Monday, June 14, 2010

Tons of fun on and off campus

Hey all!

So after answering a bunch of formspring questions (which I LOVE, by the way), I'm ready for a real post again. It's Monday, so of course everyone is a little sluggish and tired from the weekend, and I'm no exception. However, I thought I would pick up my mood a bit by writing about the great weekend I had here at SMC and in Burlington.

Downtown, the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival was going on. It was about a week long and a majority of the artists that came to town to play could be seen at no cost. All week, friends and I would stop down for a few hours to walk around and listen to the music. The highlight of the festival had to be last Tuesday when a last minute press release announced a surprise concert by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. The band is well known and loved in Burlington and the concert had a huge turnout, right in the middle of Church Street. The best part? It was free!

Also going on downtown from May until September, a community, art, and business mix project called The Cows Come Home to Burlington. I've linked you all to a description of the event and how it works, AND here's a slide show of some of the cows you can find downtown right now. Look out for the SMC cow, right outside of city hall!



For more about what's going on downtown this summer, visit Church Street's Webpage.

Back on campus, it was Reunion Weekend for SMC alumni who graduated in years ending in 5 or 0, starting with the class of 2005 and going all the way to 1950 (and even one graduate from 1949!). One way I volunteered by giving tours to the alumni to show them what was new on campus. Most of the people on my tour were from the class of 1965 or earlier, so almost everything was new to them. It was so cool to hear stories about a time when SMC was all men and over 50% of the buildings on today's campus didn't exist.

On Saturday I woke up early to help with the 5k fun run, which had a great turnout despite the rain. I then headed over to the awards ceremony where alumni who have contributed outstandingly to SMC were recognized, and we found out that the entire group of alumni from this reunion raised about $175k for SMC. It was amazing to see how many people turned up to give and support SMC and to see their other classmates.

Saturday night was the main even: class dinners. A few friends and I volunteered to spend our night eating and chatting with the classes of 1985 and earlier, and we had a great time. In addition to a delicious free dinner (remember, college students LOVE free food) we got to chat with all of the alumni, hear stories and tell them about what we're doing, and the best part, dancing! We danced until 10:30 with everyone from the fun loving ladies from 1975 to the sweet old men from 1950. I had a really great time and I only wish that I could have been helping with reunion every year, and that more students got a chance to meet and mingle with alumni.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll get another post in by the end of the week.
-Christine

No comments: