July 8, 2025

Reunion registration is finally here!

After talking with dozens of alumni over the past few months, we’ve drafted a schedule that I hope will entice you to come home to Bennington this fall. 

I’m excited about what we have planned this year (see the Reunion website for a draft schedule). Aside from fun events, parties, and workshops, we’re setting aside spaces throughout campus for alumni to hang out and reconnect with classmates or meet other alumni from their era.

To make this Reunion memorable, I need your help. Specifically, I’m looking for volunteers to help organize:

1. An arts and crafts show with student and alumni work;
2. A “career fair”/networking event for alumni to meet with students;
3. An open mic/storytelling event;
4. A Friday night party in the Carriage Barn (after 24 Hour Plays); and,
5. Special one-off events like yoga at the End of the World, AA meetings, or other pop-up workshops and fun activities.

You can sign up to volunteer by filling out this form. I’m also hoping that if you’re planning to attend, you can help recruit your classmates and other alumni to join you in attending Reunion.

Reunion weekend, as it has in the past, will coincide with the College’s Fall Weekend festivities, designed for students and families. That gives us, as alumni, a chance to connect with students and families and share insights into what life is like “after Bennington.” Especially, we can reassure nervous parents that yes, indeed, your student will be well-prepared for the real world.

I hope to see you on campus this fall! 

Again, here is the registration link. 

You can book a discounted room at Hotel Vervana or the Knotty Pine. Let them know you’re part of the Bennington College Reunion group to get a discounted rate. We are working to reserve blocks of rooms at additional area hotels and will add them to this list as we secure spots. Here is a handy list of additional places to stay, if you don’t want to wait. 

Alumni Odds & Updates

Aside from planning Reunion and helping to organize events around the country, I’ve been working on other ways to keep alumni connected to each other, students, and the College. 

Here are a handful of updates:

• As I’ve mentioned, one of my goals in this first year as Director of Alumni Engagement is to relaunch an official Alumni Association, which was shut down in 1997. With alumni help, we can launch this at Reunion. I’ve had such incredible support and guidance from fellow alumni so far that I know we can build something sustainable and reflective of our unique way of moving through this world. If you’d like to be part of that conversation and/or volunteer to lead a chapter in your community, fill out this form. My plan is to host a few Zoom meetings over the summer, an on-campus session during Reunion, and start planning out key events for 2026. Those events include alumni events during FWT and a summer, on-campus alumni volunteer retreat.
• I’m working with the Dean of Faculty John Bullock and Director of CAPA Susan Sgorbati on an alumni-taught course to pilot in Spring 2026. If you’d like to present to students during that course, email me! It’s open to alumni from all decades and disciplines. 
• There is still one more chance to spend time together before Reunion. There is a summer picnic happening on Saturday, July 26, from 4:00–7:00 pm at the home of the Hendricks Churchill family (’91, ’25, ’28) in Sharon, Connecticut. It’s rain or shine. RSVP here. 
• Please share any life or career updates (or plug a project) in the Class Notes section of Bennington Magazine. Here’s the link to submit your update.

Onward,

Shay Totten '91
Director of Alumni and Constituent Engagement