By Matt Cameron
President, Cavalier Daily Alumni Association
Dear alumni and friends,
I hope that your year is off to a good start! With the Cavalier Daily Alumni Association’s first communication of 2016, I wanted to take the chance to provide a recap of the past year and highlight where the CDAA plans to go in the year ahead.
A Historic Year
Last year was The Cavalier Daily’s 125th anniversary, but that was hardly the only reason that 2015 was a historic year for the newspaper and the CDAA.
In January, the newspaper elected its first all-female managing board. One member of that managing board – editor-in-chief Julia Horowitz – went on to win The Associated Press’ Best of the States Award as a summer intern, while simultaneously working on several important projects for The Cavalier Daily.
One of those projects was fundraising to pay $55,000 in overdue rental payments to Newcomb Hall. Not only did the CDAA and the CD work together to raise this money, but they continued the momentum from this campaign to make 2015 the organizations’ most successful fundraising year in recent memory.
Finally, the CDAA capped off the year with an outstanding reunion event in Charlottesville, Va. This was the 12th consecutive year that alumnus Steve Wells has organized a group of Cavalier Daily alumni to hold a tailgate, watch a U.Va. football game, and enjoy a reunion dinner, and this year brought a record number of attendees to the event. More than 60 people attended, with alumni and their families totally filling Escafe, the spacious downtown Charlottesville restaurant that, as in prior years, turned its entire facility over to us for this event.
A Fast Start to 2016
The CD and CDAA haven’t slowed down since 2015 ended, however. In response to a plan proposed by the CD, the CDAA recently agreed to provide financial support to enable the CD to hire its first professional business manager in more than a decade. This will bring The Cavalier Daily in line with other eminent college media organizations such as The Daily Tar Heel, The Duke Chronicle, and The Daily Texan, all of which have professional business staff who focus on generating the revenue necessary to sustain outstanding journalism and preserving institutional memory as students come and go from the newspapers.
This initiative will require a significant financial commitment from both organizations, however, and we hope to support it in part with additional fundraising. To that end, the CDAA is planning to participate in next month’s Giving ToHoosDay Campaign. Be on the lookout for more details about the CDAA’s involvement in this program.
The CDAA is also supporting the newspaper in other ways. The CDAA recently provided the CD with a grant to send several staff members to the Yale College Media Convention, and CD staff will also be attending the upcoming Future of Student Media Summit at Ohio University.
In addition, the CDAA is organizing a series of training workshops for the CD featuring a variety of media professionals speaking on topics such as digital skills, multimedia skills, and reporting best practices. If you or someone you know would be interested in leading one of these events, please contact Tim Wheeler at tbwheeler@aol.com.
Finally, please reach out if you’re interested in getting involved with the CDAA or reconnecting with your peers from The Cavalier Daily. The CDAA has secured grants from Alumni Hall for hosting engagement events, and we would like to use this money to support grassroots alumni gatherings in the coming months. Please contact me at mcc5cf@virginia.edu if you would like to propose an engagement event!
Stay tuned for more updates in the second quarter of 2016, and remember to connect with the CDAA on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, and subscribe to the CD’s daily e-newsletter for updates from Grounds.
Best,
Matt Cameron
President, Cavalier Daily Alumni Association