The 2011 Alumni Weekend Reunion brought former Hopkins students back to engage with the campus community. The three-day event was packed with numerous activities and celebrations, including a cappella performances, the President’s Breakfast, the Family Tent, the Homecoming game and Class Reunion Parties.
Senior Associate Director of the Reunion and Homecoming Office Patricia K. Conklin was pleased with this year’s outcome.
“I think it was a great weekend, and having Alumni Weekend on the Decker Quad . . . it was the epicenter for the weekend,” Conklin said.
Tents set up on the open grass served as a meeting point for the alumni returning to Hopkins. After parking in the garage under Mason Hall, alumni were welcomed back by class year flags hung about the congregation tent lit up by blue lights.
The first main event of the weekend was Lunch on the Lawn. Alumni and their families met and chatted with their old classmates over a picnic lunch in the President’s garden.
Later that day, barbeque and out-door roasts for the academic societies were scattered around the campus. Ashley Hawn, a sophomore at Hopkins, volunteered to help at the Psychological and Brain Sciences Reception in Hodson Hall.
“There’s so many parts of the events we all put together, greeting alumni, checking them in [and] making sure that they go to all the events they want to go to,” she said.
Alumnus Zucharais Mavrophilipos attended the Chemistry BBQ that afternoon. He explained how it was his first time back on campus since his graduation.
“It’s nice to come back and my nephew and niece are now students here,” Mavrophilipos said.
Hopkins students enjoyed meeting and conversing with the returning alumni as well. Freshman Makesi Paul spoke to
a group of alumni from the year 1975 at the Civil Engineering Society Barbeque.
“They were checking out Gilman, and were excited to tell me how different it was,” Paul said. After speaking with them, he now believes that current students should appreciate Hopkins’s history. “We need to preserve and maintain the old,” Paul said.
The newly renovated Gilman Hall is certainly not the only change that has occurred on Hopkins campus in the last couple of decades. Sue Pero and Valerie Jacobson Kelleher, graduates of the class of 1985, explained that when they studied at Hopkins Decker Quad was just an unused parking lot.
“There were no buildings past Levering Hall. A lot of the current campus was not there,” Pero said.
While the two friends enjoyed seeing the campus, they were mostly excited about attending the Homecoming game together.
“We have not seen each other in 10 years, so that’s the most fun thing, coming back and celebrating with everyone,” Kelleher said.
This year specifically celebrated the graduates from years 1941, 1946, 1951, 1956 and so forth. Graduate from Hopkins Class of 2001 Jeremy Gorelick returned to campus this weekend to gives students who took his Real Estate Development Intersession course some friendly advice.
“Take advantage of Hopkins,” Gorelick said. He also planned on attending the events with his old classmates. “I am going to go to the 10 year class party, and hope to [join] the alumni committee soon,” Gorelick said.
Parties were for the classes celebrating 60th, 50th through 10th anniversaries and 55th to 15th anniversaries.
Freshman Linda Poon volunteered to work at the class of 1961 reunion dinner at the Hopkins Club. She commented about the conversations she had with several alumni at the dinner.
“It was a really great experience. I was able to interact and talk to alumni who have not been back since their graduation,” Poon said.
Director Conklin explains how all events went as expected, and the alumni expressed their pleasure.
“I think they all really had a great time . . . they especially loved meeting the kids on campus,” Conklin said.
One change to Alumni Weekend this year was the addition of the Alumni Authors Book Fair. Alumnus Stephanie Boddie suggested the idea to the Alumni Association after she had attended one at the University of Pennsylvania. Sponsored by the 25th reunion class of 1986, the Book Fair was held in the Great Hall at Levering, from 9 — 11 a.m. on Saturday. More than 39 authors’ works of literature were put on display.
Associate Director Judy Fusting explained how she and the Alumni Committee are unsure of the response to this new event.
“This is our first time, so we are following it up with a survey,” Fusting said. While the number of showcased authors was large, the number of students who stopped by was not as impressive. “I think we would have liked a little more students. With a little more time, we will know how to do this better,” Fusting said.
Despite the low number of student attendees, author Renée Levine Packer thoroughly enjoyed the event. Her work, titled The Life Of Sound, published by Oxford University Press, attracted attention from those who roamed the fair. Packer described her education at Hopkins as a rewarding experience.
“It was the best thing I ever did. Can you imagine studying with P.M. Forni? . . . [Hopkins] is a treasure place,” Packer said.
The Alumni Association felt that the Alumni Weekend 2011 was a huge success. Directors Conklin and Fusting gave much credit to the entire Alumni Department and student volunteers.
“There are only four of us, the rest is thanks to the students and volunteers,” Fusting said.
