Current co-chairs of the BSS Old Girls’ Executive Committee, Michelle DATHORNE ’85 and Stacey YUEN ’98, dedicate their time to BSS because of what the School gave to them as students. “I think BSS did a lot for me during my formative years and put me on the path that made me who I am today,” says Ms Dathorne, who was at BSS for six years. “I’m hoping that by volunteering my time, it’s a way of showing my appreciation for that guidance during my adolescence.”

It’s no surprise that Stacey Yuen, a BSS “lifer,” feels a strong attachment to her alma mater. Says Ms Yuen, “BSS has been a part of my life since I was just out of diapers. My relationship spans 25 years with this School and will hopefully span a good part of the next century!”

Ms Dathorne came back to BSS as a volunteer after she returned to Toronto upon completion of graduate school. Graduating from McGill with a Bachelor of Commerce, she worked in Toronto for four years before moving to England to study International Relations at Cambridge University, where she earned her Masters of Philosophy. After a two-year stint at the Bank of Montreal, she went to work at Standard and Poor’s as an Oil and Gas analyst, where she’s been ever since.
Ms Yuen’s volunteering began right after her BSS graduation in her role as a class rep. Though she initially dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, she changed tracks mid-way, and upon graduation from the University of Guelph with a Bachelor of Science, she landed a job at Burgundy Asset Management. Currently, Ms Yuen is getting ready to pursue her MBA in Barcelona at ESADE. What really excites her about her new school is its specialization in philanthropy and corporate social responsibility—areas that she currently helps to oversee at Burgundy. “The commitment to community service at BSS definitely influenced this interest,” she says.

Ms Dathorne and Ms Yuen, who took on one-year terms as co-chairs of the Old Girls’ Executive in the spring of 2008, sat down with The Link to discuss their goals and vision for the Old Girls’ Association at BSS.

TL: What’s your vision for the upcoming year?

MD: I would like to see the Old Girls’ Executive Committee be a strong, viable contributor to the School community.

We would like to see the Old Girls’ Association play a meaningful role in helping the School develop and execute its strategic plan.

We’ve just met with Deryn Lavell, the current Assistant Head of Institutional Advancement (and incoming Head of BSS), to discuss her vision of how the Old Girls’ Association can help her efforts to deliver on her strategic plan. We’re looking at redrafting our by-laws and trying to include some of those goals and aspirations to make sure we’re moving in tandem with Deryn and what she hopes to ac¬complish during her term.

TL: We’d love to know some details about those goals.
MD: There are three main planks we would like to focus on: 1) re-staffing, 2) looking at communications with Old Girls, and 3) outreach efforts through BSS-hosted events.

If you look at those as the three pillars of our strategic plan, and the Old Girls’ Executive as the body representing the Old Girls’ Association, we want to make sure we have a strong team of Old Girls on the Executive: that there is a clear path to succession and clearly articulated rules on how succession occurs on the Committee.

We’d like to see the committee organized in such a way that at the beginning of every academic year there is already a plan in place for outreach activities geared towards keeping the Old Girls who are currently engaged in the School, as well as reaching out to other Old Girls who might not have been as involved, thereby maintaining and growing the participation level. Sometimes it goes through peaks and valleys. We’d like to temper the valleys and see an upward trajectory.
 
TL: Tactically, what are some of the things you would like to put in place to ensure sustainability?

SY: Michelle and I have been working really hard on the nomina¬tions (for the Old Girls’ Executive Committee) to ensure that the Ex¬ecutive is well staffed and there is good diversity, depth and breadth within the volunteers on the Committee.

We want to make sure we have Old Girls who are young and keen, and also those who are older and have more experience with other organizations and have sat on committees and can bring their knowledge to help BSS improve our volunteer organization. It’s been interesting because our tenure has been tied into the 100th Anniversary celebration of the Old Girls’ Association, so it’s a great time for renewal and rejuvenating the organization.

