Meet the Alumni Association's Newest President, Sidney McLam, AB '77 & TO '86!
Dear VSA/VATI/VTC Alumni:
Much has changed in the 30 years since I graduated from Vermont Tech. Both the student body and the physical campus have grown tremendously. As a result, our alumni population has grown exponentially as well.
Let me introduce myself: I am a native Vermonter who grew up on a dairy farm in the Northeast Kingdom. I graduated from St. Johnsbury Academy before attending VTC, and I am a first-generation college graduate in my family.
Many of you may already know of me. Besides celebrating my 30th class reunion this year, I also marked 30 years of service on the Alumni Executive Board. Over the past 30 years I have served as Vice-President for the AB program; Secretary/Treasurer (when both of these functions were still handled by one officer); Secretary (once the position was separated into two offices); and this past September, I was elected President. In these capacities, I have enjoyed meeting and working with many alumni over the years.
Following graduation from VTC, I earned a bachelor's degree in business management at Castleton State. I then returned to Randolph in 1980. Some of you may remember me from your college days when I worked in the Career Planning and Placement, Academic Dean's and Registrar's offices. While working at the College, I also started taking classes part time and graduated with a second associate degree in Technical Office Management in 1986.
After leaving VTC, I worked at two other colleges in financial aid, before leaving higher education to work in the private sector. I worked as a customer service representative for five years at Thermal Dynamics Corporation in West Lebanon, N.H., before taking my present position in 2000 as an administrative assistant for Casey Family Services, a social services agency in the Upper Valley area.
My wife and I and our four cats live in Randolph Center just a few miles from campus. As we continue the ongoing project of remodeling our house, I am using the design skills learned at "the Tech." Other interests of mine include gardening, nature and forestry, hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and line dancing. For the past 12 years I have been teaching line dancing classes and presently teach a weekly class at Judd Gym on Wednesday evenings. In my spare time I lead the Step 'n' Time Line Dancers of Central Vermont.
I am excited and optimistic about the future of our Alumni Association. Our new President, Ty Handy, has been very supportive of the alumni since he first arrived on campus, and as you already know, we now have a full-time Alumni & Development Coordinator in the person of Carrie (Partridge) Clement BU'98. Thanks to Carrie's efforts, the tasks of all of the officers are much easier. I'm also pleased to welcome three new faces to the Alumni Executive Board: Tammy Hammond BU'97, Rob Palmer AT'93 and current student, Melissa Turner BU'08. With their help, the Executive Board will continue to work on developing an alumni benefits program as well as special incentives for lifetime dues-paying members. Other objectives I hope to address are how to attract more alumni participation at events, either on the campus in Randolph Center or at other regional locations, and reaching out to our younger alums.
If you are interested in participating on the Alumni Executive Board or you have ideas on how we might better serve our alumni, we would like to hear from you via phone, email or snail mail. If you have not been to the Randolph Center campus in a while, I invite you to stop by to see the new Student Center.
Please stay in touch with your alma mater and do let us know what you're up to these days. Best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season.
