We advertise June reunions as all-day affairs, and great food is served up most of the day in the Wise Community Center. Saturday's campus tour was scheduled around Doppler weather radar info indicating less rain from 1:30-2:30, and the crowd enjoyed Bill Wightman's introduction to Proctor's extraordinary recording studio.

 

From there, we visited the Wilkins Meeting House (which represents the expansion of the arts,) Peabody House, our newest dorm (featuring geo-thermal cooling and heating,) the Learning Center and the new photography studios attached to Slocumb Hall. The weather directed more folks to the new sauna than the swim dock at Elbow Pond, while many lingered at "The Wise" to pour over yearbooks and reconnect.

 

At 5:30, a reception in the dining room brought alumni together with faculty and staff, while classes posed for photos.

 









After dinner and a custom-made slideshow featuring returnees then and now, the crowd danced the night away to Nick's Other Band.

 

Reunions accomplish many things at once. Classmates reconnect with one another. They witness all that has changed and all that has endured. They meet fellow alumni who are "strangers" except for the fact that they share an intense, common experience. And for the many faculty and staff who have spent years and decades here, reunions provide rewarding validation that relationships forged long ago have made a difference. We are grateful to all for returning!