The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Meaghen Brown Students and alums gather together for the Homecoming tent formal Saturday night. The College is hoping to turn the formal into an annual event in attempt to rejuvinate social cohesion amung classes and foster tradition. [Click to enlarge]

Who knows what "Ratty" really stands for? But at around 10:30 p.m. during Saturday night's Tent Formal, the lead singer from the band the Grift beckoned "Ratty" '93 to the stage, at which point a middle-aged man in his formal attire entertained the crowd with a rousing rendition of Michael Jackson's classic "Billie Jean."

Ratty proceeded to dance crazily, inspiring smiling flocks of his fellow alumni to jump around like they were back in college.

Well, they were, weren't they?

Why is it that so many alumni choose to revisit Middlebury's "walls of ivy" and "paths of beauty" for Homecoming Weekend? For many, it is a way to reconnect with old friends. The weekend acts as an excuse to visit with cherished companions preoccupied with busy lives and hectic schedules.

Laurie Jordan '79, who works as chaplain for the College, described these friendships. "Friends here are instant, and in that sense it is the easiest time in your life," she said. "You miss that after you leave. I mean, in college, when you have a birthday­­ - boom - everyone is there."

Every alumnus agrees that friendships made here can last a lifetime, so perhaps the return voyage to the alma mater serves as a reminder of that wonderful fact.

Many also voice the desire to reunite with their former professors. Given Middlebury's renowned student-to-faculty ratio, many students of the College create lasting bonds with their professors.

"Students at Middlebury are almost aggressive in connecting with their professors," Jordan said. She went on to reminisce about a vacation that she and her family took many years ago to the Adirondacks, when she called one of her past professors, and he told her to stop right in for dinner. Stories like Jordan's are not uncommon.

Continued...

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