We Welcome You Back for Homecoming! Join Us!
We warmly welcome all alumni back to tour our school, attend any of our Homecoming Week games and stop by to see your former teachers! Here are some opportunities to reconnect:
CHI-HI HOMECOMING WEEK 2021
-
September 13-17: Cheer on our athletes and see former coaches! See homecoming week activities and locations here, including football, volleyball, golf, cross country, tennis, soccer and swim & dive - GO Cardinals!!
-
Thursday, Sept. 16: Tour the High School! Attend our Fall HS Open House from 5 to 8 p.m. Please enter through Door 17 (Cardinal Entrance/Back Parking Lot). Refreshments will be available in the Bird’s Nest Area (coffee, lemonade, cookies). Pick up a flyer showing the HS updates made possible through the referendum, tour our Fab Lab Area and Technology Area and watch as our Robotics Team demonstrates their project and work.
- Friday, Sept. 17: Fill the stands for the big game! Listen live to the Varsity Football game on WOGO Radio AM 680 / 103.1 FM at your get-together with former high school friends. Or better yet, head over to Dorais Field at 7 p.m. to cheer on the Cardinals against the Tigers in person and see the Marching Band!
The Top 5 Reasons Alumni Should Consider Coming Back for Homecoming
Homecoming is a generations-old tradition at high schools and colleges all over the nation. While most people these days think of school dances and football games when they hear the word “homecoming,” Homecoming celebrations began with alumni in mind and continue to be a yearly opportunity for alumni to return to their alma mater that helped shape them.
With homecoming celebrations right around the corner, here are a few reasons why you might consider going back this year as an alumnus.
- Opportunities to reconnect: Young alumni have the chance to see friends who might still be in high school. Alumni of all ages can reconnect with each other, and potentially some teachers and staff who still work at the school who played an important role in their lives as teens. Social media may have made it easier to keep up with each other, but nothing replaces in-person interaction.
- Visiting the school: We already mentioned the chance to see some of your favorite teachers who are still at the school. But seeing the school itself may hold some attraction for you. You can take a stroll down memory lane while also seeing what’s changed and evolved over the years.
- Visiting your hometown: Homecoming is as good an excuse as any for you to get back home, if you no longer live in the area. See your family, see your old hangouts, enjoy some nostalgia. It’s especially ideal if you can’t make it home for the holidays this year.
-
Rekindle your school spirit: A Homecoming football game, pep rally or alumni event is a great way to rekindle your school spirit! Years may have passed since your last time on campus, but the connection you have to your alma mater will never fade away.
- Give back: As a returning alumnus, there are all kinds of ways you can give back to your alma mater. Homecoming events often include fundraisers and organizational drives, and in talking to some of the staff or other alumni present, you might learn of ways to make a positive impact on the school and its community.
Homecoming season is here, so make your plans now to get home and share in the excitement!
.
. . .
. .
Spread the Word About Mighty Cardinals Nation!
The new school year is just about to get started, and there’s so much to look forward to. There will be more opportunities to gather in person, and the return of many traditions that had to be skipped during the pandemic last year.
The arrival of a new school year is always a great time to join an alumni association. If you’re already a member, it’s also a great time to recruit your friends and get them involved, as the start of a new school year is always a time bursting with school spirit.
Here are a few points you can make to convince people to join now and get involved!
- Networking: Alumni associations are, by nature, excellent networking opportunities. They are made up of members of all ages and professions, giving you plenty of people to use as contacts and connections professionally or socially.
- Events: Speaking of social opportunities, there are events that happen all throughout the year. The big one you can talk about when trying to recruit friends is Homecoming, as it’s usually the first one to come up during the school year. Homecoming is always a time when schools honor their alumni who come back and visit. It’s a great opportunity for people to gather with old friends and embrace nostalgia.
- Making a difference: Financial contributions, volunteer time and merely your presence in the organization help to make a difference in the school’s community. Active alumni associations are highly beneficial for schools as they create a positive culture around the district and encourage alumni to give back to their schools in any way they can, be it financially or through volunteering. People who join their alumni associations have a real opportunity to make a difference in the lives of current and future students.
There’s a lot to look forward to this school year. We hope you’ll be a big part of it, and that you’ll find other alumni to join in the excitement!
