A 2015 graduate talks about friendships maintained. A 1965 graduate does the same as he stands with four classmates. They may have been 50 years apart in graduation years, but that sense of community remains the same. 

“The campus is much bigger,” Bruce Hamilton ’65 said, “but it’s still the same place.” 

It’s the place that brought back more than 700 people for Reunion Weekend June 6–8. Packed into the weekend were events ranging from golf on Friday to class dinners and all-class dancing on Saturday. Head of School Jody Reilly Soja held a session on all that had happened at the school in her first year and another on the strategic-planning initiative. The Class of 2020, which had been denied many senior-year events when COVID-19 forced all schools to shut down, had a Class Night five years later with about 40 members of the class attending.  

Rosie Carter ’15 was in the bookstore on Saturday morning getting some Loomis Chaffee gear. She grew up outside of London and now works and lives in London. She had been back once, “in 2017 for a friend’s graduation.” They had met in an art class. “We bonded and we’re still friends now, and I’m still friends with a lot of people from Loomis,” Rosie said. 

She talked about her favorite spots on campus. “Sitting and looking out over the playing fields,” she said. “That was beautiful. And I did track and field, so the track was a great spot because of the community. I went for a run on the track this morning, which was really nice, really nostalgic. So those two spots, that kind of community feel on the track and then a spot [where] you’re on your own but you’re not, looking out at nature, and it’s beautiful.” 

That word — community — also came up a lot when Jody spoke with alumni in the Norris Ely Orchard Theater. Jody told them about some new gatherings this year — Chapel Talks, followed by dessert at the Head’s House; student meditations at all-school meetings; and dorm dinners at the Head’s House.  

In preparation for the dinners, Jody said she would ask students in the dorms three questions: Where are you from? What are your their favorite movies of all time? And if you had to sing karaoke, which song would it be? “I didn’t know who a lot of the artists were or the songs,” she said with a laugh, “but all that inspired other activities.” One girl’s favorite movie was The Princess Bride, a movie near and dear to Jody, too. Next thing you know, there’s a dorm movie night. “Jen Solomon, the dorm head in Richmond, and I were saying it was more fun to watch the girls watch the movies than to watch the movie itself,” Jody said. 

At the heart of all that — and the monthly Chapel Talks — was community-building.  Students also shared stories in all-school meetings, a much larger setting than the Chapel Talks. Speaking in front of the entire student body and faculty, said Jody, takes nerve, but students’ willingness to do so struck her as a testament to students feeling safe and secure in the community. 

Plans are under way to continue building the sense of community next year, including the return of occasional community dinners and upgrades to the student center, or SNUG, whose location has changed over the years but which always has been a place to hang out, relax, and enjoy shared experiences. A place to belong. 

Belonging was a theme of a presentation by the Center for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in which four students talked about their Loomis Chaffee experiences. A student from Kenya talked about sharing and embracing her culture and learning about other cultures. Another student who has never been too far from his home in Connecticut said that, simply by being on campus, he was able to experience different parts of the world through others. Yet another student described their becoming more empathetic and “opening myself up to people I normally would not talk to. ... If you open up, others will open up.” 

A steadier rain found its way to campus on Saturday afternoon, but not before the Alumni Parade of Classes stepped off from just outside the Nichols Center for Theater and Dance. They were led by a bagpiper. Right behind was Lu Cascio ’53. Leading the parade, he said, was not that important. What was important was “that I am healthy enough to be here at 90.” Among his recollections of his time on the Island: “It was a warm and friendly place, and I was always busy.” 

Fifth Reunion celebrants, the Class of 2020, marched at the end of the parade. Said one member: “We left for spring break, and it just happened quickly, that spring break would be indefinite. It was surreal at the time, and then it was sad. We did a lot of crying on FaceTime. I was talking to one of the [housekeepers] yesterday, and it was weird for them. They had to pack up stuff for us.” She laughed. “No one wants to go through high school kids’ stuff — that’s not fun.” 

The parade ended in Grubbs Quadrangle with food trucks serving lunch. One truck, by the end of the two-hour lunch period, had made about 145 pizzas, about one every 90 seconds.    

The class of 2020 had a lot of fun on Saturday night. Fred Seebeck, who taught for 37 years on the Island (1983–2020), addressed the students in the chapel as did Class Speaker Ryan Jones. Ryan did not use the speech he wrote for Commencement, but one that reflected where he and his classmates are now in their lives — post-college: “It seems that everyone is moving in various directions at various points in their respective journeys. There’s an air of uncertainty. It’s an exciting uncertainty, but it’s uncertainty.” There was a slideshow set to music with a lot of “aw”s and laughter coming from the attendees. And at the end, there was champagne, the libation served by faculty with a toast given by Tim Lawrence, the dean of academics and curriculum.   

Fred ended his address with what he called “my life’s mantra, composed by philosopher theologian John Wesley:  

‘Do all the good you can, 

In all the ways you can 

In all the places you can 

At all the times you can 

To all the people you can 

As long as you ever can.’” 

Fred then wished them “good fortune, long, healthy lives, and joy.” 

Sharing a sense of joy with others — being in community with one another — is what these Reunion Weekend was all about. 

That feeling was evident in four classmates hanging out in the Pearse Hub for Innovation (PHI), one of them making a pencil box with the Loomis crest etched into some of the wood. Meanwhile, a young girl stood over the laser printer that was taking a drawing of her dog and her signature and imprinting it on a panel that would become part of the pencil box. “Fun in the PHI” was the name of the session, led by Scott McClintic ’82, director of innovation, who has taught at Loomis for more than 30 years and knew many of those who drifted through the PHI. The young girl’s mother, celebrating her 25th Reunion, traveled from the Boston area with her family to take part in the weekend festivities. She said she enjoyed sharing this piece of her history with her family. 

Another session, “Loomis and the Age of ChatGPT,” was led by faculty member Matt Johnson, who told the crowd that the school is navigating the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with curiosity, not certainty, while keeping the school’s values and mission in mind. Matt mentioned We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, a favorite book of his young daughter. The book includes the lines: “Uh-oh. A river. A deep cold river. We can't go over it. We can’t go under it. Oh no. We've got to go through it.” 

Applying that philosophy to AI, Matt said, “How do we go through it? We do what we always do. We teach the students how to live in this world.”