Departments
Add to DEL.ICIO.US
Add to Digg
Add to Technorati
Add to Google
Add to Facebook
From President Robert Wild, S.J.
I recently returned to St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, the high school from which I graduated in 1957, in order to attend an awards ceremony and was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by five of my high school classmates. We look different — years of living of course will do that — but we had no trouble finding in the men we are today the same spirit of friendship that joined us together those many years ago. We laughed over our teenage memories and shared our own latest news, and I once again was reminded that reconnecting in this way is an enormous gift we were able to offer one another. I also was impressed to see that St. Ignatius meets the definition of what every student and parent hopes to find in the very best of high schools. The campus is now exceedingly beautiful and the academic facilities top notch. A lot has happened since we used to refer to the 1895 wing of that school as “the new building”!
Culturally we tend to put great emphasis on looking forward and planning for the future, but it must be said that reflecting on the past has its own rewards. That is why one of the rituals of summer shared by many families nationwide is a reunion picnic or party, an occasion beckoning brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, grandparents and grandchildren to return to the home hearth. When push comes to shove and someone has laid all of the appropriate groundwork to properly fuel the celebration, we do love to revisit our roots.
I think it is that wistful longing to see old friends that makes our own Alumni Reunion Weekend such a wonderful rite of summer. Last year more than 1,400 alumni and families returned to campus to walk the paths they traveled as students, to sit again on the stools at Real Chili, to slip inside St. Joan of Arc Chapel, to take a look at McCormick Hall and remember how a pie-shaped room became a perfectly proportioned home. They attended the Block Party but also festivities organized specifically for the individual reunion classes. The Saturday night “Bash” on Westowne Square just outside of the Alumni Memorial Union was, as it always is, a big draw, and our alums dined and danced late into the night. Festivities were also planned for the children who came to see where mom and dad went to college. We do like to begin building our Legacy families as early as possible. I can’t tell you how often during Alumni Reunion Weekend participants told me how much they like the transformation of campus that has taken place since their graduation, the changes that have made it more beautiful than they ever could have imagined.
At this year’s Alumni Reunion, our Ethnic Alumni Association will be gathering to celebrate the third biennial national reunion. In the past, as I came to realize, many of our alumni of color felt disconnected from Marquette, and so I am really happy that the founding of the EAA alumni chapter has energized many of these fine men and women, enabling them to bond more closely with the university and with one another.
The tradition of alumni reunions is something that in this country goes way back in time. I am told that Marquette alums started doing this on a regular basis in the 1950s, but I suspect the practice of periodic alumni gatherings began much, much earlier. Whatever the case, this tradition reflects a powerful and deeply human desire to stay connected to our friends and classmates, to the history that bound us together, to the lessons that formed us and to the places where all of that happened. It is always exciting to walk around campus during Alumni Reunion Weekend and hear the laughter and see the hugs and embraces, but this year I think my appreciation has been sharpened a bit more by my experience of having gathered recently with some of my own classmates from 50 years ago. I hope as many alumni as possible will return for their respective class reunions and I would remind you that this year’s Alumni Reunion Weekend is coming up quickly. Mark down the dates, July 23 to 26, and when you come, please make a point to seek me out and say hello.
Comments