One relatively new event at the reunions will be the second annual interclass Big Green Field of Dreams Day and Barbecue on Chase Field on the 17th. The event will offer arts and crafts, fields games, sports and more, and is especially aimed at the children whose parents are attending reunions, according to Reunion Director Dave Orr.
Orr praised reunions both from a College and an alumni standpoint.
"There are two things, first of all there's fellowship, a chance to see people you've gone to school with, maybe the most important thing," Orr said. "But from the College's standpoint, when you bring back 2,000 alumni, you have a chance to convey what Dartmouth's doing today .... An alumnus who understands the College of today is very much more apt to support the College."
Rick Silverman '81, his class's reunion chair, said he has made it back to Hanover for all of his class reunions so far. Silverman also noted the importance of seeing old friends and seeing the changes in the College, but added that reunions also give alumni a chance to get to know new people.
"Frequently when you go to reunions, you find a classmate you didn't know very well, and then you find new connection," Silverman said. "That's one of the ways that I've gotten involved since the 10th reunion. That's one of the best parts of the reunion, getting to work with classmates that you didn't really know back then."
Class Reunion Co-Chair Amanda Young '01 said that the focus of her class's reunion is somewhat different because the Class of 2001 left campus relatively recently.
"Given that we're five years out, giving people the opportunity to get together in an informal setting and letting them enjoy what we loved about being there [is most important]," Young said.
The one common event for almost all classes (excluding the Class of 1956), according to the Alumni Relations website, is a series Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at Dick's House. The meetings, which run from the 12th to the 17th from 5:30 to 6:30, are "open," meaning that non-alcoholics are allowed to attend as well.
The meetings are run by a Dartmouth graduate from the late 1960s who got the idea from a friend who had graduated from Princeton. The friend was afraid to attend his Princeton reunion because of the alcohol and drinking environment there, but returned saying that there were AA meetings at the reunion.
"I thought it'd be a good idea for Dartmouth," the Dartmouth alumnus said.
The alumnus added that AA was co-founded by a Dartmouth graduate, "Dr. Bob," Class of 1902.
The reunions meetings began in 1989 and usually draw between two and 20 attendees. The College supports the meetings by publicizing them and allowing the group to meet in the living room of Dick's House.
The alumnus who runs the meetings said one woman told him that she had two reasons for coming to Dartmouth.
"One was to come to the reunion, one was to come to the alumni AA meeting," the alumnus said.
Thirteen classes of Dartmouth alumni will have their reunions throughout this week and next.
The Class of 1966 had its 40th reunion from May 26 to 29th, and the Classes of 1936 and 1941 will have their 70th and 65th reunions from October 6th to 8th.
The Class of 1956 will have its reunion on the 9th through the 11th; the Class of 1946 will have its reunion June 12th through 14th and the Classes of 1951, 1961, and 1971 will have their reunions from the 12th through the 15th. The Classes of 1976 and 1981 will have their reunions on the 15th through the 18th and the Classes of 1985, 1987 and 2001 will have their reunions from the 16th through the 18th.
