Young Smithie profiled on NPR

This is the story my friend Amy was helping with when she recorded commencement last weekend.

WFCR, NPR News & Music for Western New England, May 23, 2008
Remarkable graduates: Allison Bellew
Thousands of students graduate from the region's colleges this spring; many of them have accomplished more than you might expect. Today WFCR begins a series on some of these remarkable graduates with the story of Smith graduate Allison Bellew '08, who spent most of her childhood between foster homes.

The Diploma Circle

My friend Amy (Wellesley, '94) attended commencement on Sunday. It was her first Smith commencement and she was there in her capacity as a reporter. Newsweek is profiling one member of the Smith class of 2008 because she and her sister spent their middle school and high school years in foster care, but this year, are both graduating from college. Amy was there recording the event for the story.

Yesterday, she and I got to talking about our shared experience as Smith/Wellesley alumnae, about the "Smith experience," and how we get all goosebumpy and tingly when we see the older classes parade in on Ivy Day or witness special traditions, such as the diploma circle.

We also talked about the frequently felt feeling of failure that comes with believing we have never quite lived up to the expectation of greatness that comes with a Smith or Wellesley degree. One struggles to feel that one isn't a total loser if one hasn't cured cancer, or published a best seller, or made a lot of money. Now a Wellesley alumna is running for President for crying out loud! Talk about raising the bar. :-)

After the talk, I sent Amy the link to the letter I sent to our class on the 13th anniversary of our commencement, addressing some of these feelings. I'm sharing her response with you all because I love so much her articulation of the meaning of the diploma circle.

Here's what she said after reading my letter:

>>This piece is brilliant and beautiful. And, I love the diploma circle’s role in it. It was something I first heard about on Saturday night and knew I wanted to record. While I was there with my mic in everyone’s way, new graduates grumbled about the chaos. Someone said, ‘why can’t they just organize this’ while others complained the circle wasn’t being widened enough or that people with diplomas in hand weren’t leaving. There was much consternation and little celebration, though moments after receiving someone else’s diploma during the ceremony, the student I was recording actually said, “I love that we get someone else’s diploma.”

I was wondering about the value and meaning of the circle, beyond tying legions of Smith alumnae to each other in one final act of tradition. I came up with this: in the chaos that is graduation weekend, there is little stopping—stopping the noise, the energy, the flow of all things. In that circle, the actual act of graduating is prolonged, for some more than for others, and no one has the power to change the time it takes to find her diploma. There’s something lovely in that. And, of course, it’s yet another part of The Smith Experience that is impossible to translate."

We won't be reuning on commencement weekend this time, so we can't witness the Diploma Circle this time around, but I think that the return to campus and the tradition of reunion is another very special part of the Smith Experience, another link in the chain that connects us. I hope you'll join us.

Child Care at Reunion

Many of you have expressed an interest in child care during reunion. I received an e-mail today from the AASC regarding child care for this year's All Reunion Weekend. It should be the same next year, for ours.

In a nutshell, there is safe, professional, well-planned, and super-affordable child care available on campus (five hours for $20 per child including food!) on Friday and Saturday evenings only. The hours are 5-10 p.m. Children over three years of age are welcome.

The full e-mail is below. (Remember, this is for this year's reunion, so don't call yet to reserve your spot.)

>>Children's Conference Care Inc., will once again provide professional childcare for children age 3 and up, from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evening of All Reunion Weekend. We're thrilled to host it in Unity House - which most of you will remember as Hampshire House - close to the Alumnae House on Bedford Terrace. The space is beautifully renovated and ideal for this activity. There is one large room for arts and crafts activities, and two other large spaces that are comfortable and cozy for reading or playing board games. CCCI plans to use one for a quiet space, where children can wind down later in the evening while watching a video.

The Gill Hall Campus School playground is nearby and safely accessible from Unity House. It has a wonderful, large play structure and basketball court, and outdoor time will be built into the schedule (weather permitting). Dinner and snacks will be provided.

Teachers are professional and carefully selected. Most are elementary school teachers and fully certified.

The cost is $20 per child, per 5-hour session. Walk-ins will be accepted if space is available. CCCI accepts cash, check or credit card (Visa, MC or American Express).

If you haven't done so already, we encourage you to contact CCCI at info@childconf.com or by phone at 617.492.6925 for more details. While many of you will want to share Reunion with your children, this will also provide a great opportunity for them to meet other kids in a safe, supervised, fun environment while you enjoy time with your class at dinner.>>

The Class of 2008

On Sunday, May 18th, Smith will host it's 130th commencement. I know, like most of you, I well up and get all goosebumpy and full of emotion when I think about my connection to all those women of years past.

If you'd like to learn a little more about the newest batch up near-alumnae, click here to read some statistics the college has prepared. For instance, the five most popular majors in this graduating class are (in descending order): government; psychology; art (includes art history, art studio, architecture, and urbanism); economics; and engineering.

The oldest Ada Comstock student graduating is 68-years-old.

50 percent of Smith applicants for Fulbright Fellowships were accepted--more than double the national average.

Smithies rule.

A record number of applications for admission were received this year for the class of 2012.

For more Class of 2008 "By the Numbers," click here.

May Day--and Mayday! (Class of '94 Reunion News)

My Dearest Classmates:

Today marks the end of the dreary winter half of the year and means it (finally) really is spring in the northern hemisphere. Hoorah!

