From the President...
The past year and a half plus have been challenging for all of us, and the Harvard Club of Arkansas was no exception. Effectively all of our typical events were cancelled or curtailed. We lost our typical Harvard-Yale watch party, in-person meet and greets, had a planned speaker fall through, and had to cancel plans for an in-person new students meet-and-greet in NWA due to the Delta variant surge.
That said, we did find some ways to engage. In May Harold Evans AB'74 organized a virtual admitted students event for our 12(!) new students and their families. We also partnered with the a consortium of other regional Harvard Clubs for a virtual speech and networking session last November with Prof. Sasha Killewald regarding generational wealth inequalities among minority families. In September, Aaron Brooks JD'08 attended the Conway Public Schools College Fair to speak to prospective applicants.
Things are not yet completely back to normal. College fairs were cancelled or postponed, interviews will still primarily be held virtually, and we will go another year without our joint Harvard-Yale win watch party with the Yale Club.
Hopefully things are on the mend. Arkansas cases are down, and things are beginning to reopen. We will host at least one event in the first quarter of next year, hopefully in-person for those who are comfortable. If not, and potentially in addition, we will organize a virtual gathering. Further, we will host admitted/new student events yet again.
I look forward to seeing and meeting many of you this year.
Best,
Chad Brown
AB’07
chad.brown@post.harvard.edu