The Empire Brewing Company was host to the annual Young Alumni Event on Friday, November 28. Approximately two dozen CBA alums who graduated from 1990-2004 and their family members gathered in the rear dining area of the restaurant to mingle, reminisce, and kick-off their holiday party season. The restaurant provided a great spread, and the service was superb. Many attendees were treated to an interesting and informative private tour of the microbrewery. A wonderful time was had by all.

For decades, young CBA alumni attended a “Smoker” held at the school during the Thanksgiving holiday where recent alums, enjoyed good food, spirits, and casino games. This very popular event format was forced to change in the early ‘80’s when the drinking age was raised from 18 to 21. In order to encourage and facilitate the gathering of recent alums, the event was restructured to include only ‘legal’ alums, and moved to an off-campus venue and re-named, “Night for the Nineties.” The hearkening of the new millennium prompted another name change, and the gathering is now known as the Young Alumni Event.

The Development Office has worked diligently to try to maximize attendance at this event, experimenting with different venues and times. One of the greatest challenges is to get the word out to these young alums about the event, as their contact information typically changes often during the first decade after they graduate. The use of evites and communication via facebook has been very effective in notifying these individuals about the gathering.

We encourage alumni to get involved with the planning of all of our events, and much thanks to Beth Horlander Owens ’98 for her efforts to make this a memorable one. If you are interested in helping to plan next year’s Young Alumni Event, or would like to make suggestions about future venues or timing, please email Helen Kelley or phone (315) 446-5960 ext. 1122.