Messages from the President | Reflections on Reunion 2022

8-11-22 Reflections on Reunion 2022

Just a few short weeks ago, Antioch College Reunion 2022 brought alumni and friends back to our beloved campus for the first in-person reunion since 2019. It was truly an exciting and inspiring community event, which also marked my first Antioch Reunion. What an incredible introduction to the reasons why our community seeks to share these unique spaces and passionate conversations every year together.

Our guests and I were greeted with a full agenda. The days and nights were packed with awards and recognition, generosity of time, talents, and gifts, spontaneous dancing and food, exploring historic photos and memories while creating new ones, curated panel discussions covering important topics, and all of the equally important and wonderful impromptu face to face conversations, stories, and exchanges.

The memorial service for the former Student Union served as a meaningful and moving example of Antiochians’ experience during their years in Yellow Springs. It showed how that experience may differ across generations or graduating classes but may resonate in parallel ways. We can find similarities in our journeys through reverence for the places and people that are featured in our shared histories. Indeed, the Stoop will be saved, and along with it, perhaps a piece of the energy felt on this evening together. We will endeavor to share that energy with future Antiochians who will craft their own stories and make their own memories in this place. Perhaps they will launch themselves out into the world from these same concrete steps where we gathered that evening. I extend my many thanks to those involved with the planning and execution of this thoughtful event.

And with that same line of thinking, I extend my gratitude to the many hands and hearts that made the entire event possible. Behind the scenes and at the forefront, it takes a great deal of effort to make something like Reunion happen. From the Volunteer Work Project leading up to Reunion, to the student workers tirelessly lending their assistance, to the staff and faculty doing their very best to extend our hospitality, our community worked together. Of course, Reunion has no meaning without all of our alumni and friends, and we are again grateful for your continued commitment to Antioch and in your sharing yourselves with us once again. We look forward to welcoming you back once more to Reunion 2023.

Take good care,
Jane Fernandes