’re starting to brainstorm ideas, but we’re all ears if you have someone in mind. Let us know what you think.

Other ways to connect — join our groups on Linked in or Facebook. If you’d like to set up a regional alumni group, such as a group for alumni in New York or California or some other locale, let us know.