President's Report

The alumni association continues to rebuild, and we continue to need the broad-based support of active alumni.

We've expanded the number of regional contacts, but many areas remain unrepresented and we still have no area chapters.

We've signed up many class correspondents, but still have classes who are unrepresented. I'm hoping to see this position really take off in the next six months as we push to find lost alums and find out what all of our classmates are up to now.

We've expanded the web site contents with alumni news and an opportunity to submit your news and address online. However, we still have more work to do before directory information is available to alums.

I've made initial contact with legislators about an ex-officio position on the LSMSA board of directors and received encouraging feedback, but have been told we must push this during next year's legislative session. I will continue to push this forward.

We're excited to hear that Corey Cascio '95 has volunteered to help coordinate news about alumni artists. We hope you'll give Corey a hand with news and pointers about yourself and other alums who are making their splash in the arts.

We're starting to talk up ideas to get alumni involved in events at LSMSA (special projects, speakers at required weekends, etc.). So far it's mostly talk. We need to turn this into concrete plans, and we need volunteers to help lead and coordinate these efforts.

Rachel Hughes, our Natchitoches Liaison, has moved on from LSMSA, and I have replaced her with Anita DeRouen '87.

On a more somber note, we have opened an ongoing discussion on how to memorialized our departed family members and how to properly define the role of the alumni courtyard. I don't expect this to be an easy matter, but hope that with broad input, we can settle upon policies which respect and honor our departed, help heal the survivors, and can have a positive impact on LSMSA.

Final, I should note that our next newsletter will mark the time to elect new leadership for this organization. We, your current officers, have focussed and continue to focus on building infrastructure for the organization. We should now all start thinking about who we can call to lead us for our next four years---a time when we can transition from the inward focussed rebuild of the past year to a more broad focus of serving the alumni and LSMSA. Please, note that nominations are due by March 15h. Send your nominations to the recording secretary, Brian Beavers.

Dr. Andre' DeHon '86
LSMSAAA President

The new LSMSAAA constitution calls for the segregation of the alumni account into two funds - one for communications and one for general expenses. The communications fund is available for newsletter and other communication-based expenses, while the general fund will be used for events such as receptions and reunions that we sponsor. When the constitution was passed, the initial appropriation into these accounts was fifty percent to each. Currently, however, dues deposits made into the account are divided one quarter into the communications fund and three quarters into the general fund. The current balances in these funds as of 9/30/98 are:

The expenditures for the LSMSAAA Treasury have been limited to the publication of the previous newsletter, the alumni reception last year, and monthly bank fees. These expenditures follow:

Several months ago we separated our account from the LSMSA Parents' Association account to become completely autonomous. In addition, we have added three pre-established memorial funds into our account which we will subsequently maintain. Contributions can be made to the Candell, Whittington, and Poynter Memorial Funds care of the LSMSAAA. Currently, the Candell fund is used to award top students in Physics at LSMSA. Other memorial funds may be established and maintained similarly by contacting an LSMSAAA Executive Committee member. The memorial funds are currently held in the LSMSAAA bank account which accumulates a modest interest rate. Future plans include shifting these funds to accounts which garner higher rates. The account balances for the memorial funds are as follows:

Lastly, here is a reminder regarding the new dues structure approved by the constitution. The old dues structure will no longer be used, therefore if you are paying dues, please take note of the new categories and dues. They are as follows:

All dues payments and other contributions to the LSMSAAA or alumni memorial funds should be addressed to the LSMSAAA c/o Ms. Anita DeRouen, 715 College Ave., Natchitoches, LA, 71457.

Micah Luftig, '94
LSMSAAA Treasurer

This year LSMSAAA will have its first regular officer elections under the new constitution. This is a call for officers who will serve from June 30, 1999 until June 29, 2003. To declare your candidacy for office, you must send me an e-mail or letter of candiday no later than March 15. For a list of officer responsibilities, see the LSMSAAA Constitution at the LSMSAAA web site.

