Big Plans

If you want to spend the night on campus, sling red or green paint at your rival class and party with former classmates, you won’t want to miss the first Mega Reunion Weekend, June 2-4.

The celebration for alumni from 1967 through 2012 will include decade-specific dinners, parties with live entertainment, alumni color wars, mini reunions for campus organizations and faculty talks. You’ll even have an opportunity to spend the night in one of the residence halls.

Friday’s activities include open houses (sites include Moton Museum, Greenwood Library, the LCVA and academic halls), campus tours, decade dinners and after party. Among festivities Saturday are an alumni golf tournament hosted by the Lancer Club; faculty talks; mini reunions; a celebration including dinner, live music and fireworks, and a late-night breakfast. A memorial service and brunch are set for Sunday.

On Saturday, campus clubs and organizations will have an opportunity to reserve a tent on Stubbs Lawn, mirroring the Oktoberfest and Spring Weekend booths. The Office of Alumni and Career Services will help each group plan its mini reunion.

The Class of 1967 will celebrate its 50th reunion with a welcome luncheon Friday at Longwood House and a dinner that evening served family-style in the former dining hall (now Blackwell Ballroom). Members of that class will gather Saturday for class photos, a special luncheon and their Gold Society pinning ceremony.

“Call your friends and make plans to be there,” said Ryan Catherwood, assistant vice president for alumni and career services, adding that advance registration is strongly encouraged.

The Mega Reunion Weekend is open to all alumni regardless of their graduation year but focuses on those celebrating their fifth through 50th reunions, marked at five-year intervals. This year’s reunion will be anchored by the classes whose graduation years end in 2” or “7,” from 1967 to 2012, as well as the classes of 1971 and 1976, who missed celebrating their 40th and 45th reunions last fall due to the makeover of the reunion format.

Those changes not only led to the Mega Reunion Weekend, Longwood’s signature reunion, but also two fall reunions targeting special groups of alumni. The Joan of Arc Celebration (see story at right) is for alums who have already celebrated their 50th reunion. Those who graduated within the last four years will be invited back during Oktoberfest weekend.