From Brooke Stengel:
To my Bryn Mawr ’91 Classmates,
What a wonderful time we all had May 26-28 at our 15th Reunion! For those of you who couldn’t join us, we missed you and hope you enjoy the written highlights below of the weekend’s festivities. Before I go any further, let me thank Beth Laken Halleck, Karen Leonard and Helen Fields (our Reunion Managers), Catharyn “Kitty” Turner (my Co-President) and Jessica Bass Kirk (our Class Gift Chair) and her committee, who all did an amazing job!
Reunion was exciting for our class before it even started – we broke the 15th Reunion attendance record and ended up having to spread out into two dorms (Radnor and Pem West)! Forty-five BMC’91 alumnae attended with lots of children, partners and husbands in tow. A number of classmates came from as far away as California, and though she lives only a few hours away in Westchester, Songsmistress Mari n’ha Margo Lipkansky was joined by her 4-week old future Mawrter, Samantha, nestled in her Baby Bjorn as she swung her lantern at Step Sing
Lots of great events and activities were planned for the weekend. Karen Leonard reported on two lectures she found particularly interesting:
During a lecture on “Technology in the Ivory Tower”, Michelle Francl-Donnay, Professor of Chemistry, defined the liberal arts as the “engaging deeply with oneself, others, and the world in all of its manifestations.” So, with that basis, there should be no question that technology plays a large role at the College. Technology enables her to post not only the sound from her lectures, but also everything she writes on the “board”, which is actually a computer screen she writes on with a pen – it is projected on the wall during class, but also records everything she does and can be posted on the Internet. She also posted one of her lectures on iTunes, and it became one of the top 100 podcast downloads for a period of time!
There was a walking tour of the campus to discuss the history of the architectural and landscape design and physical plant. Bryn Mawr had received a grant from the Getty Foundation to study not only the architectural design history, but more specifically how decisions were made – the decision making and administrative processes, and how they affected outcome. They talked about the various design plans that were and were not implemented over the years, how presidents made decisions from M. Carey to Mary Pat, and then how the study has altered their view of how to make decisions. It was a GORGEOUS day to wander the grounds and then listen to the College Architect and the Head of Physical Plant talk about these things while sitting on the grass. It was interesting to hear how the process has moved to a fairly unilateral one to a very democratic and broad-viewed approach; and finally to learn more about recent changes to the campus and future plans. The discussion of the design plans for Canaday was particularly neat. Huge boxy buildings were very much the rage at the time, but that the architect did two things to ensure that the building would mesh with the overall feel of the campus. The design, with the big vertical lines pushing out from the body of the building along with the wall of windows, was meant to echo the lines and feel of Pem and Rock and Thomas, the more castle like structures. It was also supposed to sit deeper in the quad, but it was pushed back significantly to give Thomas a continued prominence – Canaday does not block the view of Thomas from any angle.
All of our meals were under The Big Tent in the Cloisters. The food was wonderful as always (particularly the Magic Cookie Bars and Brunch), but even better because we didn’t have to cook (amazing what we used to take for granted…) There was some rain at the beginning of the weekend, but luckily, Mother Nature got it out of her system and presented us with beautiful weather for the rest of our stay on campus. The balmy weather on Saturday night made for a perfect Step Sing at Senior Steps.
After a tasty cookout lunch earlier that afternoon, we had our Class Meeting in Radnor Living Room.
Our new Class Officers are:
Co-Presidents: Catharyn “Kitty” Turner and Brooke Stengel Fitzgerald
Co-Gift Chairs: Beth Strausser and Jessica Bass Kirk
Class Notes Editor: Cate Hancock
20th Reunion Managers: Beth Laken Halleck, Kara Olsen Theiding and Margot Hipwell
Reunion Songsmistress: Kate McNulty
We also filled a very important new position: Miranda “Mandy” Jones has agreed to serve as our Class Webmistress! Check out our brand-new class website at www.bmc1991.org - She is very excited for us to send her content for the page. Some of her ideas: post photos , an occasional feature or spotlight on individual class members, personal news you’d like to share (a website, blog, new business or internship opportunity you’d like to advertise, helpful hints or consumer reviews, travel recommendations, rideshare) – think of it as a supplement to the Class Notes. Send it along and she’ll put it on the website. Have other ideas for the site? E-mail Miranda at miranda[dot]jones[at]alumnae[dot]brynmawr[dot]edu
And she wanted me to emphasize to you all: “Websites are only as good as their updated content. It would be great if we could have a site that does more than give Reunion details every five years…”
Sunday began with the Parade of Classes, led by bagpipers in true Bryn Mawr style, who were accompanied by a giant owl. Anassa kata to the two members of the Class of 1936 who came back for their 70th Reunion! The Annual Meeting was followed by champagne and strawberries on the lawn in front of Thomas, à la Garden Party – what a finale to a glorious weekend!
