A time for revising traditions and reconnecting with one's class, this year's week of class reunions brings new, service-oriented initiatives and planning procedures and records in fund raising and attendance. Reunions will take place from June 6 to June 15.
The Class of 1983 will celebrate its 25-year reunion, which is historically one of the more significant class gatherings, reunion co-chair Anni Santry '83 said. Santry described the weekend as one of "nonstop entertainment," featuring bands on Friday and Saturday, fireworks on Friday night and DJs on Saturday.
The Class of 1983 selected a service-oriented reunion theme. With help from the College, the chairs have arranged an environmentally friendly weekend with the slogan "foreverGREEN," Santry said. All events have been scheduled at venues near by, and Friday's meals will be locally and organically grown, she said. The class also plans to use 18 seedling evergreens as centerpieces throughout the reunion to serve as a dual tribute to the environment and to 18 fallen classmates, Santry said. The class will likely plant the seedlings after the week's end, she added.
"ForeverGREEN," Santry said, has also been useful as a fund-raising slogan to encourage classmates to contribute "greenbacks."
"It seems like everyone's been jumping on our green bandwagon," she said.
Class fund raising becomes particularly competitive as reunions approach, according to Corena Dungey, associate director for events at the Office of Alumni relations. Each class, she said, tries to raise more money than the preceding class at its reunion of the same year.
Bob Barr '73, co-chair of his class' 35th reunion, asserted that the class of 1973 will set a new record for 35-year-reunion fund raising. The event will have a $1.5 million fund-raising goal, which was set in part by Wayne Davis '73, the class' chief fundraiser.
The competition allows members of a given class to collectively evaluate their priorities and set new standards for themselves, Kristin Canavan '97, co-chair of her classes' 10th reunion, said.
Some of the largest contributors towards the class of 1983's $4.5 million goal have also been active in planning the reunion, Santry said.
"If you love Dartmouth, you'll do anything that's asked of you," she said. "It's like 'paying it forward.'"
The College plans to recognize the Classes of 1953 and 1978 for their donations for the upcoming '53 Commons and Life Sciences Building, respectively, Dungey said. The Class of 1953 will celebrate its 55th reunion and the Class of 1978 its 20th.
Dungey also cited new records in class attendance. She said she expects the 10-year reunion, celebrated jointly this summer by the Classes of 1997, 1998 and 1999, to have "blowout attendance." Anna Anderson '98, co-chair of her class' reunion, estimated that 1,000 people, including alumni from the three clases and their families, are scheduled to attend.
The "clustering" of three classes for one reunion allows class members and their spouses to connect with friends in the other two classes, according to Anderson and Canavan.
"It almost makes me wish we could get the '96s in too," Canavan said.
Only one reunion each year is a "cluster reunion." Such reunions rotate on a three-year schedule, with a clustered 10-year reunion one year, a clustered 20-year reunion the next year and a clustered 15-year reunion after that. Dungery, who did not know when the clustering of reunions began, said the arrangement has been very well received. The Office of Alumni Relations is currently investigating the feasibility of joint reunions for older classes as well.
For the first time, the Office of Alumni Relations' Class Activities Department, which coordinates continuous programs, and Alumni Events team, which plans larger events, have entered into what Dungey characterized as an "architect-builder" relationship to increase Class Activities' involvement in the reunion-planning process. Class Activities designed the weekend's College-sponsored programming, and Alumni Events will implement those plans. Each class will still decide how structured its reunion will be and manage its own logistics, including ordering centerpieces and booking entertainment.
Canavan, who also co-chaired her fifth reunion, said her class is shifting away from organized entertainment this year. When her classmates arrived, they wanted to talk to each other more than they wanted to dance or watch performances, Canavan said.
Barr, who lives near Hanover and has organized his class' previous four reunions, agreed that reunions are "all about reconnecting." Seeing his classmates, he said, is the highlight of class reunions.
Reconnecting with the College itself is also important, Canavan added.
"As much as we carry Dartmouth around with us in our hearts and minds, it's good to get a reminder of what that means," Canavan said. "That's what the reunion is for."
Reunions often serve as a family vacation, Santry said. The 25th reunion, Santry added, is particularly well suited for bringing families to campus, as most alumni of that age have teenage children.
"We want them to apply and to love [Dartmouth] as much as we did," she said.
Santry also said she wished current students, especially members of the Class of 2008, were more aware of how Dartmouth friendships grow after graduation. After leaving Dartmouth, she said, everyone has many more -- and more significant -- successes and failures, and people find themselves both celebrating with and falling back upon their classmates. She likened the process of planning reunions to an 18 month-long Dartmouth Outing Club Trip. Organizing a reunion is both an incredible amount of work, Santry said, and very rewarding.
"Every Dartmouth reunion I've been to has been among the best four weekends of my life," Santry said.
Celebrating reunions this year are the Classes of 1948, 1953, 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2003.