Flashback: In honor of the 40th anniversary of the launch of MTV on August 1, 1981, here's a photo from 1981. Can you name anyone in this photo? #MightyCardinals #IWantMyMTV 📺 🎥 🎸
How You Can Network Through Your Alumni Association
There are a lot of benefits that come with being involved in your alumni association. Of course, one of the biggest is that you maintain a connection to a school that shaped you at an important time in your life, and can support its ongoing educational and extracurricular initiatives and activities.
But you shouldn’t overlook alumni associations as a networking opportunity as well. Not only do these organizations allow you to reconnect with people you knew in your time as a student, but they also help you to meet other alumni from all different times. This means people at varying stages of their lives and careers who could be valuable resources as you progress in your own path.
Here are just a few of the ways you can use your alumni association as a networking tool.
- Attend events: It’s hard to really get to know people unless you actually go to events. Pick a couple events to attend each year and make it a point to introduce yourself to people and have conversations while you’re there. You don’t necessarily have to attend every event, but even just showing up at one or two a year is a great start.
- Get plugged into the school: You can be a valuable resource yourself as an alumnus who others look to for guidance or assistance. Consider serving as a mentor to current students or recent alumni, or finding ways to contribute your talents or expertise to various school programs.
- Reach out directly to fellow alums: One of the great features we provide alumni is our membership directory, which makes it easy for you to find and connect with fellow alumni of all graduating classes. If you like to be proactive with your networking, you can use this feature to reach out to specific people to help you expand your network and get to know people who have valuable expertise and large networks of their own.
- Explore hiring options: If you’re in a position where you need to find qualified workers for a position, you can use your alumni association as a great potential recruiting network. You can easily send out messages to fellow alumni informing them of the opportunity, and the connection you have as fellow Chippewa Falls alumni will help you build an initial rapport as you go through the recruiting process.
Alumni associations can be a great professional outlet as well as a social one. Just one more reason why you should take full advantage of your membership!
Looking Back on a Weird, Crazy School Year
Summer is upon us, and schools around the country are either out or just about to be out. It’s hard to believe we’ve made it through an entire school year in the pandemic, but here we are at the finish line.
What a crazy year it’s been for Chippewa Falls schools. Throughout the last year, teachers, staff and students had to navigate a weird combination of virtual and in-person schooling. Nothing was remotely normal, even for in-person school. With masks, distancing measures, sanitization rules and changes to events and activities, the entire year felt pretty surreal.
It’s been 15 months since the country first shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While we’re fortunately looking at a relatively normal summer ahead of us as things open back up and vaccination rates continue to climb, we also think it’s important to look back on this year and give some special attention to the people who deserve credit.
- Teachers and school staff, who had to completely re-learn their jobs in some cases to continue delivering a high-quality educational experience to students in unprecedented circumstances.
- Administrators, who fielded calls from parents and tried to keep the ship steady in less-than-ideal conditions.
- Parents, who stayed flexible despite the frequent changes they had to deal with and who kept their children moving forward regardless of the challenges they faced.
- Students, who were incredibly impressive in their adaptability and who were the ones who had to suffer the most through many missed opportunities and strange situations.
- Supporters from alumni groups, the community at large and elsewhere who continued to provide much-needed support in a variety of ways throughout a strange year.
Hopefully next school year looks much more like normal than what we’ve encountered for the last 15 months or so. Things certainly are trending in the right direction.
But for now, as we say goodbye to the 2020-2021 school year and celebrate the class of 2021, let’s make sure those who soldiered through this year have our gratitude.
Get Prepared to Welcome Some New Alumni!
The school year is starting to wind down to a close, which means soon enough there will be a new batch of young adults joining you as alumni of Chippewa Falls.
This is an exciting time for fresh graduates. The summer after graduating high school is filled with celebrations, goodbyes and “lasts.” It’s understandable for these young alumni to be far more focused on what’s in front of them (be it college, work, internships or service) than what’s behind them. But this is also a great time to get young alumni signed up and plugged in to their alumni associations while they’re still in town and relatively connected to their schools and organizations.
Here are a few things you can do to welcome new alumni and encourage them to join Chippewa Falls Mighty Cardinals Nation.
