Alumni Digest

New reunions: Post 50th classes will cluster together

Beginning in April, Kenyon is changing the format of its annual Post 50th Reunion to allow alumni to gather with friends and classmates from adjacent classes. These "cluster reunions" will invite alumni to return to Gambier more often, with Kenyon men who studied on campus during the same era.

"Cluster reunions are ideal for our Post 50th Reunion classes," said Scott Baker, director of alumni and parent programs. "The entire student body was close-knit during these decades. Many of these gentlemen left Kenyon during college to serve our country, and then returned later to graduate, often with a different class. The cluster reunion will allow them to reunite with all of their classmates, not just those from their graduation year."

A class becomes part of the cluster reunion cycle after hitting the fifty-fifth reunion milestone. Class members will be invited to attend a cluster reunion more frequently than with the traditional every-five-years format. Because classes will gather in groups of three, the groups will shift each time, creating different mixes of classes at reunion. Letters will also go out to all class members who will participate in the first few years of cluster reunions. The new model won the support of attendees at last spring's Post 50th Reunion, and Alumni Council approved the change.

Kenyon's first Post 50th Cluster Reunion, on April 25-27, 2012, welcomes back the classes of 1937, 1938, and 1939; 1947, 1948, and 1949; and 1957 and 1958. As the cluster cycle kicks off, the Class of 1958 will return to campus one year early. The College will also delay the class of 1952's next reunion by just one year. That class would normally return next spring for its sixtieth reunion, but will wait until 2013 so they can cluster with the classes of 1950 and 1951.

Classes celebrating their fifth through fiftieth reunions will continue following the traditional five-year reunion cycle, returning for Reunion Weekend in late May. "We have far too many alumni to contemplate a cluster format for our more recent alumni classes," said Baker. "We would not be able to house or feed everyone!"

Upcoming Cluster Reunions

Reunion 2012 Classes of 1937, '38, '39, '47, '48, '49, '57, and '58
Reunion 2013 Classes of 1940, '41, '42, '50, '51, and '52
Reunion 2014 Classes of 1943, '44, '45, '53, '54, and '55
Reunion 2015 Classes of 1946, '47, '48, '56, '57, and '58
Reunion 2016 Classes of 1939, '40, '41, '49, '50, '51, '59, '60, and '61

Join Kenyon in Cuba

Have you ever wanted to to travel to Cuba? Kenyon is now offering its alumni, students, and parents such an opportunity.

Travel to Cuba has been severely restricted for Americans since 1959. Recent changes by the U.S. Department of Treasury now allow people-to-people trips in which groups of Americans can travel to Cuba and participate in educational exchanges. The College, in partnership with the Kenyon Review, is applying for a people-to-people license through the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control. If granted, the license will allow Kenyon to arrange a trip to Cuba, providing an opportunity to learn about the literary, artistic, and architectural heritage of the island nation.

The week-long trip to Havana is tentatively slated for Spring 2012 and will include tours of historic and cultural sites, discussion of contemporary Cuban literature with noted authors, visits to artists' studios, and admission to a variety of performances.

We will mail information about the trip as soon as details are finalized. If you are interested, contact Alex Compton at comptona@kenyon.edu or call 740-427-5147.

Handsome Hall

The Delta Tau Delta lodge on Kokosing Drive opens this year with a facelift, courtesy of several Delt alumni. The renovations are in memory of Delt alumnus Byron Horn '86, who died from lymphocytic leukemia on July 22, 2010. The project was unveiled at a gathering during Reunion Weekend 2011.

Renovations include new mahogany front doors, brick and limestone paving for the front entryway, new front gardens, a new rear flagstone patio with fire pit and serpentine wall, and more than 500 myrtle and thyme plants. Delt alumni Cully Stimpson '86, Dan Bell '86, Jeff Moritz '86, and Don Gest '86 coordinated the renovations, which were funded with more than $60,000 in contributions from 100 people. Horn's father, Gerry Horn, a landscape designer, drew conceptual drawings for the renovations to the grounds. A cast bronze plaque honoring Byron Horn, designed by Stimpson, was installed near the front entry, and a limestone block honoring Horn was placed within one of the patio wall columns. "The work is inspired by Byron's selfless commitment and work at the DTD lodge over the past twenty-five years," Gest told the Kenyon Collegian.

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