Princeton Reunions
During our month living in Asheville, we made a short trip to New Jersey for Princeton Reunions. Steve and I met in college junior year and graduated in 1986. I’m still in disbelief that it was FORTY years ago. How is that even possible?
An Orange and Black Invasion
Princeton Reunions is unique. All alumni are invited back every year for a long weekend in late May, just prior to Commencement, and they often bring their families with them. Last year, around 25,000 people attended Princeton Reunions!
From Thursday to Sunday, the “major” reunion classes (5th, 10th, etc.) host parties under enormous tents around campus. The schedule is packed with alumni receptions, speakers and panels, and banquets. Every night there are dance parties with live bands. On Saturday there is a big parade and fireworks. Urban legend has it that the Princeton Reunions beer order is so huge that only the Indy 500 consumes more beer. It’s a fact that Bon Jovi and Duran Duran performed at Reunions (alas, mega-famous bands are no longer permitted).
Everyone wears orange and black clothing, all weekend long. (The school mascot is a tiger.) Graduating seniors receive “beer jackets,” like loose-fitting work jackets, with a design unique to their class. Every five years, each major reunion has a new theme with costumes to match. When a class celebrates its 25th Reunion, they receive their official class jackets - blazers with a pattern unique to that class. The costumes and jackets make it easier to identify one’s classmates amidst the sea of orange and black.
Princeton alumni love going to Reunions to stroll the beautiful campus, show family members their favorite spots, reminisce with classmates, flaunt their orange and black outfits, and party like they did when they were students. Princeton Reunions has been compared to a lot of things, including Burning Man and religious cults. But nothing really compares. It’s an extraordinary phenomenon like no other, and I love it.
The MTV Generation
This year, our class’s Reunions theme was “Top 40th Off the Charts.” This was a nod to Music Television, which was brand new when we arrived on campus as freshmen in the early ‘80s. Our Reunions logo was by our classmate Jim Lee, a renowned comic book artist who became famous through his work on Marvel’s X-Men and is now Publisher of DC Comics.
Our class’s “Reunions Headquarters” was a courtyard in the center of campus where we registered, ate meals, connected with our classmates, and danced. It was a great location for easy access to classrooms, the eating clubs, and more.
Back in the Classroom
On Friday and Saturday we attended some alumni-faculty talks and panel discussions. It was fun to be back in McCosh 50, a large lecture room where we had attended classes as undergraduates. There were dozens of sessions like this during Reunions. Too bad we couldn’t be in three places at once. Every session was relevant, enlightening, and inspiring! I was proud of my illustrious classmates Maria Ressa and Terri Sewell, and impressed with other alumni as well.
Friends Old and New
On Friday afternoon, we attended a memorial service for the deceased members of our class. Classmates played music, sang, and shared stories about their friends, who are lost but not forgotten. I learned interesting things about my departed classmates that I wish I had known while they were still with us. I tried not to think about how this meaningful event will grow longer at each future Reunion.
Throughout the weekend, we bumped into people we had become friends with when we were 40+ years younger. Most of us were still easy to recognize. There was lots of hugging. I almost lost my voice from all the talking!
Many were familiar faces from Mathey College (the residential college where we lived as freshmen and sophomores) and Tower Club (the eating club where we dined and socialized as junior and seniors). A few were friends from Parent-Net, the online forum for Princeton Alumni that was the virtual village that helped raise our kids.
One evening at dinner under the tent, Steve and I hosted a table for classmates interested in world travel, and made some new friends. Some were just getting started, like Katharine, who’s planning to get a camper van and tour the National Parks. Others were seasoned travelers, like Rocky, an expedition leader who worked with the Artemis II crew in the “lunar” landscapes of Iceland, Utah, and Wyoming.
We had a lovely but brief visit with our niece Zoë, who was on campus for her 10th. It was the first Princeton Reunions for her husband Bill and their adorable daughter Fiona, who was about the same age (7 months) that our son Danny was at his first Reunions.
The One and Only P-Rade
It was the coldest and rainiest Princeton Reunions Saturday on record! But like the U.S Post Office, nothing can stop the One and Only P-rade. (There was just one exception - a thunderstorm halted the P-rade in progress in 2018, when Danny was in the graduating senior class.)
Here’s how the P-rade goes: the alumni march by class, starting with the Old Guard (65th Reunion and up), then the 25th Reunion, and finally all other classes, in increasing chronological order. The graduating seniors march last. The other classes wait their turn and watch from designated spots along both sides of the parade route, cheering for each class as they march past. It’s really fun!
We watched from under a tree, admiring the class jackets and costumes, and exclaiming at the interesting signs they carried. We waved to the cute kids marching with their parents and grandparents, bopped to music from the marching bands, and honored each class with a “locomotive” - a Princeton Cheer that goes like this:
Hip! Hip!
Rah, rah, rah
Tiger, tiger, tiger
Sis, sis, sis,
Boom, boom, boom, ah!
[Class Year]! [Class Year]! [Class Year]!Just as it was our turn to march, it started to rain harder. Thankfully, our friend Linda had brought orange and black umbrellas for us, and we were able to walk the parade route and stay relatively dry. The Classes of ‘25 and ‘26 cheered us on with extra enthusiasm! We declined their friendly offers of beers and tequila and did locomotives for them instead.
I’m Too Old for This
It was Steve’s birthday on Friday, but he gave ME a special gift - he danced with me at the tent until the wee hours of the morning. The band was Dancing Dream, an excellent ABBA tribute band, and the dance floor was packed! We were surrounded by members of the classes of ‘25 and ‘26, and (to our surprise) they all knew the lyrics to every song. I told myself, “I am a sexygenerian! I can do this!” Karen, Mike, and Rob stayed pretty late, but only Hartmut was crazy enough to keep dancing and jiving with us until the end. By the time we made it back to our hotel room, it was after 2:00 am.
On Saturday night, we decided we’d already had enough dancing, and left the tent before the band had even started. We watched the Reunions Fireworks show while walking through campus to Wawa to catch the hotel shuttle bus.
Sunday morning was even colder and rainier, so we decided to skip breakfast at the tent and spend extra time with our friends at the hotel before heading back to the airport.
Afterword
Over 750 classmates (of a class of 1,100) attended our 40th Reunion - a record turnout. My heart is full at having shared the joyful occasion with Steve and so many of our friends. My mind is swirling with all things I want to do - follow up with the friends we did see, reach out to the friends we didn’t see, and track down the friends with whom we have lost touch. I also want to heed the call to action from our classmates who are working tirelessly to preserve democracy and press freedom. I’m proud and grateful to be part of the Princeton Reunions tradition.
Special hugs to my roomies Karen and Hope (you were sorely missed) and my Zoom buddies Jean, Jennifer, Linda, and Stephanie. I’m so glad I don’t have to wait five years to see you again!
I’ll close with this little clip of the Princeton Band performing my favorite fight song:
