Reunion Reverie

June 1, 2015

The two Yale reunion weekends each spring are a whirlwind of the best kind. In the past ten days, well over 4,000 alumni revisited the setting of their bright college years (joined, this past weekend, by alumni celebrating reunions in the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing), taking in concerts, campus tours, and fascinating faculty lectures. Many of them went back “to the tables down at Mory’s,” introducing family and friends to that tradition. They saw the magnificently refurbished nave of Sterling Memorial Library and the exciting progress at the site of the two new residential colleges. They paid visits to 43 Hillhouse Avenue. And, best of all, they reconnected with the places that—and most importantly the people who—formed the fabric of their student lives.

The reunions are an incredible team effort, supported by colleagues and students across the university. For Marta and me, they are among the moments of the year when we can step back and truly savor the qualities that drew us to this remarkable place, and it was a special treat to be able to stop in and spend time with each Yale College reunion class over the course of these two weekends. It is no secret that my own bright college years were spent on the West Coast (sorry!), but from my earliest days here as a graduate student my life has been shaped by the unique sense of community that characterizes Yale. Marta, who was a student in the Yale School of Public Health, feels the same way. That community—part village-within-a-city, part constellation spanning the globe—comprises current students, and employees, and faculty members, and local residents. But it was built, and is sustained and made ever stronger, by those who call Yale “alma mater.”