USNA Out Annual Alumni & Midshipmen Brunch & Croquet
Alley Bar at the Officer’s Club – U.S. Naval Academy
Our Annual Alumni & Midshipmen Dinner is CONFIRMED for Saturday April 27th, 2019 at the Alley Bar at the Officer’s Club a the U.S. Naval Academy.
As of now we’re taking RSVP’s to gage interest for this year with the goal of reaching 150 attendees! So please snag a “free ticket“ on Eventbrite
Our tentative agenda is as follows:
Saturday Morning: Alumni, Cadets & Zoomies arrive
Saturday 09:30: Doors Open Alley Bar (O-Club)
Saturday 10:00: Brunch is Served with Mimosa Bar
Saturday 11:30: Presentation of Firstie Shoulder Boards
Saturday 12/12:30: Migrate to Croquet Match where we will rent a tent for USNA Out
Tentative Ticket Prices: Guest $70, Sponsor a Midn $40, Silver Sponsor $250, Blue Sponsor $500, Gold Sponsor $1000
All proceeds are intended to fuel the mission of USNA Out, support the Naval Academy, make an annual donation to Spectrum, and fund future alumni events.
For USNA Out’s Second Annual Sails and Tales 16 USNA Out’ers and Associates made their way up to the beautiful Penobscot Bay in Maine to sail for 5 days and 4 nights on board the beautiful Schooner Ladona! Previously used by the U.S. Navy in WWII as a submarine patrol vessel it has now been refurbished as a beautiful yachting vessel.
Missed the last two trips for Sails & Tales? Head over to FB and RSVP for our Third Annual Cruise next year.
“But still when two or three shall meet, and old tales be retold … “
The first “official” USNA Out Midwest group event is on the books! Thank you Kevin Deese and Ashley Fischer for kicking off our first regional group event.
Be sure to check out USNA Out’s Facebook to find the regional group near you. (Don’t see one? let us know!)
There are some exciting developments at USNA Out and we hope that all of you can be a part of it in the year to come. To start we would like to announce:
Dave Wolynski ’97 New Chairman of the Board
Brook Class of ’12 New Vice Chairman of the Board
Together we’re looking to re-expand the scope and engagement in our organization.
New Board Members
We’re looking for FOUR new diverse board members to add to our current three to bring their ideas, energy, and motivation to a growing USNA Out.
Elections will be held in our December Board Meeting (either Dec 15th or in-person at Army-Navy). Requirements to be a board member are a member in good standing (pay your dues) as well as attend two previous board meetings so please join us in August and October to see the progress.
Didn’t make the board elections? We’ll be implementing committees for members to become more involved and learn a bit about the organization as well as share their ideas such as:
Web Committee
Finance Committee
Events Committee
Army-Navy Committee
Annual Dinner Committee
Trans Outreach Committee
Midshipmen Outreach Comm.
Ideas?
Building a Mentorship Community for LGBT Midshipmen and Alumni
One of USNA Out’s objectives as an organization is to provide information, mentorship, and personal/professional development resources for LGBT Midshipmen and Alumni.
We are looking to build an “opt-in” mentorship program for all our Members. For our first step, we will be adding to all of our Member Profiles an option to check “yes” to volunteer as a mentor and describe the areas of mentor expertise they are willing to provide.
After we have that option established, it’ll be up to you! If you’re looking for a mentor or advice in a certain area, you can scan our Membership Roster, see who has the right experience you are looking for, and reach out to them on your own. No need to wait and be formally “matched” by a third party.
Army Navy 2018
Army/Navy is right around the corner! This year’s game is set to be on December 8th,
2018 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Resuscitating the tradition, USNA Out will be joining up with members of Knights Out for a pre-game tailgater. Brook Stevens ’12 and Ryan Gilbert ’10 will be coordinating the effort with KO to make this a fun event for everyone. Also, our friends at Deutsche Bank will be sponsoring the entire tailgater. Please do RSVP via Eventbrite which can be found in the event on Facebook, but please any questions email Brook at brook.stevens@usnaout.org.