Contact information:

The last newsletter called for a vote on two amendments to the constitution. Neither amendment had the majority vote needed to pass under section 11.7 of the constitution.

For Amendment 1, intended to remove absolute dues rate from the constitution and put in the hands of the officers directly affected, the vote was 8 for and 8 against and therefore failed.

For Amendment 2, intended to keep absolute dues in Constitution but reduce them, the vote was 11 for and 15 against and therefore failed.

Any Constitutional amendments to be considered this year must be proposed in writing to the Recording Secretary by an Executive Council member or by petition of 15 active members by March 15. Any amendments under consideration will be voted on with the officer elections and require a 2/3 majority of those voting to pass.

Class Correspondents

We now have correspondents for half of the 14 LSMSA classes. If you would like to volunteer as a class correspondent, please contact Brian Beavers. The main job of the class correspondent is to try to keep in touch with classmates. We're asking the correspondent to try to get current info on classmates and to try to find "lost" classmates. The correspondent will work with the Secretary to keep database information updated. We would greatly appreciate it if you would consider serving the school and your class by becoming a class correspondent!

General Assembly May 98 Report

The regular General Assembly meeting was held in the LSMSA Board Room on May 24, 1998. There were 4 active members, not enough for a quorum. Rachel Hughes, Natchitoches Liaison, presided. Dr. Loftin was present to give the State of the School Report, but those present decided to forego the report. Rachel announced that LSMSAAA took in approximately $300 in dues and $100 for the repayment of the deposit for the class of '93 reunion during alumni weekend. It cost approximately $500 dollars to send out the newsletter and dues reminder postcards. The current treasury balance is approximately $3200. There was only one proposal, with no veto, that we spend no more than $700 on the general alumni reception. Rachel reported that with the low attendance and the fact that we would not be charged for soft drinks, we would meet that constraint. Under new business, those present discussed regional contacts and chapters, class correspondents, and other matters. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

Call for Mentors

Greetings Fellow Alumni! As a 1990 alumnus with fond memories of the VAX system and Pascal classes, I'm excited to announce that we'll soon have our new computer lab up and running at LSMSA. We're quite excited about our new equipment - ten 450 MHz machines with loads of memory and disk space, along with the cutting-edge industrial-strength software tools we need to communicate with you. Yes, YOU! Our goal is to use this lab to give our students a chance to work on real-world problems and data, and for those of you who are out of school and out in that real world, this could be your chance to help give back something to LSMSA (not to mention having some gifties to help with your work). We've already made arrangements for Louisiana School students to help develop GIS (Geographic Information Systems) maps in conjunction with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and other agencies and private corporations, and we're also looking for mentors for projects in computer animation, architecture (redesigning the annex building!), computational mathematics, cartography (for applications in biology, geography, archaeology, geology, demographics, etc.), and just about any other field where high-capability computers and students might be put to work. We all know the importance of real-world problem-solving versus working canned problems from a textbook, so if you or someone you know might be interested in mentoring an LSMSA student through a real-world project, please contact us. And don't worry if you're not in Natchitoches - virtual mentoring over the net or via compressed video is also possible!

Contact info:
Darrin Magee '90
dmagee@kepler.lsmsa.edu
(318) 357-3174 x117

Reunions Info

This year is the time for the Class of 1989 10-Year Reunion and the Class of 1994 5-Year Reunion.

The Class of 1989's reunion is being put together by Nicole (Candell) Landon, so please conatact her (<duranjt@aol.com>) and let her know any information you have on the whereabouts of your classmates.

The Class of 1994's reunion is being put together by Shannon Plaisance (<splaisance@bohbros.com>) and Naomi Callender, so please contact them with any info on your classmates.

Back to the top

Praecellemus! The LSMSAAA Official Newsletter
Volume IX, No. 1, January 1999
Brian Beavers, Recording Secretary