Welcome to the ND Club of Orange County Young Alumni Page! This is the place to look if
you want to get information on upcoming Young Alumni events, promotions, or to see pictures
and articles about past events. Not sure if you qualify as a Young Alumni? Well, we make
sure to include everyone who has graduated from ND or Saint Mary's in the last 8-10 years,
but we also won't turn anyone away if you show up at our events.
If you are not currently part of our email mailing list, please contact The Webmaster
or fill out our Online Membership Application/Information
Update page now! Make sure to include your email address and graduation year so we
know you are a Young Alumni!
Our Young Alumni Coordinator, The Young Alumni Coordinator has put together a schedule of
events for 2008 which we hope will provide all local Young Alumni with some events that
interest them and that fit into their schedules. The events are listed as part of the
events calendar, but here is a brief overview of what to expect
this year, including events and other miscellaneous items (in no particular order):
(1) Senior Surveys
Seniors! Please take a few minutes to fill out our
Senior Survey so we can find out what your plans are after graduation as well as
your new contact information. With this information, we will write up a short bio on
our graduating seniors for our Newsletter so our membership can "meet" this year's graduating class.
(2) Monthly Young Alumni Happy Hours
All local Young Alumni and their friends are invited to join us for Young Alumni "First
Fridays" at local bars in Orange County each month. Check the
event calendar for the time and location of this month's get together!
(3) Student Mentoring for Freshmen
We all remember what it was like to be graduating high school and preparing for the big
jump to college. It's scary and exciting all at the same time. Well, since we have so
many "wise and experienced" students who have already gone through this, we would like to
arrange for each member of next year's incoming freshman class to have a student "big
brother" or "big sister" to be a friend both the summer before leaving for school and
after you arrive back on campus. If you are interested in being a mentor for a freshman,
contact Michael Knecht '99 now! It doesn't matter
what class you are in, everyone who wants to help is welcome!
(4) Events with Local Non-ND Alumni Clubs
Do you miss that competitive spirit of being on campus during a football weekend? Or
cheering as you watch the Irish Basketball team beat Boston College? Don't let that
fire die! There are plenty of local alumni from other schools that love to compete against
and do their share of "trash-talking" about the Irish! Who says alumni can't still
go into battle on the playing field against rivals? We are challenging other local
alumni groups to beach volleyball, bowling tournaments, and other games, and we need your
help to show them that even though we are miles from the Golden Dome, the spirit lives on
in Southern California! If you're interested in taking part, contact
The Young Alumni Coordinator.
(5) Young Alumni/Student Parties During USC Weekend
We know, the USC Weekend is full of great events and things to do. Still, I don't think
I'm alone when I say that the old fire we used to get on Friday nights before a big game
cannot be re-created without getting all of the young enthusiastic Irish die-hards
together for a good old party! In 2000 and 2002, we had great turnouts. We had a dance floor,
drink tickets, friends, new faces, and more drink tickets! All Young Alumni and current
students (over 21 only!) are invited to "Shake Down the Thunder" at the next ND-USC Young
Alumni Party following the rally at the official ND Club hotel! Bring your
friends! There is no charge to get in! More details will be posted with the USC Weekend
Itinerary.
(6) Community Service and Spiritual Events
Aside from the community service work that the Club does (Breakfast Club, Corazon, etc.),
the young alumni group is trying to organize some community service projects ourselves.
If you have a local cause/charity/fundraiser that you think would appreciate a group of
young Irish alumni and friends for a day, let us know! We are currently looking at getting
a group of people together to help do some work at Nativity Prep, a school put together in
San Diego for inner-city kids by an ND Law Grad. Planting trees, painting, collecting
school supplies for donations, etc. are all ways we can all contribute! Get involved -
you'll be glad you did!
(7) Employment Help
Many of you have already taken advantage of the great contacts we have as an Alumni group
in the Southern California area to help find jobs. Honestly, we are still pushing this
service to bring it up to a more robust tool for students, graduating seniors, and grad
students to locate that dream job. If you know of anyone who is looking for employees or
if you are in search of a job, let us help! Check out our
employment page to see the kinds of information we maintain about our potential employees.
(8) Roommate Searches
New to Orange County? Just graduating and fearing the rigorous search for a place to live
and someone to live with? Let us know! We can most likely get you in contact with a few
other local young alumni looking for the exact same thing. We can also help you out with
advice about where to live and prices.
(9) Graduation Party for Graduating Seniors
Remember that first party when you were a freshman in college? All the upperclassmen
and women "took you under their wing" and threw you a big party to "welcome" you to the
world of college. Now you are entering yet another new world. This is the Real World (not
the T.V. show), and therefore, as Young Alumni, we want to "welcome" you into the realm
of "alumni" by throwing you a party. As opposed to the college version, where you probably had
to pay for everything, we will actually host this one for you! In fact, we will even let
you decide what the party will be! Depending on the scale, we will try to pick up as much
of the cost as we can. Current ideas that are being considered are a trip to Catalina, a trip
to Vegas, or a beach party. If you are a graduating senior and have not given us your idea
or dates you are available, don't wait any longer! Fill out the
Senior Survey and make sure to include your Senior Party input!
(10) Periodic Young Alumni Parties
Sometimes you can anticipate them, like when we throw a party for a holiday such as
Halloween or St. Patrick's Day. Others come out of nowhere, like the random beach parties
that tend to get throw-together during the summer. Regardless, keep an eye out for
Young Alumni parties on the events calendar. Also, make sure we have your email address
and we know you are a young alumni so we can keep you informed of parties via email. If
you are not currently on our mailing list, go to our
Online Membership Application/Information Update page to update all of your information
or enter yourself into our database for the first time.
(11) Trips/Events with Other ND Alumni Clubs
We're hoping to get together with the San Diego Club Young Alumni for a Day at the Races
in Del Mar or maybe a Kings hockey game at the Staples Center in L.A. with the L.A. Young
Alumni. Why not a trip to Vegas to meet the Las Vegas Club Young Alumni? We have tons of
contacts all over the place and all we need is to know from YOU, our young alumni, where you
would like to go and what you would like to do.
(12) High School College Nights
Every year, the ND Club of Orange County participates in several local high school college
fairs to answer questions about the University and to provide information to prospective
students. This can be a very fun time for young alumni since you can basically just tell
all your old college stories! Your experiences are more valuable to prospective students
than a bunch of statistics about GPA and SAT scores! Please come help us answer questions
and meet our future ND students! If you are interested, please contact Chris Tomko '88 .