Thanks to Hunter Rogers ’11, Adam Hammer ’16, and Tom Carpenter ’70 we have not one but TWO upcoming San Diego events.
Friday July 13th – Pride Kick-Off Party
Saturday October 27th – Navy v. Notre Dame Football
2019 Alumni-Midshipmen Dinner
For 2019, we’re targeting Saturday April 27th so more individuals can attend our event. We are looking at the Officers Club but if anybody has ideas for inexpensive (or free) venues, ideally on the Yard, that would be great. We would love to run a surplus this year, so we can support the Academy, Spectrum, and more Alumni events. We will also have a new structure this year:
Over the next year we intend on doing many joint events with our friends up North.
One such event is their annual Cadet Gala, usually the first week of April. We encourage all who can to attend. Brook Stevens, Brian Wiechowski, Joe Soto, and Brian Bender have all attended in the past and can answer questions.
We will also be paying for Midshipmen to attend their event to build cross-Academy relationships.
Building a Networked Community
USNA Out is an organization for everyone from coast to coast, overseas, and those at sea or deployed. In an effort to create closer local communities we’ve created various Facebook groups within our USNA Out Facebook page.
The Southern California group is pulling ahead with 9 members already! Please find your group and join! We’d be happy to sponsor events in your area whether it’s football, going sailing, attending a Navy women’s lacrosse game or even a pottery class! You tell us, and we’ll do our best to help you along the way.
Closed OPEN Session in Progress
Our Board Meetings are now open to all members of USNA Out. Our Board and Member Meetings will have two parts. The first part will be our formal Board business, for all to observe. The second, and more important part, will be our Members Forum. During that time, we’re looking forward to hearing from you! Bring your thoughts, ideas, and energy for moving our organization forward.
We have the next 6 Meetings scheduled (through the summer of 2019!) and posted to Facebook. The next one will be Saturday, August 18th at Noon Eastern Time (9 AM Pacific). Google Hangout link and dial-in number are posted to the Board section of our website now for your convenience.
While this email hopefully detailed many of the ideas and initiatives we have moving forward there is so much room for so much more! So please join us on these calls and let’s hear from you.
Please although not required we’d love for you to donate to the organization this year! Annual dues have typically been $40 but in order to spur recurring donations we’ll be dropping them to $24! There’s a monthly recurring option with PayPal so that’s $2 per month!
This is our first newsletter in quite a while. Just in time for commemorating Pride month.
Throughout the month of June, the Navy joins the nation in observing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month.
In accordance with ALNAV 007/18, Navy commands were encouraged to participate in LGBT Pride Month and all special observances throughout the year in recognition of the service and dedication of the men and women who contribute their diverse skills, perspectives, talents and backgrounds.
Whether you are wearing a uniform or now work in a totally civilian office environment, if you participate in your command/office pride events, please post the story on our website to share with other USNA Out members in our next Newsletter.
[bonus points for identifying where the flag in the photo above is proudly flying!]
Lots of news to share with our members in this June Pride newsletter, the first newsletter which is assembled from the news and events that are posted on our recently upgraded website. We know this newsletter is waaaay too long — We’ve got a full year backlog of news to share. Going forward with the communications tools built into our site, our all-volunteer newsletter team can now send more frequent, timely updates, and if you members keep your communications preferences up to date, you should also be able to receive geographically targeted communications
Events
New board member Brook Stevens ’12 has taken the lead in the 2018 Army Navy joint tailgate with the Knights Out in Philadelphia in December. We should also have a few opportunities to gather USNA Out members around the West in the coming months around these Naval Academy events:
Navy/University of Hawaii Football in Honolulu (Game is 1 September)
Navy/USAFA game in Colorado Springs (Game is 6 October)
Navy/Notre Dame Football in San Diego (Game is 27 October)
Army-Navy Joint Tailgate with Knights Out (8 December)
Events don’t need to revolve around a Navy Football game. Perhaps a significant LGBT movie at your local film festival, or a dining out activity. If you are willing to form a team to sponsor a USNA Out event, please contact the board to let us know.