And here are a few words from our Class Gift Chair, Jessica Bass Kirk:
“Our class giving was excellent, with 36% of the class participating and contributing a total dollar value of $78,656. We feel so pleased that the College means so much to our classmates, and that we can express that gratitude with our financial support. Many classmates raised their level of giving this year in honor of our 15th reunion.
As you may know, it couldn’t be easier to do online giving and pledging. You may find it helpful to choose a monthly amount to give to the college. Please visit the site and familiarize yourself with the options. Here is the website: www.brynmawr.edu/makeagift
Let’s get off to a great start for the 2006-07 year!”
(On a side note, as I pointed out at the Class Meeting, 1 + 9 + 9 + 1 = $20, but feel free to give more!)
In case you are wondering about the profile of the Mawrters of the future, here is an Admissions update:
After reading a record-breaking number of applications (2,138), 362 young women have enrolled in the Class of 2010. They hail from 34 states plus the District of Columbia and 27 foreign countries, including Australia, China, Ecuador, Ghana, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Nigeria. The class is 26% students of color and 12% have foreign or dual citizenships. The median SAT was 670 verbal, 640 math.
I would like to close by quoting from answers posted on Athena’s Web to the question posed by my fellow Merion Customs Group member, Kelly Love: “What was YOUR favorite thing about reunion?”:
“Reconnecting with so many smart, interesting, intense, active, funny, unusual and amazing women – I see so many changes but still so, so, so much continuity in all of you.”
“I loved hearing about the twists and turns peoples’ lives have taken. And seeing how people have made meaning out of those twists and turns.”
“Dredging up a whole lot of good memories and kicking them around for a while…”
“Brushing our teeth together!!”
“Being able to enjoy the people and campus of Bryn Mawr without having to worry about homework, papers, exams, etc.”
And to sum up: “Mawrters are awesome.”
Looking forward to seeing you in a few more years at our (gulp…) 20th Reunion!
P.S. …
Want to get connected with thousands of Bryn Mawr alumnae?
Join Athena’s Web: https://athenasweb.brynmawr.edu/brynmawr/
And make sure to join the Class of 1991 Group, as well!
There still are limited supplies of our Reunion Blend coffee available. Our own 1991 grad and coffee house entrepreneur Beth Laken Halleck had her coffee roasters create a special blend for Reunion 2006 – it’s delicious! Just $10 a pound and all proceeds go to BMC. It would be a great addition at a meeting of a local Bryn Mawr Club, or just to have to perk you up on a Monday morning. If you’d like us to ship you a pound or two, please email Karen Leonard at kleonard[at]ftc[dot]gov.
Our shop on cafepress.com remains open, as well. We have t-shirts and other paraphernalia with Reunion 2006, and other versions NOT specific to Reunion. Again, all profits go to BMC! Check it out at www.cafepress.com/brynmawr91.
P.P.S.
If you have photos that you are willing to share on the class website (without captions or names), please email them to Miranda at miranda[dot]jones[at]alumnae[dot]brynmawr[dot]edu or tell her where (ex. Shutterfly, Snapfish, Yahoo, Flickr, etc.) she can go to download them (and be sure to tell her which ones you do/don’t want on the site).
She also strongly encourages people to join Flickr (www.flickr.com), and then join the BMC 1991 group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/bmc1991/) - our class group on Flickr is a great way to share photos easily, in a central location, and with a greater level of privacy and individual control. In other words, you have the option of sharing your photos only with other members of the class group. Your photos would be available only to people you have specifically designated and to members of the class group.