Harvard Club of Naples

Welcome Back for the 2017-2018 Season!

Dear Harvard Alums:

I’d like to welcome everyone back to Naples for the new season!  We have definitely been through some difficult times over the last couple of months and I hope that everyone made it through Hurricane Irma with minimal damage and safely.  It was wonderful to see the resilience of our Naples community in action and how everyone pulled together to bring our community back to normal as quickly as possible.

For your entertainment and education this season, we have a number of interesting events planned!  We launch the season with our Welcome Back for the Season reception on November 8, 2017, hosted at the Kensington Country Club.  This reception is open to all Harvard Alums and I encourage you to join us to catch up with old friends, make new ones, and find out more about the Club! 

The highlight of our season will be a reception on January 24, 2018, which will feature Harvard University’s President Drew Gilipan Faust.  President Faust will be joining us as her ten-year presidency comes to an end and it will be fascinating to hear her thoughts on the successes and challenges that she has experienced as the 28^th, and first woman, President of the University.  Please be sure to mark your calendars for this exciting event! 

Our other guest speakers include Mark Strain, Chair of the Collier County Planning Commission, who returns with an update on the challenges and opportunities facing Collier County; Dr. Gerald Kumin, who will educate us on the ways that you can live longer by careful choice in the foods that you eat; Nathaniel Dunigan, Founder and CEO of the AidChild Leadership Institute, which supports the youth of Uganda not only through wellness programs but also programs that offer training in languages, the arts, leadership, and job-skills; and Scott Harshbarger, former President of Common Cause as well as Attorney General of the State of Massachusetts.

For fun and entertainment, the Club will be taking advantage of the beautiful November weather to enjoy a tour and lunch at the Naples Botanical Gardens featuring the Garden’s top horticulturalists as our guides.  To get us into the Christmas spirit, we will enjoy dinner and a performance of “Miracle on 34^th Street” at the Sugden Theater.  The Harvard/Yale Football Game and Tailgate party returns as Harvard attempts to recapture its title with a win over Yale in the 1034^th edition of this competition.  And music lovers will note that the Club is scheduled to enjoy not only the Julliard String Quartet’s performance of Beethoven, Mozart and Dvorak, hosted by Classical Chamber Concerts, but also the world-famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performing an evening of Johannes Brahms’ selections.

Many of our annual favorites return including the members-only Economic Forum co-hosted by Harvard, Princeton and Yale; the Club’s Annual Meeting & Dinner with a soon to be announced exciting speaker; morning Bird Watching with Arthur Sissman, a perennial favorite; the annual Ivy-Fest Picnic, hosted this year by Harvard; and we will wrap things up with a Goodbye to the Season Cocktail Party!

As we did last season, the Club is opening up the registration time for events so that Club members can plan their schedules and buy tickets for events as early as possible.  Many of the events listed on this website are open for registration now and we encourage everyone to sign up early since, in some cases, available tickets are limited.  Registration and tickets can be purchased either by filling out the registration form provided with our fall mailing, and including a check for payment, or by going to the events section of this website and registering online. 

Finally, I encourage everyone to become involved in the Harvard Club of Naples!   The Club not only hosts the various events included in the enclosed Schedule but also, through its Schools & Education Fund and supported by the efforts of its various committees, the Club:

• organizes and funds receptions for local high school students to learn more about Harvard’s undergraduate program and the process of applying;
• sponsors summer and winter internships for current Harvard undergraduate students with local non-profit organizations as well as contributes towards their financial aid;
• supports the Harvard Prize Book award to outstanding local high school juniors;
• provides scholarships for executives of local non-profit organizations to attend leadership programs at the Harvard Business School;
• and provides scholarships for principals and administrators of Collier County High Schools to attend leadership programs at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. 

The Harvard Club of Naples is an active member of the Collier County community and we encourage all of our alumni to become more involved with the Club and its various committees! 

Given all of the benefits of membership above, I encourage you to join or renew your membership with the Club today!  The dues of $50 are modest and remain unchanged from earlier years.  You can become a member by completing and mailing the Membership Renewal form included in the fall mailing, with your check, or register online in the membership section of this website.  And when you complete your membership renewal form, consider a contribution to the Club’s Schools & Education Fund! 

Along with the Club’s Officers and Directors, I look forward to seeing you at the Welcome Back for the Season reception on November 8^th as well as at many of the other events scheduled for the season!

Sincerely,

Marilynne White, President

The Harvard Club of Naples