Here is a great reason to get USNA Outers together in your area. Get Out and See a Movie!
16 June kicked off the LGBT Film Festival season, the opening night film at Frameline (where our film Out of Annapolis screened in 2010) was TransMilitary, which premiered at SXSW in Austin. The film will be coming to Washington DC and New York City on Sunday June 17th and Tuesday June 19th, respectively. Continue reading “It’s the LGBT Film Festival Time of Year”
Continuing a tradition begun in April, 2009, 35 USNA Outer and guests were joined by 32 Midshipmen to honor the soon to be graduation class in Annapolis.
This was our third year to hold the event in Historic Ogle Hall, the home of our Alumni Association.
Sails & Tales of USNA Outers will be back in 2018! If you’re looking for other ways to meet up with Alumni in a venue other than football, here’s your chance! The first Sails & Tales of USNA Outers was a resounding success with many tales told and lots of amazing sailing.
Built in 1922 in Boothbay, Maine, Ladona recently completed a two-year rebuild and is fitted to carry 16 passengers. Schooner Ladona is reserved by USNAOuters to sail and tell old Continue reading “Sails & Tales 2018”
USNAOut member Rob Beer (’90) and his partner Van Ellis hosted our first Dark Ages Mixer in their home in Washington, DC. There was no better way to shake off those winter blues than getting together with your shipmates! Thanks to Rob and Van for their hospitality!
The Columbus Day Weekend Barbecue with the Navy Spectrum midshipman was a tremendous success with about 25 midshipmen, alumni, and friends in attendance.
A huge big THANKS again to Navy Spectrum for inviting us USNA Out members to join your BBQ!
USNA Out members in Northern California gathered at the home our member Zoe Dunning ’85 for our 2017 Pride Kickoff Get-Together. Zoe was giving us our first visit to her recently redone home high above Noe Valley. More than half of our Bay Area members were able to attend, including seven of our new Bay Area arrivals!
Uniformly, everyone felt that “we need to do this more often!”
It seems like yesterday that USNAOut and Navy Spectrum were gathered in Ogle Hall, the home of USNA’s Alumni Association, for our annual Alumni and Midshipmen Dinner. This has always been my favorite USNAOut event, as it gathers alumni together to reconnect with each other, congratulate our midshipmen on completing another year, and welcome the fleet’s newest Navy and Marine Corps officers to our ranks. It’s been a pleasure to this event grow each year from the small, private meeting into the gathering of 70+ midshipmen, alumni, and guests. Last year we’ve seen the numbers of midshipmen attendees continue to grow to the point they outnumber the alumni!
We also had the honor of presenting ten Ensigns, and three Second Lieutenants their first sets of shoulder boards and insignia, which they wore with pride at their commissioning. And 2ndLt Chris Goodale (’17) also introduced an Spectrum sponsored initiative to build a mentorship program that promises to connect alumni of all ages and phases of their military and civilian careers and personal lives. And, as usual, some key members stepped up to make the event happen. I’d like to extend a long overdue “BZ” to Steve Hall (’75), Kristen “Rosie” Barnes (’92), Jeff Morrison (’04), Chip Hall (USCGA ’12), Dave Wolynski (’97), and Chris Goodale (’17).
Fast forward 10 months, it is already time to prepare for this year’s dinner. I hope you’ll mark your calendars to join us on 6 May at Ogle Hall to congratulate all the Spectrum Mids on another year done and welcome the class of 2018 to our ranks. Please keep an eye out for the registration link and let us know you are coming. We look forward to seeing you!
Uniformly, everyone felt that “we need to do this more often!”