News

Director's Corner

June 2018
A Golden Reunion

Our wonderful tradition of welcoming the fiftieth reunion class back for a special celebration at Commencement in June causes some to scratch their heads and ask “why?” Why indeed? Just a month earlier, we hosted the thirteen other Reunion classes here on the Close, with hundreds of alumni gathered together at a Friday evening barbeque, a Saturday luncheon and for several other activities. So why wouldn’t we just add the 50th Reunion class into the mix and let them have at it?
 
Any Golden Bulldog – an alum who has celebrated his fiftieth reunion – will tell you: the fiftieth reunion is something remarkable and special. Sure, all reunions revisit cherished memories, and abundant food and drink offer a diversion; but the interactive nature of the 50th Reunion class at Commencement is unique. Members participate in activities on Prize Day and walk at the front of the procession in hooded gowns, ahead of the Senior Class, at Commencement.
(On Prize Day, those in the 50th Reunion class who received awards five decades ago help present the same awards to the latest recipients). An anonymous alum had this to say of his experience: “The thunder of the Cathedral organ, and the return responses by the brass quartet and portable organ at the west end, shook a number of us emotionally as we proudly processed to our seats in the first south bay of the Great Choir. The solemnity of the Commencement rite, the address to the students, the reading of each name as the student received his diploma, and the prayers and blessing were so familiar and moving for us. Hearing the roar of the cheering graduating boys just as their recession reached the West End was thrilling. Many of us had a chance to say a few words to our newest alumni. It was great to see how both the School and the Cathedral have grown physically over fifty years.”
 
We are deeply grateful to the ’68 volunteers – committee members Peter Carnes, Win Cobb, and Bob Edmundson; dinner hosts Michael Heinl, David Ignatius, and Bob Shanks; and chapel officiant/weekend scribe Paul Zahl -- who helped to organize their gathering back here on the Close and for their work in rallying in getting their classmates to attend. We thank both the many who were able to return for the festivities as well as those who could only send in their life updates for the wonderful Reunion Book that was produced for the class. For those of you whose years ended in 4 or 9, we will be busy preparing for your return next May 3 and 4, and for the great Class of 1969, June 7 and 8!
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Located in Washington D.C.,  St. Albans School is a private, all boys day and boarding school. For more than a century, St. Albans has offered a distinctive educational experience for young men in grades 4 through 12. While our students reach exceptional academic goals and exhibit first-rate athletic and artistic achievements, as an Episcopal school we place equal emphasis upon moral and spiritual education.