TL: What exciting events programming can the Old Girl community anticipate for the upcoming year?

MD: There are a number of events that we already have in place throughout the year. There is something to bring Old Girls to the School at the beginning, middle, and end of the year, and the flagship event is Reunion Weekend, right at the beginning of the school year. Everyone is revitalized from the summer and excited to be back at the School, and you have Old Girls coming through the School from Thursday to Sunday.

In the spring and winter term there are a number of dinners that highlight donors and volunteers, and there is the Old Girls’ Nativity at Christmas time. In the spring we have the Distinguished Old Girl Award dinner and pub night. These are things that have been happening for a very long time. We have the simple goal of ensuring they continue to happen and if there are secondary or tertiary events that can be planned in addition to that, then terrific. We can’t do anything at BSS without the School’s involvement and it’s about resources. The wish list has to be tempered with practicality.

TL: What do you perceive as some of the challenges that you’ve been facing in your staffing goal?

SY: As we recruit volunteers, we often find they are surprised that they can get involved. They are thrilled to take part, and I think as we continue to raise our profile in the BSS community, Old Girls will start coming to us, as opposed to us going to them. The more we communicate with the community, the more people will come to us. In turn, we’ll have people who will be able to step into leadership roles on the Executive and have succession there.

Our biggest challenge has been trying to increase the breadth and depth of our Committee. At any given point we want to reach across all years. We’ve got someone from the class of ’48 working alongside someone from the class of 2003. We hope to be able to continue with that kind of diversity on the Committee.

TL: We think it’s well established that BSS loves and treasures its Old Girls. Do you think this is well known within the Old Girl community?

MD: You will always get Old Girls willing to come back and be involved with the School.

SY: Each class has its own personality. That’s why we’re trying to reach back to a plethora of Old Girls, so that they will be able to give feedback that’s specific to their class or generation.

TL: You both seem so committed to this. What is driving your passion to give back to your School in this way?

MD: I found my time here to be extremely positive.

SY: It’s a great way to keep in touch with the School. Since I’ve been part of the Old Girls’ Executive, I’ve been back to the School at least once a month—if not two or three times a month—and it’s just great because you run into the students, and you have ongoing inter¬action with the staff and administration. Getting involved is a way to continue that relationship with the School, and it will probably continue into perpetuity as long as the School will have me.

MD: New wings aside, you always get the sense that you’ve walked into a time warp. There is a Dorian Gray type quality to all of the teachers and everybody seems ageless. I look at Liz Woolley and see my Grade 8 homeroom teacher. Debbie Piotrowski seems exactly the same.

SY: It’s one of those few institutions where you walk in and you actually feel welcome. People know you. It’s not like undergrad where you’re just another student with a student number and the professors and students come and go. BSS was my second home and it’s still my second home now. It’s great to be in touch with current and past students and staff. It’s like a mini-reunion every time we have a meeting at BSS.

MD: For me, the pleasure is extended because my little niece is here now, in Grade 8. This is her second year and she absolutely loves it. It’s a nice feeling to walk in and see her in the hallway.

TL: You mentioned communications as a plank of your strategic plan. What would you like to say to the Old Girls via this article?

MD: We appreciate your continued support and involvement with  the School and we hope to see a lot of the Old Girls at the functions we have planned over the next year. Our primary goal is to welcome everyone back to the School and continue to extend that feeling of camaraderie that we had when we were here as students.

SY: We have tons of exciting initiatives coming up, like the mentorship program. We’re taking a fresh look at everything we’re doing and we welcome your feedback and participation. You are always welcome to be part of the Old Girls’ Association. We want to make it better on your behalf.

MD: Old Girls have a connection to, and are connected with each other.

