{"id":6972,"date":"2013-06-10T14:41:36","date_gmt":"2013-06-10T18:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=6972"},"modified":"2014-01-25T18:09:52","modified_gmt":"2014-01-25T23:09:52","slug":"then-and-now-look-at-student-life-one-of-the-highlights-of-reunion-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=6972","title":{"rendered":"“Then and Now” look at student life one of the highlights of Reunion 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSC_8289\"<\/a>One of the more popular events at Reunion each year is \u201cThen and Now,\u201d a panel discussion in which alumni from the anniversary classes join with current seniors to explore how student life has changed through the years. In years past, the insights offered were both humorous and enlightening. This year\u2019s panelists\u2014Grace (Clee) Starrett \u201953<\/strong>, Nancy Mueller \u201953<\/strong>, Mike Curry \u201963<\/strong>, Carol (Gray) Ritter \u201963<\/strong>, Alaina Springsted \u201913<\/strong>, and Sarah Stefanelli \u201913<\/strong>\u2014kept that tradition going.<\/p>\n

Mueller started the proceedings in uproarious fashion when, in response to a question about what students did on weekends in her day, she admitted, \u201cI don\u2019t even remember what I did yesterday!\u201d After pausing to think, she recalled most stayed on campus since few had cars. \u201cShall I say we also studied? I guess we did a little of that,\u201d she wryly added.<\/p>\n

Curry\u2019s confession as to why he stayed on campus each weekend kept the crowd rolling. \u201cI went to an all-boys high school. The first place I saw women was here, and I wasn\u2019t about to leave them on the weekends,\u201d the former wrestling coach and professor quipped. In his day, the most popular weekend hangouts for students were The Edgewood, the Merry Go Round, and Slocums; the latter is still frequented by today\u2019s students, Stefanelli noted.<\/p>\n

A question about where undergrads ate on campus conjured images of The Inn\u2019s \u201cmiscellaneous meat\u201d in Mueller\u2019s mind. Her classmate, Starrett, had fonder memories of the establishment, recalling how students were served their meals and dined with professors. Ritter, too, seemed to recall a fondness for the campus dining halls of her day. She divulged that by the time she went home for break during her freshman year, the clothes in her closet no longer fit. \u201cI guess that means the food here was good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked what they did when snow canceled classes, Stefanelli said sledding on cafeteria trays used to be a popular activity (until the administration put an end to the practice). Curry recalled one storm that closed school for an entire week, thus canceling exams. \u201cIt was the greatest snowstorm ever!\u201d he exclaimed. Mueller, seeming somewhat incredulous that the question was even asked, remarked, \u201cWhat did we do when it snowed? I guess we walked through it in our galoshes\u2014because we didn\u2019t have boots back then!\u201d<\/p>\n

Talk eventually turned to academics\u2014more specifically, which professors and classes students sought out or avoided. Curry joked that he tried to avoid \u201call of\u201d his classes\u2014particularly psychology. \u201cWhen I couldn\u2019t even spell the word, I didn\u2019t want to take the class.\u201d Mueller explained students from her era didn\u2019t have the choices today\u2019s do: \u201cWe had to take Saturday classes\u2026and even classes on Friday at 5 p.m.,\u201d she recalled. But it was worth it, she said. \u201cI felt very well trained as a teacher when I left here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five graduates of the College were honored (two in absentia) at the Alumni Leadership Awards Ceremony held on April 26 as part of the 2013 Reunion festivities. Click here to read about this year’s winners. <\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to see photos from all of this year’s Reunion festivities. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the more popular events at Reunion each year is \u201cThen and Now,\u201d a panel discussion in which alumni from the anniversary classes join with current seniors to explore how student life has changed through the years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":6974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-corner","category-june-2013"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}