In-Person Class Celebrations

May 2021 Update

Hi all,

As an update for our Boston Class Celebration, we're anticipating about 150 attendees for the event, which will take place at Warehouse XI in Davis Sq.

Tickets are available via Venmo, Zelle (@harvardscc2016.com) or Eventbrite for $140 and sales close on May 22nd. The event will include an open bar and catered food, and dress code is smart casual.

See you there!

April 2021 Update

Hello all, 

The Harvard 2016 Class Celebration in Boston will take place on the weekend of June 3-5. 

Shori, our Class Secretary, has shared latest information on the event to all members of the class via email. For folks tuning in via the website, here is what you need to know: 

• Friday, June 3rd any time after 6pm: There are tentative plans for a Cambridge bar crawl. Details are still being worked out (e.g. ticket prices, exact locations, cover charges), but when in doubt, head to the square and see '16ers there! 

• Saturday, June 4th from 5-9pm: There is a cocktail party at Warehouse XI from 5-9pm and tickets are on sale now. There is a capacity to this event and no tickets will be sold at the door. Ticket sales conclude on May 22nd.

• Sunday, June 5th starting at 11am: Come to the river! Bring your own blanket, snacks, speakers, or games. This will be a great chance to meet up with anyone you haven't had a chance to see (for free!). 

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

January 2021 Update

Hi everyone -

Unfortunately, given the Omicron situation, we can’t proceed with planning centralized events for the NOLA class celebration. We welcome folks to continue with their plans to stay in NOLA and reconnect with one another organically, but for reasons we'll go into below, it's not practical for us to coordinate events at this time, and regrettably we have to call them off. 

We’re super bummed that the cases are as high as they are right now. When we originally surveyed the class for our in-person events, we were 99% confident that given the then-recent announcement of effective vaccines, we’d be in the clear by Feb 2022. It’s unfortunate that we’re still in this awkward COVID limbo and while we wish the circumstances were different, we can only play the hand we’re dealt. 

Our primary rationale for canceling events is that we share the concerns of many classmates regarding the health & safety of continuing to go. We are experiencing the highest ever case rate in the country, and although many classmates have already gotten COVID and are happy to proceed, many others understandably want to be more cautious because they haven’t gotten it, live with elderly parents, have someone in their bubble or are themselves immunocompromised, etc. As you may have seen, NOLA just reintroduced indoor mask mandates, reinforcing our feeling that it’s just not a safe idea to host a huge, cross-country gathering at this time. We’d hate to lead something that becomes a super-spreader event or potentially results in a loss of life within our community (or beyond). 

Additionally, the uncertainty of things adds a significant logistical burden that makes it functionally impossible for us to continue planning the event responsibly. Again, Harvard is not supporting our in-person efforts, so if an event needs to be canceled because of COVID, then we’d be personally liable for tens of thousands of “damages” to the venue(s). Moreover, our participation rate is fluctuating substantially. Every day we receive messages from classmates that say “we’re still going,” or “I’m now on the fence,” which make it impossible to reliably plan with any venues (even if we did assume the financial risk). Put simply, we can’t pinpoint what our needs are and the venues do not offer packages which accommodate this uncertainty. 

As such, we can’t proceed with planning any events for NOLA and instead we’ll reprioritize our time & effort towards the Boston event. If you want to cancel, please call the hotel to cancel ASAP and it should be refunded. However, if you still want to go, we are not going to close the hotel block so feel free to proceed with your plans. If you decide you’re still going, please contact us with the names and email address of folks in your party (as well as your phone number) if you’d like to be put in touch with the other classmates going.  

To wrap up, we wanted to thank you all for following along, participating in all our surveys and responding to our outreach, and most importantly for trusting us to plan these events. We’re sorry things turned out to be so complicated, as we really wanted this to be an epic celebration, but we’ll be sure to translate this momentum towards a bigger and better event in Boston this summer (June 3-5, 2022).

November 2021 Update

We’re delighted to share that our NYC in-person event will be held at Tribeca Rooftop + 360°! As a reminder, you can purchase tickets to the event at this link until EOD Sunday, November 14th when ticket sales close. Key event details are below:

• Address: 10 Desbrosses St, New York, NY 10013

• Guest Policy: Guests are welcome to purchase a ticket and join. Only ticketed participants will be allowed entry.

