RealCTY talk:Alumni Association

I think an alumni association is a great idea. Can we think of a way to spread it among those of us who became alumni a long time ago? On the one hand, it might sometimes be hard for people in their 30s to share a community with people who are 16, but on another level, I think that sometimes communication across generations could be helpful (or maybe I'm just flattering myself). --Sammka 19:17, 10 September 2006 (MST)

Actually, I think having an intergenerational community can be helpful in a lot of ways. Not only are, in most cases, CTYers more mature than kids their own age, but it'll be useful to help CTYers in school, work, etc. Of course, the danger is that this will devolve into an old boy's network, but I think a loose network can provide younger students with mentors and opportunities. -- JW

WILL YOU BE MY MENTOR JW PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeee ~Yulia

I really like the idea of an alum association, but I'm not sure I understand why it has to be based in Lancaster, rather than in the CTY community as a whole. (Or did I misread that part?) And, as with Sammka, I'd really like it if it were intended to include multiple generations of CTYers. Honestly, it's a great networking idea, if nothing else. And probably someone should make sure that the facebook group for CTY gets incorporated somehow... ~Zoethor2

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The reasons I suggest basing it in Lancaster are as follows:

1) Lancaster is the largest site 2) Lancaster is the most tradition heavy site 3) RealCTY is primarily composed of Lancasterians

It seems natural to "root" the community in Lancaster so that it can stay together. It's not really possible to base the organization in all the sites. Similarly, using, say, Hawaii, as a hub doesn't seem reasonable.

There's really no way to make a completely sturdy community. It has to be very flexible. RealCTY, which is editable by all CTYers, makes for a strong yet flexible home base, if you will. Meanwhile, we can create larger communities on MySpace, Xanga, LiveJournal, Gmail, etc.

In truth, I feel that it is better to have alumni associations by site. They can all connect here, because RealCTY isn't site-specific in the least. However, things like contact lists and student groups or other circles of friends are primarily bound to a single site (like the Alcove or CuoGo). Therefore, it may be a good idea to link everything to RealCTY, but have each site make their own specific organizations.

--Max W. 14:54, 13 September 2006 (MST)

Basically, whatever happens, I want in (and I'd like to be something nice and shiny position wise :D) ~Yulia

Ok - I'd like to start foremost by saying that I don't want to start a fight (I know it can be hard to read tone over the internet). :) I guess when I was thinking of an alum organization, I was thinking not so much of a way for friends to keep in touch (I think usually they manage that on their own), but rather a way for the general CTY alum community to be in touch, about how CTY is changing, about what they are doing with their time now, about opportunities for jobs/internships, about college advice, etc. Because I'm in that older generation (with Sammka), reunions and such aren't so much what I think of an alumni org working on. I think of it as more of a network for information and discussion about "real life" stuff. Maybe this isn't so much what you all were thinking about, though. But my feeling is that something like what I was invisioning would be most useful if it included all sites, and most easily run by whomever had the time for the year/couple of years, rather than being a sort of handed down, tradition sort of thing.

Anyway, if what I was thinking of is not at all what you were thinking of, then don't mind me. :) Maybe what I'm thinking of would be better served by just being a section under the "Life After CTY" bit of RealCTY, rather than any sort of formal organization? ~Zoethor2

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CTY isn't really too much of a formal thing, at least not during the student experience. I envisioned a more solid way for friends to keep in touch; not formal or anything, but just a way for people to reconnect with their CTY experience. I mean, yeah, a community could be helpful in the real world, but, at least for me, the reasons that I go to CTY really have nothing to do with the real world. Still, it would be beneficial to have such a community, but I don't think it can be made official. I don't see this as a through-the-administration type of organization.

Again, RealCTY works as a great hub. I would recommend a series of pages about life after CTY, as you suggested. Then, people could contact past CTYers about anything "real world" that they want to discuss or whatever. My vision was to simply create a method by which friends are able to keep in touch with other CTYers in an organized manner, and not necessarily on an individual basis. RealCTY can provide that function. It could also be used for real world discussions, but I don't see anyway we could possibly officialize it. Again, though, it's nice for all these things CTY to connect; so I would recommend either linking or building the real life community to/in RealCTY.

--Max W. 13:07, 15 September 2006 (MST)

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I think one of the problems with having an Alumni Association being an informal way for friends to keep in touch on a mass level is you run into the fact that, over 20+ years, you get a whole range of people who don't all know each other and who aren't going to relate to each other in the same way that a bunch of people who all went to CTY together would do. And us older folks have already pretty much devised ways to keep in touch with the people we want to keep in touch with. This is just something to think about.

Also, I feel that people need to ask some questions: will this be a mailing list for people to have discussions and make announcements? Will it be more of a message-board-type thing or blog? Will it host events and reunions? Or be more of a Facebook-type thing so that people can just make a network and keep people's contact information at hand? The format, of course, has a lot to do with what you want to do with it. I think that a mailing list, or even a blog, would get rapidly unmanageable if it ends up getting flooded with individual friends talking to each other, since even a Lancaster-only group would end up being pretty massive. A list would be fine if it were clear that people should use it mainly to make announcements and such. And a message board would end up being really great for addressing the fact that people have different things they want out of an association (keeping in touch, real-life advice, reunions, or just chatting with people, etc.).

As for not feeling like CTY should have much to do with Real Life, I think this is definitely a valid sentiment. In fact, that probably has something to do with the fact that none of us want to deal with it later on ;). Which is why I think that CTYers are particularly qualified to help each other through issues like going to college and even (gasp!) getting a job and becoming a Tool of the Man, just like CTYers are particularly qualified to help each other through relationship angst or the horrors of some high schools. --Sammka 15:28, 15 September 2006 (MST)

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Agreed on basically every point. So, I've created a new message board here, which I hope will become multifunctional. It can really be used for anything. I hope it's helpful. Furthermore, the community's foundation has been set up on all levels at this point. There's a wiki, three different blogs, a Google Group (LAN only, though) and a message board. I hope it will all be of use. --Max W. 20:13, 15 September 2006 (MST)

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www.postctydepression.com --clcrhiggaeeermo Sorry for not signing before.