Dear SNUCM  alumni,
 
I salute you for your sincere dedication and commitment to your class and our Alumni Association.

During the past few months, I have tried to communicate with as many class representatives as possible in order to consider the most practical and feasible options for our future convention. 

After considering the many variables involved, the decision was made to change the format of our convention so that a shorter convention would be combined with our enjoyable class reunion, maintaining the same atmosphere of the class reunion event.

I just returned from our convention in Denver, Colorado, held from July 1 to July 5, 2011.

We have truly reached a crossroads with our Alumni Association. At the convention, I heard that 96 out of 1200 members were able to join this convention.

The convention alone cannot serve the purpose of sustaining our Alumni Association any longer, and it is getting more and more difficult to attract our alumni to join the convention unless they have opportunity to enjoy more leisurely times together. The format for the convention has to be revised. 

In our delegate meeting, as the new president, I had addressed my plan for next year’s convention and class reunion with the idea of hosting a cruise, with the hope that this would serve as a springboard for structuring a framework for our future alumni conventions.

In response, some alumni raised concerns that a seven night cruise would be too long for a combined convention and class reunion.  On the other hand, the issue with having a shorter cruise, such as a 5 night west Caribbean cruise, was the limited itinerary, with a visit to only a couple of ports in Mexico.

It was not easy to explain that the event would, in fact, mainly be a class reunion for the majority of the cruise trip.  Only a couple of days would be set aside for the convention events, including a banquet, scientific symposium and a non-CME program, which would be held when the ship would be at sea for the entire day.

To be fair and balanced, however, a decision was made and announced to alumni at the convention that there will be a shorter land-based convention for a couple of days (instead of the traditional four or five days), followed by an optional class reunion cruise depending on each respective class's choice.
 
In short, our current plan is to have a shorter convention for 2 nights in Orlando from Jan. 20 to the morning of Jan. 22 which will include a banquet, tour, and golf as well as a scientific symposium and a non-CME program. As of today, some classes including but not limited to the classes of ‘60, ‘62, ‘64, and ‘73, for example, have shown interest in the cruise. The cruise will be from Jan 22, 4pm to Jan 29, 6AM leaving from Port Canaveral, FL (50 minutes away from Orlando by Bus).

It will be a "West Caribbean” cruise which will provide visits to four different ports including Haiti, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Mexico.

Again, the cruise will be strictly optional for each class after the shorter convention.

I would like to provide you with the attached update information from a travel agency regarding the cruise in addition to what I suppose you have received through your class representative. Please take this opportunity to review this information and contact them directly and ask them any questions you may have.

While we still have enough time to figure out the details of our convention on land, the timeframe for making a decision regarding the cruise is quite short and the travel agency wants to hear from us by August 10.

As a new president just inaugurated less than a month ago, I have tried my best to expedite arrangements for the cruise.  Many of you with good experiences on cruises may know that cruise reservations have to be made far in advance.  I apologize that the timeframe for making a decision is so short.

Please note that the deadline for deposit and response to the travel agency for the cruise is less than two weeks from now.

Please stay tuned for further updates regarding the convention by e-mail.

With my best regards and appreciation,

Dai O. Moon
(Editor Note: 신임 동창회장, 문대옥*73)