-
Include information in graduation cards: If you’re sending graduation cards to young alumni or attending any graduation parties, you can include information about the organization in the card or envelope. It’s a simple and effective way to get our organization on the young alumni’s radar right off the bat.
-
Talk about it: If you have young people in your life graduating from high school, chances are they look up to you and have some level of respect for you. If you wear your own alumni status with pride, it will encourage them to do the same. Be an advocate for your organization and share your enthusiasm!
-
Talk to young people at events: When you attend alumni events and see young alumni there scoping out the organization, be welcoming and positive! It’s easy to stay in the same groups of people you tend to hang out with at these events, but when young alumni show up they should be welcomed warmly with open arms.
-
Send invitations: Invite young alumni you know to social media pages so they see posts coming directly from us. Personally invite them to events, whether it’s digitally or in person. We don’t like to take an “if we build it, they will come” philosophy--invite them to show them they’re wanted and that this organization has a lot to offer them!
We’re very excited to welcome a brand new class to our ranks and hope you will join us in spreading the word to these new graduates!
Teacher Appreciation Week is Coming Soon: Here’s How You Can Show Your Gratitude
As alumni, the farther removed we get from our high school days the more we can look back and realize fully the kind of impact our teachers had on us. We’re really grateful in Chippewa Falls to have some fantastic, caring teachers.
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year has been unusually challenging for everyone: kids, parents, school staff and teachers alike. With Teacher Appreciation Week coming up in early May, we thought it would be a good idea to share some ways you might show your gratitude during that week. This is a great chance for you to reconnect with some of your favorite teachers from your high school days and show them how much their work is appreciated, especially during such a difficult and emotionally draining school year.
Here are a few ideas for you to consider:
- Send an email: This is probably the easiest, fastest way for you to show your appreciation. Teacher emails are listed publicly on the district’s website, so it’s easy for you to find the teacher you want to connect with and send them a quick email sharing your gratitude.
- Write a thank-you note: You can thank a teacher either for the impact they had on your life, or for the work they’re doing with your children or with the current generation of students in general. You can mail the note to the school; this is a great, personal way to show your appreciation and is certain to make their day.
- Find ways to give back: Beyond just sharing your gratitude in words, you can find ways to show your appreciation for teachers and your district in your actions. Find ways to give back, whether it’s donating to educational initiatives or teacher fundraisers, volunteering at school events (when they’re being held in person again) or advocating for teachers in your everyday life.
- Organize a class gift: If you’d like to show your appreciation on a larger scale, perhaps you can work with other members of your graduating class to organize a class gift either for a particular teacher or to all the teachers at your alma mater in general to show your appreciation. Have other alumni contribute to a fund you can then use to purchase trinkets of your appreciation for teachers at school.
We hope you find some small way to show the appreciation for the teachers in your life all year round, but especially in a few weeks during Teacher Appreciation Week!
Alum/Alumni/Alumnus: What’s the Difference Between Them?
Any time you receive messages from your alma mater or alumni association, you might happen across different forms of the word “alumnus.” For example: “alumni,” “alum,” “alumnae,” or “alumna.”
Each of these forms of the word is used to describe a graduate or group of graduates. But what’s the difference between them, and when is the proper time to use each one? And why might you see different forms of the word in a single message from your alma mater?
Here’s a quick and helpful overview for you to reference:
Read moreAlumni Stories We Want to Tell
Our Mighty Cardinals Nation website has a lot of great features for our alumni members. There’s our directory, which helps you connect with alumni of all ages. There are resources to help you find volunteer opportunities, alumni (or district) events and so much more. But one thing we like to do from time to time (and can always do more) is share stories about our alumni and what they’re currently doing out in the world.
That’s right--we want your stories, achievements and milestones. It’s great to be able to share with other alumni, as well as current students, what Chippewa Falls students have gone on to accomplish in their lives after school. Plus, as an alumni association, we want to do everything we can to celebrate our alumni, members or not.
Here are some of the kinds of stories we hope to tell:
- Professional life: What sort of work do you now do? What path did you take to get to the current spot you’re in in your professional life? What are some of the unique aspects of your job or field?
- Post-high school journey: The journey people take after high school varies widely. Some go to college, others enter the workforce, some find apprenticeships and others join the military. It’s always interesting to look at the different paths taken by our alumni and to hear about the experiences they’ve had that shaped them.
