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Twin Cities ‘Dogs Sharing space along I-35 just 250 miles directly north of Drake’s campus, the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis are home to more than 3,500 alumni—the third largest community of Bulldogs in the United States. A committed group maintains a strong true-Blue community. Among the many local alumni events of the past year: a yoga class, National Game Watch days, group trips for baseball and soccer games, and a first-year sendoff for area students moving to Des Moines to attend Drake. “The Twin Cities alumni group is active because we have such a strong core of dedicated individuals committed to keeping the programming interesting and appealing to a broad range of alums,” says Martha Capps, jo’78, vice president of client experience at Hanley Wood Marketing in Minneapolis. Capps, a member of both the Regional Alumni Board and the National Alumni Board, was at Target Field the night the Twins lost but a fellow Bulldog caught a foul ball during a memorable Take Me Out to the Ball Game event. She helped promote the recent Let’s DU Breakfast event (featuring Mark Coyle, as’91, gr’92, director of athletics for the University of Minnesota) and spent
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time this past summer writing personal notes to incoming Drake students. “I wanted to make them feel welcome and offer any assistance I could,” she says. “I heard back from a couple of them. They were so appreciative and I think surprised at the personal touch.” Alex Farrel, as’05, an intellectual property attorney with Hellmuth & Johnson, PLLC in Minneapolis, lost touch for a couple of years, but recently reconnected with fellow Bulldogs in the area. “I’ve been happy with the group and have gotten a lot of enthusiasm when I reach out to others,” he says. “It’s nice to know that other alumni have the same sense of pride that I do. We have a lot of shared experiences that we bond over.” Farrel organized the Let’s DU Breakfast event with Mark Coyle, and he hopes to get graduates from his era and earlier more involved in the organization. “Our group is really driven by recent graduates. Those who’ve graduated in the past 10 years are playing a large role in creating events,” he says. “Expanding the group is a good way for alumni of different ages and from different eras to get together and meet each other and benefit from each other’s experiences.”
Eric Bein, jo’05, gr’11, Rockville, Md., became a market research manager at the United States Pharmacopeial Convention. Shelley (Bechler) Hurst, ed’05, gr’14, Waukee, Iowa, became the assistant registrar at Mercy College of Health Sciences Ruby Nancy, gr’05, Greenville, N.C., earned her MA in English from Western Illinois University. Timothy Ryder, jo’05, Chicago, wrote and performed on “Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return,” which is currently streaming 14 new episodes of the classic cult comedy on Netflix.
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