After graduate school, I was going down to New York to interview with some firms. Willa BERGHUIS Baynard ’83, who I knew of though we weren’t friends at school, was in New York. I picked up the phone and asked if I could speak to her. She said “ab¬solutely,” and made time for me when I went there. This is a great example of the camaraderie within the Old Girl community. I think Old Girls, in general, are always happy to reach out to other Old Girls and offer help when approached, and I think that has a lot to do with the friendships that were formed when they were here as students.

TL: What are your suggestions for Old Girls who are not in Toronto but want to maintain a connection to BSS?

MD: One goal is to extend the scope of our activities beyond Toronto. We do have events happening independently in different areas but it would be nice to find a way to link them all together. I think one good way to do that is through the mentorship program, for example, having someone in Toronto willing to mentor a younger Old Girl in Vancouver, Calgary, New York or Hong Kong, and vice versa. I think that would be a very effective way of linking the various branches back to BSS.

SY: Earlier this year we discussed trying to start some initiatives in Hong Kong and New York—the larger branches—and that way hopefully we can reach more people with the Association. Maybe I’ll help start the Spanish branch.

I guess with the younger ones, too, technology has made it that much easier to get in touch with people. With the younger Old Girls we’ve moved onto mediums such as Twitter and Facebook because that’s how they communicate, and that’s made a huge difference already. For example, with pub night, advertising it on Facebook over the last couple of years touched a whole constituency of Old Girls who may have moved out of their parents homes and no longer check their BSS email—that was a great way to reach them. We’re going to continue to explore mediums like that.

MD: The Thread is also an extension of that.

TL: What do you think of the Old Girl News and Events blog on The Thread?

MD: Love it! I think it’s fantastic and Jill BLAKEY ’02, the Old Girls’ Associate at BSS, does a great job of populating it with current news from the Old Girls and it’s always fresh and always timely. That’s the beauty of that particular medium—with The Thread, it’s updated constantly.

However, since our goal is to include all of the Old Girls, and reach out to as broad a range of Old Girls as we can, then we have to consider the preferences of the broader constituency.

SY: Old Girls love getting The Link. We get it and we flip to the Old Girl news section immediately and then thumb through the rest of it later. I know that’s what my friends do with their magazine, and if they don’t get it, they’re panic stricken, running around looking for it. The Old Girls want to see what everyone else is up to and they love seeing photos of kids and weddings, too.

TL: Blue sky, what’s the vision for the Old Girls program, long-term?

MD: Sustainability. You’re talking to two people in finance and I’m a credit analyst so I’m always looking at downside risk. We’re never going to be flighty and ask for the world. If we can get what we’ve put in place to be sustained over a long period of time, then I would be very happy and satisfied and think that we’ve achieved our goal.

SY: I’ll be flighty for a moment. If we can have a roster of Old Girls who want to be a part of this [the Old Girls’ Executive] at all times, we can just slot them in wherever their strength lies. The opportunity is here and we want them to be a part of it. Also, if 100% of Old Girls are in the directory and in touch with the School, or want to get back in touch with the School and get to know some of the previous decades of Old Girls, those would be great things to have. A really strong, sustain¬able, viable network of volunteers and supporters of the School.

MD: And always with a keen eye towards mentoring younger Old Girls and even current students if they want that. I think the Old Girls who volunteer and give back to the School are always doing it with a view towards providing guidance and leadership to current students and recent grads. That’s why developing a mentorship program is so im¬portant to us and if you look at that as our principal goal, it should be a key goal for us and something we’re always striving towards.

TL: Let’s say I’m an Old Girl, Class of ’03, but I haven’t been back to BSS since the day I graduated and I’m curious to get back in touch. What are my next steps?

SY: Call Jill Blakey!

MD: It’s true! Get in touch with Jill. Jill is the front person for us interfacing with the Old Girls out there who aren’t part of our exist¬ing Old Girls Executive network.

Jill BLAKEY ’02, Associate, Old Girl Relations and Alumnae Pro¬grams, can be reached at jblakey@bss.on.ca or 416-483-4325 ext. 1871.

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