- Personal updates: What’s new in your life? Marriage, children, relocation, hobbies, interests… all of this is information people want to know when reading stories and updates about alumni.
-
Achievements: It’s always great to celebrate the achievements of our alumni. These could be personal or professional. Think promotions, awards, successful projects or programs, important milestones, etc.
- Human interest: Human interest stories are always of interest. It’s great to read about people who overcome certain struggles or challenges, or who are making a positive difference in their communities, especially when they’re alumni.
Do you have any interesting stories to contribute? Send them in, and we’ll find a way to feature them on our website or in our newsletter!
Resolve to Stay Connected to Your Alma Mater in 2021
If you’re like most people, you were probably more than ready to close the door on 2020. It was a tough year for so many people, one that will be forever defined by the COVID-19 pandemic and the effect it had on just about every area of our lives.
The great news as we kick off 2021 is that there is now a vaccine, and a light at the end of the tunnel. But throughout most of the year, it will still be important for people to follow pandemic restrictions, meaning all of us will still need to be proactive about staying connected.
At Mighty Cardinals Nation, we are as committed as we’ve ever been to helping alumni stay connected to their alma mater, even when we can’t physically gather together. If you’re looking for an idea for a New Year’s Resolution, consider making it a goal to stay actively involved with and connected to your alma mater through our organization this year!
Here are some ways you can accomplish this resolution:
- Join: If you haven’t already, join Mighty Cardinals Nation and become a member, with all the perks that membership provides at its various levels. This is the easiest way for you to stay updated about everything happening in Chippewa Falls schools and in our organization.
- Attend virtual events: Any time the opportunity arises, attend virtual events! These could include virtual alumni networking events, virtual class reunions, virtual fundraisers, etc. It’s still going to be a little while before it’s safe to have in-person events and activities, so this is a great way to stay connected to fellow alumni.
- Donate: School may be virtual, but there are still so many ways for our organization to support everything that’s happening in Chippewa Falls schools. Your dollars can make a big difference!
- Volunteer: Volunteer opportunities are not as numerous during the pandemic, but they still pop up here and there. If you’re in the area, be sure to check out volunteer opportunities whenever they arise if you feel like giving back to the district.
- Read: Be sure to regularly check out the district’s website and social media platforms for information about school events and to stay up to date about the latest news affecting the district. Staying informed is a great way to stay connected, and makes it easier for you to find opportunities to get involved.
We hope 2021 holds great things in store for you and your family. Happy New Year!
How Alumni Can Make an Impact Through Donations
The holiday season has arrived, and in this season of giving you may wish to make donations to the school district that helped shape you, or an alumni association for your alma mater. There are a lot of benefits to doing this, beyond just the tax deduction you will be able to claim in the new year. For alumni who wish to make an impact even if they’re no longer located in the same area as their school, this is a great opportunity to give back.
Here are just a few of the ways in which your donation can make an impact and why you should consider making a contribution if you’re feeling charitable over the holidays.
Provide opportunities for new students
Donating to your alma mater or alumni association helps to fund opportunities for new generations of students. Depending on the way in which you give, the money could help to fund scholarships, new course offerings, educational initiatives, important purchases and capital projects and extracurricular organizations and activities. You might also choose to fund purchases of classroom items and supplies, which many teachers often have to buy with their own money.
Give back in a meaningful way
Think about the experiences you had in high school that were meaningful and impactful for you. You can focus your donations on a specific area as a way of giving back. If you were involved in band, for example, you might give a donation specifically meant for the band program. You might decide to fund a specific scholarship that has meaning to you. Not only will this ensure future students are able to get the same opportunities you had, but it also attaches some extra meaning to the gift that can make it feel even more personal.
Support alumni opportunities
Donating through your alumni association may also help you fund some ongoing opportunities for alumni to stay connected with their schools, creating a stronger relationship between the district and those who have passed through it. These funds could be used for alumni events, newsletters and fundraisers to support certain initiatives at the school.
Sustain everyday operations
There are a lot of day-to-day expenses in schools that do not get a whole lot of public attention, but need to be covered all the same. Given how many schools tend to have very tight operating budgets, any general donations you make could help provide schools with breathing room to keep things running smoothly.
We hope you will consider making a donation this holiday season to support your alma mater and current and future generations of students!