Dear Friends,

I’m writing to you from the beautiful reading room in the new Chalmer’s Library. This is not to be confused with the “old” Chalmers Library of our time, or the Olin Library which started as we left and is now defunct. (Not that we’re old or anything). The new library is spectacular and changes as the sun moves across the sky. I take great joy in sitting in this library with nothing to do. It is an amazing place to sit (or sleep as the students around me are doing). Sitting here, I can’t help but be thankful for the gift of a Kenyon education and the opportunity to spend time on this beautiful campus. I am also thankful for you! As we grow older, I’m aware that 40-year friendships don’t happen that frequently, and the relationships formed at Kenyon continue to enrich my life daily.

I am on campus for Homecoming and Kenyon Fund Executive Committee (KFEC) meetings this weekend. It seems that while life changes, Kenyon – especially Middle Path, is always the same. As Susan Berger says, “If you sit on Middle Path long enough, people you love will show up!” Although I haven’t seen anyone from our class this weekend, I’ve seen friends from a variety of class years who are here for reunion planning, Alumni Council, or committee work.

If you haven’t been here for a while, I want to encourage you to come back in the near future. There will be a K80’s reunion in the spring, the Kenyon Bicentennial is in 2024, and our 40th (yikes) reunion is in 2025. If you haven’t saved the date yet for 2023 Reunion Weekend, remember that all alumni are welcome to attend May 26-28.  Last year’s “all alumni Reunion” was a blast as I was able to hang out with people from the classes around us. Please plan to come!

I also want to ask you to remember your college experience and consider giving of your time, talent, and treasure. This weekend I had the opportunity to meet with a group of seniors and talk about their career plans/concerns/worries. We had a wonderful chat and I had to laugh, they are worrying about the same things we worried about years ago. Current students would love to meet you (and hear that things will work out). It might be as easy as connecting on LinkedIn.
 
The Kenyon Fund is a budget relieving fund that helps with everything from faculty salaries, to lawn mowing, to food in Pierce. This year our goal is $5.4 Million. That equates to $3,000 of support for each student on campus.  While students don’t “see” the money directly, they are helped indirectly by the ways that the Fund supports the whole campus.  Gifts to the Kenyon Fund can be directed toward enrolling the next high-achieving group of students through the Kenyon Access Initiative, broader scholarships and financial aid efforts, athletics, one of the College’s many green centers and more. Please consider making your Kenyon and today’s students a philanthropic priority this year by giving online at gift.kenyon.edu.

Thanks to all of you who submitted class notes!  I hope to hear (and see) many more of you in the spring! Please just send a sentence or two and tell us what you’re doing!

In friendship,
 Schwens
Aka Mary Schwendener

P.S.  The College has an underground parking garage!?  You have to see it.