Sesquicentennial was just the beginning. In fact, the success of the 150-year anniversary in culmination with Reunion, Homecoming, the Stonehurst Regatta and Parents Weekend brought around 8,000 additional people to campus and will serve as a model for future years.
This new reincarnation will be called Meliora Weekend and is to be held annually.
?What we hope is to create a new tradition for the College and more generally the university in connecting alumni and friends to the life of this institution,? said Bob Bartlett, associate dean of college alumni relations and development.
?There are many benefits, with the obvious being collaborative programming, resources and a full campus,? said Jen Linton, special events manager.
Although the weekend is already set for Oct. 12 to 14 and planning has been going on for weeks, the decision to make Meliora Weekend a reality was only approved three weeks ago.
The decision to hold the annual weekend was decided in coordination with alumni relations, conference and events, students activities, Fairbanks alumni house, President Thomas Jackson, Dean of the Faculty Thomas LeBlanc, Dean of the College William Green and Students Together in Networking with Graduates, to name a few.
Positive comments about Sesquicentennial Weekend also played a part in forming Meliora Weekend.
?The feedback from participants received was positive, including parents, students and alums,? said Anne-Marie Algier, assistant director of student activities.
Many of the coordinators of Sesquicentennial feel that the weekend brings more importance to each individual event because there will be more people to see it.
Meliora Weekend ?becomes a framework elevating the importance of each individual event and therefore enhancing the quality of these programs,? Bartlett
said.
?The idea of coordinating a number of large-scale events…into a single weekend in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts has real merit in my view,? Paul Burgett, vice president and university dean of students, said.
?That was part of the beauty of Sesqui ? so many activities scheduled in one weekend brought greater numbers of people to campus and created a bigger feel and a festive atmosphere. While we can?t recreate a weekend event on the scale of Sesqui anytime soon, I am hoping that we can ?do that again? on a somewhat smaller scale by coordinating several events into a single weekend,? he continued.
While Meliora weekend will be somewhat similar to Sesqui weekend, there will also be some additions and differences. In the weeks leading up to the weekend, coordinators plan to have several ?Meliora Nights? that will be organized regionally as high profile alumni events. Roughly 13 of these nights are in the works.
In addition, student activities is hoping to be able to include more student groups, such as Radiance and D?Motions for instance. ?One thing that will be a little different that Sesqui is that we plan on having more opportunity for typical student programs this year,? Algier said.
?The schedule was so packed last year there just wasn?t space for some programs that typically happened during the weekend. We will be making a concerted effort to include those programs this year,? she continued.
Perhaps one of the key differences will be that each year Meliora weekend will be themed. This year the theme will be freedom.
?The idea behind the theme is to bring a central focus ?it brings a backbone to the weekend,? sophomore and STING president Bryan Rotach said. ?It should be fun but it should be half-entertainment, half-education. It creates a focal point of ideas.?
Some of the programs for the weekend may include ideas such as free agency in sports, freedom of speech where journalists will speak on their experiences and artistic freedom. There may also be speakers concerning the loss of freedom, such as political prisoners like Terry Anderson or Holocaust survivors like Eli Weisel.
Although the theme of the weekend is definite, the programs such as the ones mentioned are still in the works.
As to problems that may occur, those planning the event seem to feel confident that Sesqui prepared them for anything.
?The nice thing that Sesqui gave us was a trial run for anything that could have happened. If you get through a Sesqui, you can get through almost anything,? Bartlett said.
There also doesn?t seem to be a whole lot of apprehension that students can?t find anything to do during the weekend.
?You weigh it together ? if students say there is nothing to do on campus and you can jam pack a weekend full of events, they can?t really complain,? Rotach said.
of these programs,? Bartlett said.
?The idea of coordinating a number of large-scale events … into a single weekend in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts has real merit in my view,? said Vice President and University Dean of Students Paul Burgett.
?That was part of the beauty of Sesqui ? so many activities scheduled in one weekend brought greater numbers of people to campus and created a bigger feel and a festive atmosphere,? he continued.
While Meliora Weekend will be somewhat similar to Sesqui weekend, there will also be some additions and differences.
In the weeks leading up to the weekend, coordinators plan to have several ?Meliora Nights? that will be organized regionally as high-profile alumni events. Roughly 13 of these nights are in the works.
In addition, Student Activities is hoping to be able to include more student groups, such as Radiance Dance Theater and D?Motions.
?One thing that will be a little different that Sesqui is that we plan on having more opportunity for typical student programs this year,? Algier said.
?The schedule was so packed last year there just wasn?t space for some programs that typically happened during the weekend. We will be making a concerted effort to include those programs this year,? she continued.
Perhaps one of the key differences will be that each year Meliora Weekend will be themed. For 2001, the theme will be freedom.
?The idea behind the theme is to bring a central focus ?it brings a backbone to the weekend,? sophomore and STING president Bryan Rotach said. Rotach helped plan Sesquicentennial Weekend.
?It should be fun but it should be half-entertainment, half-education. It creates a focal point of ideas,? he continued.
Some of the programs for the weekend may include ideas such as artistic freedom, free agency in sports and freedom of speech where journalists will speak on their experiences. There may also be speakers concerning the loss of freedom, such as political prisoners or Holocaust survivors.
Although the theme of the weekend is definite, specific programs are still in the works.
As to problems that may occur, those planning the event seem to feel confident that Sesquicentennial prepared them for anything.
?The nice thing that Sesqui gave us was a trial run for anything that could have happened. If you get through a Sesqui, you can get through almost anything,? Bartlett said.
There also doesn?t seem to be much apprehension that students won?t find anything to do during the weekend.
?You weigh it together ? if students say there is nothing to do on campus and you can jam pack a weekend full of events, they can?t really complain,? Rotach said.
