From May 3-4, Sidwell hosted a weekend-long alumni reunion for classes celebrating five-year milestones. According to Director of Alumni Engagement Anna Wyeth, the event’s goal was to provide alumni with a “natural opportunity to revisit the relationships built and the student experience.”
This year, roughly 325 alumni showed up to celebrate by participating in campus tours, a preview of the new Upton Campus, alumni classes, class cocktails and the presentation of the Distinguished Alumni Awards.
As the main coordinator and organizer of the event, Wyeth works hard each year to coordinate what she calls “one of the most special events [Sidwell] hosts annually.” The events began on Wednesday evening with the Newmyer Awards Dinner, an awards ceremony to celebrate family and alumni volunteers who greatly impact the school.
According to Assistant Upper School Principal for Academic Affairs Robbie Gross, the event aimed to foster community among the alumni, especially since there is a “diaspora of Sidwell alumni across the country and the world.”
According to the Sidwell website, the event allows graduates to return to their old campus, see their old teachers and reunite with their classmates.
Often, the effective relationship-building encouraged many alumni to donate to the school. Although Wyeth and others involved in planning the event did a fantastic job of accomplishing their goal, the process was not without obstacles.
Wyeth expressed that the team’s big challenge was developing activities that would appeal to “such a wide swath of individuals.”
However, according to Wyeth, feedback is essential to the planning process, with her adding that the team depends heavily on volunteers for their “candid feedback and for communicating with their peers to encourage participation and support.”
Wyeth shared that those volunteers are why “we can host such a large event and make it so meaningful and enjoyable.”
Every year, Gross gives a speech to the 50th reunion class. Before the event, Gross worked with Director of Special Projects Loren Hardenbergh to compile events significant to the returning class.
Hardenbergh collects archives from the graduating years of alumni to help foster historical discussions during the reunion.
This year, Gross spoke to the Class of 1974 at their 50th reunion about the Watergate scandal and Vietnam protests, among other things, which they all witnessed while at Sidwell.
Gross aims to strengthen the Sidwell community and connect alumni around the world through events like the reunion weekend.
