Three members of the Class of 2008, Laurel Kagan, Jack Li and Nathan Vandergrift, chat during a Boston GOLD Group breakfast with President Joan Hinde Stewart in September.

The relationship between the GOLD Group and Hamilton is flourishing in a number of ways:

• It begins before graduation. Since 2003, the College has made it a priority to engage seniors with two programs: HALT (Hamilton Alumni Leadership Training), which encourages seniors to stay involved after they graduate, and the Senior Gift Campaign, which was founded in 1982 and is one of the most successful programs of its kind in the world. Nearly 20 percent of the Class of 2009 is involved with these programs. HALT seeks to provide seniors with an insider's view of how the College works and to equip them with leadership tools ranging from networking skills to a knowledge of volunteer options for alumni. The Senior Gift Campaign is the first philanthropic opportunity for seniors to extend the longstanding Hamilton tradition of giving back. For the past 15 years, more than 90 percent of the senior class has contributed to the senior gift for that year — a percentage remarkably similar to the level of satisfaction graduating seniors report with their educational experience at Hamilton.

• Since September 2006, Alumni Relations has rolled out a series of exclusive events for GOLD with President Stewart and Dean of Faculty Joe Urgo. Breakfasts and lunches in Boston, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, New York City and Chicago are designed to provide personal points of contact between young alumni and senior officers as well as to "lift the tent," Steadman says, and give the GOLD group an opportunity to pose questions and get a clear sense from ­leadership of what's happening on the Hill.

"Having key administrators like Joan Stewart and Joe Urgo visit GOLD members specifically shows me that the College values the input of young alumni," says Abby Tracy '04, who chairs the Boston group with Tenney. "Many of us are unable to give significant financial support to the ­College, but that doesn't mean that we aren't invested in Hamilton. We have ideas and questions that would otherwise be lost at larger universities... Small breakfasts and lunches make for an interactive discussion with those administrators — it's almost like being back in college!"