Photo courtesy of Ross Mortensen
Last weekend, May 10 through 13, Choate hosted hundreds of alumni for its annual Alumni Weekend, a time for Choate graduates to reconnect with their old classmates and celebrate their Choate spirit.
Alumni Weekend was packed with fun activities and ceremonies. This year, there were three alumni athletics contests, including a co-ed alumni Frisbee game, a co-ed alumni soccer game, and an alumni vs. Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse game.
Jim Dwinell ’58, Gavin Jeftha ’88, and Allison Kessler Vear ’03 were inducted into Choate’s Athletics Hall of Fame. There were also three alumni panels held for students interested in certain jobs and topics. Other class specific events were held, such as gatherings, dances, and golf trips.
The Alumni Relations Office is responsible for planning every Alumni Weekend to match the desires of the visiting classes. Director of Alumni Relations Ms. Monica St. James, who oversaw much of the planning for the weekend, said, “Every Alumni Weekend is always slightly different because classes get together and ask for a different type of event.”
This year, the Class of 1968 requested a gathering in the chapel as one of their events in order to commemorate the time they walked out of the chapel as a form of protest. Ms. St. James commented, “The Class of 1968 was reflecting on an event that happened when they were seniors. It was a student protest by walking out of the chapel and forming a circle. That’s something that no other class had ever done, and so we’re going to talk about the year 1968 with them in the chapel, and Mr. Connelly is going to speak with them about what was happening in 1968 historically.”
Alumni Weekend is an occasion that many Choate graduates look forward to. When asked about how many alumni returned for Alumni Weekend 2018, Manager of Alumni and Parent Programs Ms. Andrea Solomon said, “About half of the class of 1958 is coming, and for the younger classes, about half of those classes will come, too. We actually have five people coming back from the class of 1948.”
Organizing Alumni Weekend is no small feat. Ms. St. James, Ms. Solomon, and their colleagues put in hours upon hours of work to pull off the event.
When asked what goes into the planning of Alumni Weekend, Ms. St. James said, “Everything from making sure there’s grass on the lawn to paving the path from the arts center goes into this. We’ll have 900 to 1,000 extra people on campus, so it involves virtually every office in the school. It is a huge undertaking.”