It also means we are soon going to be less than one-year away from our 15-year reunion. Since May Day has traditionally been an occasion for celebration--and mayday is a call for help--our VP (who's last name is also May!) has chosen this day to ask you for help in planning our reunion celebration.

To help us find out what you want from reunion--and who is willing to volunteer--we have prepared a short online survey for you to take. You can find the free survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=VWfGeg4F9xrmUMJmhgiU1Q_3d_3d.

There are eight questions, two of them are multiple choice, and we expect it should take somewhere between two and five minutes to complete, depending on how much you have to say. (Why put it off? Click on the link now and let us know what you want.)

As always, you can keep up-to-date on reunion planning by visiting our class blog at http://www.graychase.com/Smith94.htm or by e-mailing your reunion co-chairs, Kirse and Amy, at smithreunion1994@gmail.com. We are keeping a running list at the blog of who's planning to come, so drop us a note once you've decided so we can add you to the list.

With warm wishes for spring and many thanks for your help,

Naomi
"Groove is in the Heart"

Naomi Graychase
Alumnae Class President, 1994
graychase@gmail.com

Reunion 2004 Photos

The Alumnae Association has posted 50 photos from Reunion 2004. There are a few smiling faces from the class of '94 in there. Go here to take a peek.

Right: Mary Ann Hardy and I at the now defunct La Cazuela during Reunion 2004. Mary Ann is Parade Sign Chair for Reunion 2009. If you've got any clever ideas, MAH would love your help! E-mail sign ideas to smithreunion1994 at gmail.com. If you'd like a fancy job like Mary Ann's, e-mail our Reunion Co-Chairs at the same address.

Got reunion photos? Or, heck, commencement photos? Send 'em along and I'll post 'em. Be sure to let me know who is in the photos. (High-res jpegs are ideal.)

Happy Anniversary

My Dearest Classmates,

On this day, thirteen years ago, we stood in the blazing sun in black robes and white dresses (or pants suits) and sweated our knockers off while we waited to receive the hard-won diplomas of people who were not us. Then, when all the speeches were over and all the names had been called, we marched, dazedly, onto the grass in front of King and Scales, formed a spiraling circle, and passed our diplomas until we came up with our own.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The next day remains in the Top Ten All-Time Worst Days Ever for me. I hope it does for you, as well. That would mean that you still love and miss one another, and also that your life hasn't really been that bad since you stopped singing gaudeamus igitur twice a year and eating Fisherperson's Platter.

Spring has been cold and slow to come fully into herself this season in Northampton. Ivy Day was chilly and rainy. But nevertheless, last weekend, the town was swarmed with women in white, with name tags and tote bags, and the wistful, determined expressions of people who have returned to a place that will always be familiar and yet somehow never be the same, people who have journeyed through time (and airports) to invite their past to meet their future...people who are trying to find a way to squeeze in one more trip to Herrell's before they catch their shuttle back to Bradley.

I hope that these thirteen years have treated you well; that what you learned at Smith, whether it was to remain open-minded when encountering the unfamiliar--such as grapes paired with brown sugar and sour cream for dessert--or to speak up and think hard about what you believe in, has stayed with you and helped you through every victory and every loss.

We never read in the pages of the Alumnae Quarterly about the other kinds of successes in our lives, the brave and beautiful ways we get ourselves through the bankruptcies, miscarriages, divorces, lay-offs, betrayals, illnesses, and the other ugly struggles that come to all of us eventually. I think that's sort of a shame. I consider these things to be the true successes in life; the moments when we rise up amidst adversity and make brave choices and fight our way through. That's the stuff I really wish we were sharing--not that promotions and vacations and babies aren't fantastic; I love hearing about them. But I'd also love to know more about the creative, enlightened ways that each of you has managed to navigate what has been difficult in your lives. How you got sober or recovered when your business failed or found the courage to drop out of medical school and disappoint your parents or leave your spouse or care for your sick mother or whatever it is that you've done bravely these last thirteen years.

Since we don't currently have a forum for exchanging those stories and ideas, I want to take a moment here, on the 22nd of May, 2007, to pause and to acknowledge that for every one of us who has earned her PhD or published six books or married a dreamboat or landed her dream job or bought her dream home or given birth to brilliant children, there are a lot more of us who got a little lost along the way; who made difficult choices between career and family; who quietly left marriages that weren't working or jobs that weren't right; who lost children, or couldn't have them, or had children who were sick. Some of us fled our homes when Hurricane Katrina hit, some of us fled for other reasons, and some of us are still searching for something that really feels like home. Some of us are sick and some of us are nursing spouses or children or parents who are fighting illnesses they may not defeat. And the courage, intelligence, compassion, and strength that these things take are worth applauding.

I hope that all of you are thriving and happy and healthy, but for those of you who aren't--don't let the Quarterly (or anything else) fool you. You are not alone. Whether you are plagued by ambivalence or something easier to diagnose, there is someone among us who is struggling like you.

In the diploma circle it took more time for some of us to find what we had earned than it did for others. If you are feeling lost, I hope you will hang in there, stay on your feet and keep passing to the right (as it were), and yours will come eventually. And if you are one of the ones that have already found the metaphorical diploma with your name on it, I hope you are whooping with delight and throwing your cap up in the air tonight.

Happy Anniversary.
xxoo
Naomi
--
Naomi Graychase
Alumnae Class President, 1994
PO Box 787, Northampton, MA 01061
www.graychase.com
413.527.7806 (v)
928.752.4900 (f)