General Info

Volunteer Expectations

Staff roles

Each Reunion planning committee has a staff liaison in the Alumni Engagement office who serves as your main contact during the Reunion planning process (see staff list here). Staff provide resources, answer questions, and give regular updates on deadlines, registration numbers, and your class gift.

Staff liaisons support volunteers in taking the primary role for crafting individual communications to classmates, recruiting committee members, creating meeting agendas, taking meeting notes, and creating slideshows or playlists for your class. Having said that, we are experts on Reunion - not on your class. We can help create a foundation, but we need your special knowledge of your class to help make the weekend special for your milestone.


In addition, Alumni Engagement and campus partners take care of the following logistical details for the weekend: working with catering, ordering food and alcohol for events, determining locations for class events (which are dependent on registration numbers), decorations, and coordinating audio/visual support.


Simply put, Reunion would not be possible or anywhere near as meaningful without our alumni volunteers. By reaching out to your classmates to encourage them to join you at Reunion and support your class gift, and by planning events specific to your class, you send the message that Macalester is still an important part of your life today. Emails from the college may end up in spam folders - your posts, texts, emails, and calls go farther and have a bigger impact that anything we could send. You play a critical role in the success of the largest alumni gathering of the year – we are grateful for your time, energy, and enthusiasm!

Expectations

All volunteers are expected to commit to the following:

  1. Give the gift of time. We ask that volunteers give at least 1 hour a month, divided between outreach, conference calls, or other planning duties. Your volunteer duties, Reunion, and other events may demand more or less of your time depending on whether you are serving on a class-specific committee, or participating in monthly outreach campaigns.

  2. Make a donation to the college. It makes a difference when alumni lead by example. We ask that all committee members donate to the Macalester Fund early and support your class gift effort. Reunion class gifts account for up to 25% of the total gifts to the Macalester Fund each year, and make a significant difference. Learn more about the class gift here.

  3. Help promote your Reunion. Commit to contacting at least ten classmates about Reunion via phone, email, postcards, texts, social media - whatever works best for you! You can sign up for classmates to contact and find their contact information through the Reunion volunteer toolkit on MacDirect.

  4. Communicate with staff and with each other. Please be considerate in contacting or returning emails or phone calls to staff liaisons or other volunteers in a timely manner. Additionally, report changes you may encounter with classmates. Report marriages, births, name/pronoun changes, divorces, deaths, awards etc. to alumnioffice@macalester.edu.

  5. Use creativity, imagination, a sense of humor, and patience. Remember that the other people you will be working with are also giving their time and are equally dedicated volunteers and staff.

  6. Be an ambassador for Reunion. Talk, talk, and talk more to alumni friends about Mac and Reunion! This is probably the most important item in your duties as a volunteer. The #1 reason alumni come back for Reunion is to see their friends and catch up with classmates, and nothing encourages this like hearing from you.


Preliminary Schedule

Please note that this is a general overview of the schedule for Reunion 2022, and does not list every program or event that will be part of the weekend. This information will be confirmed by January 2023, and a final schedule will be available online and in print form in March 2023.

Thursday, June 8

  • James Wallace Society dinner (invite only)

  • Kick-off gathering at Cafe Mac

  • 50th Evening Social

Friday, June 9

  • Faculty and Department Office Hours

  • Golden Scots Induction and Lunch

  • 50th Reunion Dinner and Evening Social

  • Food Trucks and All Class Social

Saturday, June 10

  • Alumni Awards Breakfast

  • All Class Picnic

  • Class Dinners

  • Martini Tent

Sunday, June 11

  • Grounding

  • Brunch