First Draft Proposal for the Establishment of
the Ruamrudee International School Alumni Association

Following is the first draft proposal for the establishment of The Ruamrudee International School Alumni Association by the school and with the help of the alumni. Written between 2:05 and 2:45 am, Friday 1st September 2000, by Charles Henn, prehistoric alumnus, who had been volunteered into writing it. Alumni, please submit comments, suggestions, or a vote of support!

Reasons for establishing an RISAA

(1) The alumni would like to have an alumni association.
(2) The alumni would like to keep in touch with the school, and to receive news of the school.
(3) As a channel of communication, an alumni association would be able to relay news of the school, its teachers, its former teachers and its students and other alumni; and members of the alumni who are so inclined would then be able to render such assistance as may be needed.
(4) Networking is vital to the success of any career, and the careers of the alumni can only benefit from a well established and properly functioning alumni association.
(5) Every reputable school has an alumni association. And RIS is a very reputable school, despite the disreputable alumni.
(6) The school is almost half a century old and should have an alumni association.
(7) A properly functioning alumni association will add to the prestige of the school.

The interim alumni committee's position

The interim alumni committee are prepared to assist RIS in any way in the establishment of the Alumni Association. The interim alumni committee members are: Dick Anwar, Sumali Damon, Shirley Gamble Seiverling, Sarah Siraprapha Khomson, Julie Kornseri, Lawan Damon Chumsai (et al -- would interim committee members please advise).

Features of the proposed Alumni Association

The Alumni Association should be more than a register of alumni. It should be a cross referenced list of alumni (see 4 below) accessible in cyberspace. It should contain, inter alia,
(1) an introduction;
(2) latest information about the school;
(3) latest update of alumni benefits and services (if any).
(4) The alumni lists should be presented in the following four different sections.
(I) Biographical Section
This section should list alumnus/alumna alphabetically with the following information, and possibly other information, when available:
(a) class and year of attendance at RIS;
(b) title (Mr, Miss, Mrs, Dr, Rev., etc,);
(c) place of current employment, with address, telephone number and fax number;
(d) residence address and telephone number;
(e) spouse's name (in italics);
(f) children's name(s);
(g) e-mail address;
(h) distinctions, awards or honours obtained, career highlights, if any;
(i) any specific comments the person would like to make (eg. 'Please do contact me if you come to Manila.')
(II) Last Year of Attendance/Year of Graduation Section
This section should contain a chronological list of students who have graduated from RIS (a heading of the year followed by a list of names of graduates) and a list of last year of attendance (a heading of the year followed by the class, and a list of names of the students who were there in that class and year as the last year of attendance at RIS).
(III) Geographical Section
This section should list alumni under their residence addresses, by country first, then by city. This will enable alumni to find each other anywhere in the world where there other RIS alumni. The list would start with Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Argentina and go on to Zambia and Zimbabwe if there are alumni there, followed by a list, in each case, of cities in those countries where RIS alumni are to be found, followed by a list of names and year of graduation or last year of attendance. Anyone looking in this section would be able to find more details, including the addresses, etc., in the biographical section.
(IV) Career Networking Section
This section should list alumni under their careers. Careers appear in alphabetical order, from Accountancy to Zoology. A special section on Self-Employed should be broken down into areas of specialisation.An important note about privacy of alumni details:
Each alumni will be asked to indicate which of the above, namely, 4 (I) (a) to (f), (II), (III), and (IV), they wish to reveal or not to reveal in cyberspace.

Each alumnus will be able to change the decision to reveal or not to reveal the information at a moment's notice by contacting the alumni officer at RIS. In order to prevent non RIS alumni from accessing the RIS Alumni Association Website, the website will have a password system (eg. Anyone wishing to gain access will have to type in his or her name, after which he or she will be required to fill in the year of graduation or last year of attendance, followed by another code, such as the name of the last class teacher, or whatever).

An important note about comments of interim committee members in Thailand: Comments about this first draft proposal by alumni who are in Thailand are only permitted at an alumni meeting over lunch or dinner. The first alumna/alumnus in Thailand to make a comment in cyberspace about this first draft proposal will have to pay for that lunch or dinner, unless, in the opinion of all present at that lunch or dinner, the bill should be divided equally between all those present and eating and drinking and not commenting.