Newsletter – January 2019

Upcoming dates

• [RCAA] Nominations Due – March 1
• [Team] Mohawk Meltdown (combined effort with Niskayuna HS, replacement for ADKs) – March 2
• [RCAA] Voting – March 3-March 16
• [RCAA] Annual Meeting – March 24
• [Team] States – May 4

In this newsletter

• Elections & Annual Meeting
• New Team Leadership
• Head of the Charles 2018 Recap
• Team’s Fall 2018 Results
• RCAA Financial Report
• Looking to Become a 501(c)(3)
• Coaching Positions Available
• Stickers & Pint Glasses
• Social Media

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Dear Alumni,

Happy New Year! We hope that you had a wonderful holiday and have been getting your meters in on the erg! Read on for information on the upcoming RCAA elections and annual meeting, an introduction to the new RPI Crew Officer Team, a recap of the Fall 2018 season, and an update on RCAA financials.

— RCAA Board of Directors

Elections & Annual Meeting

As written in the RCAA constitution, the seats of the Board of Directors are eligible for re-election every two years. 2019 will be the first year three seats are up for election since the inception of the Association, and we encourage everyone who is interested to submit a nomination. Please fill out the nomination form if you would like to nominate yourself or someone else.

Feel free to take a look at the RCAA constitution, bylaws, and board position roles & responsibilities if you’re considering nominating yourself or someone else. Timeline for nominations and elections are as follows:

• Nominations are due by Friday, March 1, 2019
• Voting by online form will take place from Sunday, March 3, 2019 to Saturday, March 16, 2019.
• The new Board of Directors will be announced during the Annual Meeting on Sunday, March 24, 2019.

Please ensure that your contact information is up-to-date as the ballots for the vote will be sent out via email.

New Team Leadership

The team recently elected a brand new executive board, so we would like to introduce you to them! They are all excited to be leading the team and the RCAA Board looks forward to working with them.

Head of the Charles 2018 Recap

Rensselaer Crew once again was selected to participate in the Head of the Charles Regatta! This year, the team entered three boats: a Lightweight Women’s Four, a Men’s Eight and a Women’s Eight. All three boats had great races and the women’s eight raced in The Viking outfitted with the new riggers purchased by the RCAA! Additionally, the RCAA entered a Men’s Masters Four (40+) who finished with a time of 22:54.683 and look forward to racing again next year. Great job to all participants, and thank you to all who came to the post race mixer. We had a blast!

 

Team’s Fall 2018 Results

The following is the team’s race results from the fall 2018 season!

• Head of the Hudson (3.2 km)
  • MV4+ – 13:08.16 (3rd/3)
  • LWW4+ – 12:15.70 (3rd/3)
  • MVA8+ – 10:50.85 (2nd/6)
  • MVB8+ – 11:43.47 (5th/6)
  • WV8+ – 13:09.88 (4th/5)
• Head of the Genesee (5 km)
  • MV4+ – 17:52.23 (10th/17)
  • LWW4+ – 18:58.53 (5th/14)
  • MVA8+ – 15:35.67 (5th/8)
  • MVB8+ – 16:39.79 (4th/5)
  • WV8+ – 19:42.95 (8th/9)
• Head of the Charles (4.8 km)
  • LWW4+ – 22:15.19 (48th/52)
  • MV8+ – 17:50.02 (33rd/36)
  • WV8+ – 21:04.74 (31st/31)
• Head of the Fish (3.7 km)
  • MV2x – 12:07.69 (1st/14)
  • MV4+ – 13:03.74 (28th/36)
  • MN8+ – 12:51.13 (21st/26)
  • VW8+ – 13:32.43 (18th/21)
  • (Remainder of HOF cancelled)

RCAA Financial Report

As of November 30, 2018, the Rensselaer Crew Alumni Association Fund has a balance of $1,758.46. This fund has grown thanks to your generous contributions. The RCAA was able to fund its first equipment purchase for the team this year – a new set of riggers for the Viking! As our fund continues to grow, we hope to be able to continue to provide the team with much needed equipment.

Looking to Become a 501(c)(3)

One of our goals as the RCAA Board of Directors is to establish RCAA as our own independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Doing this will allow us to be in complete control of our financials, provide us with more fundraising opportunities (such as signing up for Amazon Smile), be tax-exempt for any purchases we make, and allow us to provide you with tax-deductible receipts for any contributions you make through us (you can currently receive a tax-deductible receipt on any contributions made through the alumni house website) among other benefits. However, none of us have experience or are otherwise familiar with the process of becoming a 501(c)(3) organization. Do any of you have experience or expertise on this? Or do you have friends or family that can help us out? If so, please reach out to Alex at president@rpicrewalumni.org or simply reply to this email.

Coaching Positions Available

The team is looking to hire two more coaches to help out with the team, especially a varsity women’s (morning practices) coach. If you or someone else you know is interested in applying or would like to know more about the positions, please contact the team president Daria Stifel at stifed@rpi.edu or just reply to this email.

Stickers & Pint Glasses

We are now selling RPI Crew pint glasses and stickers on the RCAA website!

The pint glasses are the same ones that we sold in 2018–the RPI Crew “R” is etched into the glass. These would make a great addition to your bar! Click here to get yours! They’re $10 each plus shipping (via USPS, rates vary depending on quantity ordered and location).

The stickers are also the RPI Crew “R” but are in full color. They’re screen printed on white vinyl and are durable bumper sticker material. They’re the same look as the stickers that the team sold a few years ago but on better material. These are perfect for your car, water bottle, travel mug, or laptop! Click here to pick some up! They are $4.99 each plus $0.01 shipping.

Social Media

If you don’t already, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter! We will be using Twitter as our main means of providing day-of updates at various events when we can.