• Dress Code: Smart casual

• Food: Open bar and hors d'oeuvres

• Event Time: 8pm-10pm

September 2021 Update

Earlier this summer, we had the exciting opportunity to announce three in-person events coming up for the Harvard Class of 2016. We have a few updates on the programming to come!

New York:

• The event in New York City will be held on Friday, November 19, 2021, and ticket sales are now open! This cocktail party will be a chance to mix and mingle with members of the class living in the city or visiting for the Harvard-Yale game taking place the following day in New Haven, CT.

• If you are planning to join us in NYC (now less than two months away!) the sign-up form is below and includes all the information available on schedule, prices, and how to purchase your ticket. Please note, ticket prices will increase on November 1 and all ticket sales will close on November 14 so confirm your spot now!

FIND NYC EVENT TICKETS HERE

New Orleans:

• Thank you to everyone who completed the survey for our New Orleans event. We have contracted a block group with the hotel which is now available! Booking instructions are below:

  • Click the link below (or here) to open the reservation page in a new window.

  • Start by inputting how many people you anticipate having in the room in the “guests” field.

    • As a reminder, there’s an additional fee for more than 4 guests per room.

  • Then click the “check-in” field,” which will open the calendar to select arrival and departure dates.

    • Events are planned Friday - Sunday but, feel free to stay longer or shorter.

    • If you’d like to extend your stay to dates beyond the block rate, you can call the hotel directly at +1 (504) 523-3341.

  • Once dates are selected the Superior King room type will show, but click View More Rooms to see the other available room types

    • You can currently choose between the Superior King ($299), a Traditional King ($249) or a Traditional Double Queen ($249).

    • If you’d like one of the hotel’s available suites, please email the committee and we’ll have the hotel manager add it to the block rate, since we’ve negotiated those separately.

  • Once you complete the booking you’ll be emailed a receipt and confirmation directly from the hotel. As a reminder, tickets are cancellable up to 72 hours prior to your day of check-in.

BOOK NOLA HOTEL BLOCK HERE

Boston:

• We have a few hotel and venue leads but are still planning and negotiating. We’ll provide more updates at a later date.

Otherwise, as we continue to monitor the circumstances regarding Covid-19 and its variants, we will act in compliance with local laws and practices. Please be prepared to check your eligibility for meeting the standards of each location’s regulations.

As always, please continue to follow this page or @harvard2016 on instagram for updates on Class Celebrations. You can also reach out to any of your class officers or reunion chairs.

Cheers!

Wes, Tanner, Prerna, Secil, and James

In-Person Class Celebrations

June 2021 Update

After much anticipation, we’re delighted to share the results of our in-person celebration survey! We had fantastic participation throughout the class, so thank you to everyone who filled it out and shared it with friends. As a reminder for those who did not, over the past few weeks we’d set out to evaluate interest in three in-person events, and are excited to confirm that there was very positive interest in each of them. As such, we will plan to coordinate programming for all three surveyed events over the next year:

For the NYC and Boston events, we are still in the process of identifying locations and will share more specific plans as soon as possible. Please continue to check this page for updates and sign-up links.

For the weekend retreat, the New Orleans option received overwhelming support in the survey, so we’ve confirmed our participation with the Hotel Monteleone for President’s Day weekend (February 18–21, 2022) and will contract our hotel block soon so that folks can begin to make their travel arrangements.

Otherwise, please be sure to follow our Instagram for additional updates and news, and if you want to be involved in planning these exciting events for our class, let us know!

Cheers,

Wes, Tanner, Prerna, Secil, and James

In-Person Class Celebrations

February 2021 Update

At the beginning of the year Harvard informed us that our official 5th Reunion would be taking place virtually. While this came as a disappointment to many, the reunion committee got to work evaluating the possibility of coordinating additional programming after our virtual reunion, in the form of one or more in-person “class celebrations." Following many conversations with classmates, our Q1 Survey, and our Town Hall, we have committed to hosting in-person post-reunion events guided by the following principles: