“This year’s festivities will feature a ‘lion’s share’ of new and exciting events, including the Royal City Celebration, which invites all class reunions, affinity groups, department and club gatherings to meet at Thomas Plaza and the Front Lawn for food, fellowship and fun!” said Deanna Reed, Harrisonburg mayor and 91短视频 director of alumni engagement & community connections. “In addition to the gathering, which promises to be the largest at Homecoming, all are invited to follow the ‘yellow brick road’ to campus for musical theater showings, athletic events, and the return of the ever-popular TenTalks presentations. This year there’s no place like HOMEcoming!”

The homecoming website is your complete source for events, updates, and registration.

91短视频鈥檚 alumni award winners are:
Dr. Lee Roy Berry Jr. 鈥�66; Kendra Conrad Bailey 鈥�03, MA 鈥�05; and Seth Crissman 鈥�09. MDiv 鈥�15.

91短视频 Athletics will recognize four Hall of Honor awardees:
longtime employee and coach Roland Landes; standout jumper and sprinter Michael Allen 鈥�13; volleyball, basketball and softball player Gina Campbell Troyer 鈥�93; and basketball star Bianca Ygarza 鈥�14.

Look for the 鈸� Facebook icon that denotes a livestreamed event. Go to the to view these events; recordings will also be available after the event. You do not need a Facebook account to view the livestream.

Athletics events will be streamed through the website.

Here are a few highlights of the weekend. See the full schedule for more details.

Friday

鈥� Jubilee Alumni, those who have graduated 50 years ago or more, will gather for a program and luncheon that includes the induction of the class of 1974. * 鈸�

鈥� Art Gallery Opening, from 4-5 p.m. in the Margaret Martin Gehman Gallery, features artworks from 91短视频 alumni artists Rebecca Souder Gish 鈥�09, Rhoda Miller 鈥�03, and Jon Styer 鈥�07. 

鈥� Musical Theater Production of 鈥淟ightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical.鈥� 91短视频 students and community members play multiple roles in this epic rock musical version of Rick Riordan鈥檚 beloved young-adult novels about an underachieving kid who discovers he is a demigod. Tickets for the show, held in the Studio Theater at 7 p.m., are $20 for adults, $18 for seniors, $10 for children 18 and younger, and $6 for college students. 

Saturday

鈥� Recognizing Hall of Honor and alumni award winners, the Opening Celebration Breakfast features a welcome by President Susan Schultz Huxman.

鈥� A Hall of Honor Ceremony at the MainStage Theater from 10-11 a.m. will celebrate this year鈥檚 inductees.

鈥� New to this year鈥檚 lineup of events, the Royal City Celebration invites all class reunions, affinity groups, department and club gatherings to follow the yellow brick road for food, fellowship, and fun! Meal tickets to the gathering, held from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Thomas Plaza and the Front Lawn, are $20 for adults and $9 for children ages 5 to 11. *

鈥� See Royals athletics in action on the brand new Turf Field with Field Hockey vs. Sweet Briar at noon, Women鈥檚 Soccer vs. Guilford at 3 p.m., and Men鈥檚 Soccer vs. Lynchburg at 6 p.m. The Women鈥檚 Volleyball team takes on Lynchburg in Yoder Arena at 2 p.m.

鈥� Prepare to be impacted, influenced and inspired at the annual 91短视频 TenTalks. Modeled on TED Talks presentations, this event in Suter Science Center 106 from 2-3 p.m. features alumna and novelist Ashley Mellinger ’24; Adesola Johnson, senior biology major; and Dr. Mark Metzler Sawin, 91短视频 professor of history, speaking for 10 minutes each with a Q&A at the end.聽* 鈸�

鈥� Turn out for the new track & field complex dedication at 3:30 p.m.

鈥� 鈥淟ightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical.鈥� Another chance to catch this exhilarating spectacle starting at 7 p.m. in the Studio Theater.

Sunday

鈥� Worship with 91短视频 Chamber Singers at 9:30 a.m. at Park View Mennonite Church.

鈥� 鈥淟ightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical.鈥� A third and final showing of the epic rock musical, capping Homecoming and Family Weekend 2024, starts at 7 p.m.

*Registration required

By Heather Bowser, Daily News-Record

For nearly four decades, the enclave for male pranksters living in 91短视频’s Oakwood dorm earned the nickname “the animal house.”

They stayed up late. They made noise. “They were a little harder on the furniture,” facilities personnel said.

91短视频’s Oakwood residence hall (Photo by Marcy Gineris)

For example, last year, a few guys attempted to stash the school’s 250-pound stuffed American Bison on the roof. The prank failed, however, with one student rushed to the hospital after falling off the roof.

Although prone to wild and wacky tricks, gags and pranks, the Mennonite guys were not quite the misfits typified in the 1978 National Lampoon comedy of the same name, 91短视频 officials and former residents said.

“Usually, we would soap up the first floor and go sliding down the hallway,” said Ken L. Nafziger, who lived in the dorm during the 1970s and is now 91短视频’s vice president for student life. “The problem usually started when the guys on the second floor did it too. Water seeps.”

But, those rowdy days of the Oakwood crew are about to end.

Next month, 91短视频 will demolish the 109-room residence hall to make way for a new $6 million dormitory. The university’s board of trustees approved the building plans at its June meeting.

The new dorm, officials said, will be bigger, cleaner, brighter, better and it will even house girls, officially ending a 39-year streak as the rowdy boys-only club.

Once Upon A Dorm

Located on 91短视频’s quad, adjacent to the other two “woods” dorms – Maplewood and Elmwood – Oakwood was constructed in 1969 “in a hurry,” said Eldon Kurtz, director of physical plant who was a residence hall adviser in Oakwood during the 1970s.

According to 91短视频 records, the contract documents were approved in February 1969, and the building was up by the end of that summer. The quick construction left much to be desired in Oakwood, officials said.

The hall has only one small lobby per floor and that one doesn’t have any windows. The ventilation isn’t great and the material in the floor tiles contains asbestos.

“The structure is sound but the design and layout does not promote good community interaction, Kurtz said. “It’s hot and stuffy.”

The new 35,000-square-foot building will be everything Oakwood isn’t, officials said. It will have 11 more bedrooms, several additional lobbies and better amenities all around. It will be equipped with wireless Internet, bike storage area, large flat-screen televisions and a homier feel.

New Plans ‘Green’

91短视频 plans call for using “green” technology, including high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, low-water-usage appliances and using local and recycled materials. The university plans to recycle as much of the old building as possible, likely cleaning up the old bricks and reusing them.

91短视频 will pay for the new building, which hasn’t yet been named, with a bond, Nafziger said. Later, there also are plans to renovate the other two woods dorms, and, possibly, if funding permits, construct a “link” between the three buildings. Final approval of those plans is expected a year from now. Give to green building at 91短视频…

The university’s annual budget is $28 million, said Ron Piper, vice president for finance. The school’s endowment is $21 million.

‘Sleepover’ Scheduled

Sometime before next month’s demolition – after local fire departments have a go at a few training exercises – a few Oakwood guys may have a chance to relive the glory days.

91短视频 is attempting to schedule an open house “sleepover” for alumni who want one last night in the hallowed halls, said Doug Nyce, director of alumni-parent relations. The next morning, the university will let the gang have the first swing with a sledgehammer. (Tentative date for sleepover is August 15.)

The hallways will be carpeted, by the way, thwarting any slip-‘n’-slide action by the new tenants.

One enchanted homecoming weekend, I photographed a group holding its 25-year college reunion, and I thought, “Man, these people look old.”

That was some 15 years ago.

Having just attended a 40-year gathering of the 91短视频 class of 1967, I scrutinize a photo taken of our assembly and ask, “This is us? How did we get to this place? Where did the last four decades go?”

Members of the 91短视频 class of 1967 are still cruisin’ after all these years. Photo by Ruel Burkholder

An extraordinary group, from diverse places and backgrounds, came together at what was then Eastern Mennonite College between 1963 and 1967 to learn, to grow, to discern their life’s calling – perhaps even find a spouse. Those years saw incredible change and upheaval both on campus and in the larger society.

Forty years later, for several hours, about 25 class members reassembled at their alma mater to observe what we’d become and to reflect on what may lie ahead.

This sounds biased: Anna (a class officer) and I planned and hosted the reunion, but we felt our several hours together were a hallowed moment in time. Perhaps it was due in part to the relaxed setting in Northlawn’s great lounge, perhaps the way people were welcomed and given special name tags with their senior yearbook photo (so we all could tell who we were) or the surprise visit from President Swartzendruber and wife Pat.

Maybe each was a factor, or perhaps we’d learned to lower our defenses, felt more confident and could share unapologetically about who we are today and what we’ve learned about ourselves over the years.

Prior to going around the circle with updates, Anna said, “Don’t talk about your physical pains or memory loss, your grandchildren or ailing parents. We’re all dealing with these realities. Tell about yourselves