Matthew T. Weir '90, Independent Investor based in Washington, D.C. and
Chestertown, Maryland. Matt is chairman of the Washington College Friends
of the Arts, an Alumni Admissions Representative, a member of the Visiting
Committee and the George Washington Society, and is alumni representative
on the Capital Campaign Cabinet. Matt and his wife Ann are members of
The 1782 Society, Alonzo G. Decker Society. 
"Washington College provided me with a safe environment in which to grow and mature. I want to work to ensure the same conditions are available for future generations. This is an exciting time for Washington College. The implementation of the strategic plan and the capital Campaign for Washington's College will bring some wonderful opportunities to enhance the value of a Washington College education. Since my graduation in 1990, I have maintained an abiding commitment to the College. Now that my wife and I have homes in both Washington and Chestertown, we look forward to spending even more time on campus."
WC On NBC's Today Show
Washington College made national television in late August when Kristina Tatusko Henry '88 plugged Washington College during an interview with Matt Lauer, the host of NBC's Today show.
Washington College did not pay the standard $50,000 for 30 seconds of airtime on Today. Instead it sent two alumni staffers to Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. What follows is an eyewitness account of that early morning.
Kristina and Trams Hollingsworth '75 left their hotel room at 6:00 a.m. carrying three lacrosse sticks, a tote bag filled with Washington College caps, and a six-foot banner (the gift of alumnus Don Derham '48) announcing "Washington College: Home of the Division III National Lacrosse Champs." It was an unwieldy load that did not go unnoticed by passing pedestrians.
The attendant at the coffee shop in the hotel lobby waved to say that his nephew was an all-star lacrosse goalie at his high school in Baltimore. Henry gave him a WC cap and her business card scribbled with the name of the new lacrosse coach. Other passersby on 6th Avenue called "Good luck with your game, girls."
At Rockefeller Plaza the crowd was already gathering. Kristina gave each of the television station security guards a cap and politely asked for assistance in hanging the banner in front of the rail. A group identified by their sign as "Hot teachers from London" and a family "All the
way from Qatar" held the banner in place while Kristina secured it with duct tape. But the cheering, it turns out, was for Al Roker, the Today show's weatherman who had just exited the station to greet the masses.
He was gracious as Henry posed him for a photograph. But the national television cameras were focused on an infant boy being lifted by his parents above the crowd. Then Mr. Roker announced that he had to return to the set to forecast the path of Hurricane Bonnie, but that he would be outside again at 8:30 a.m. with Today show host Matt Lauer.
By 8:25 a.m. Kristina had combed 6th Avenue and returned with what she'd been looking for. On a nearby sidewalk she had introduced herself and her mission to Anne Marie Brolly, a tourist from Wheaton, IL, who returned with Kristina to the banner on the rail and, as the stars exited the building and the camera spotlights scanned the cheering crowd, held her beautiful baby daughter right in front of the WC banner. As the cameras rolled in her direction, followed by Matt Lauer, Kristina jumped in front of her swaddled sidekick.
Al Roker of the Today show dons a WC hat given to him by Kristina Tatusko Henry '88, who nabbed an interview with Matt Lauer using a stranger's baby as bait.
In the only outside interview conducted by Lauer that morning, Henry plugged the College location and history, as well as the recent accomplishment of the men's lacrosse team. "We were the first college founded in the new nation. The only school to which George Washington actually gave his name while he was living. Founded in 1782," Henry gushed.
"And you're the lacrosse champs in Division III?," Lauer asked.
"And now we're first in lacrosse, national Division III champs," Henry replied.
"Nice to have you here," Lauer said.
At 9:00 a.m. when the lights and cameras were unplugged and a still-radiant Kristina was packing up, two NBC security guards walked up to her, tipped their Washington College caps and said "Great job!"
That remark was just a preview of the many telephone messages from alumni throughout the U.S. who called to say "Good game, girls!" w
