1971 – Spring ’21 Class Letter
1971 – Spring 2021 Class Letter
Greetings, Class of 1971!
Dear Classmates,
Our 50th Class Reunion is this year and one has to wonder where the time has gone. Many successes have happened to us since that special occasion that can be attributed to the education we received so many years ago. Our continued financial support of this vital mission will ensure incoming classes will experience the best quality education possible. Our 50th Class Reunion is scheduled during the new date of Alumni Weekend: August 6 – 8, 2021.
We will be sharing our Reunion celebration with the Class of 1970 as their Reunion was canceled this past year. The goal is to get as many classmates as possible to celebrate our 50 years of success that started at Ripon College. This will be a great time to come back together as a class to reminisce and catch up on 50 years of experiences. I invite any classmates interested in assisting in the planning of our Reunion to contact me. Areas needing assistance include the Memorabilia Room, Service of Remembrance, and our class memory book. You can use the 50th Reunion Memory Book paper form or complete the form online at www.ripon.edu/50reunion to share your “mini history of your life these past 50 years.” I want to invite all of you to consider spending a weekend at Ripon and enjoy some fellowship with your classmates.
Alumni Weekend 2021 will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen with two distinct summer weekends of Ripon alumni programming for us. No matter how you’d like to connect, virtually or in person, the Office of Constituent Engagement is developing a variety of activities to continue to follow CDC, Fond du Lac County and College guidelines in both June and August. Full schedules, lodging, and programming details will be posted soon to www.ripon.edu/alumni-weekend.
JUNE 2021
- In honor of our June Alumni Weekend traditions, virtual alumni programming will be held Tuesday, June 22 through Saturday, June 26, and will include: an alumni town hall, R Connections webinars, affinity socials, a summer book club, and special video recognition of the 2020 and 2021 Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees.
- The only in-person event, the Doc Weiske ’50 Memorial Golf Scramble, will be held off-campus on Friday, June 25.
AUGUST 2021
A combination of virtual and in-person Alumni Weekend programming will be held the first week of August. We will continue to evaluate the state of COVID-19. If circumstances change at the local and national level and we need to cancel in-person programming, that decision will be made and communicated by July 1, 2021.
- Virtual programming will be held Tuesday, August 3 through Saturday, August 7 and will include: a reunion-focused alumni town hall that also previews the new academic year, additional R Connections webinars, the summer book club capstone, and the traditional “That Was Then” storytelling session.
- In-person, on-campus programming will be held Friday, August 6 through Sunday, August 8 and will focus on alumni awards recognition; 2020 and 2021 reunion celebration including our Golden R Club induction, and will feature other outdoor events like Rally Run and prairie walk.
- Additionally, the Class of 2020 will officially be welcomed to our alumni community with a special commencement ceremony.
Campus News
Classes officially started on January 25, 2021, with a mix of in-person, online, and hybrid (part online and part in-person) formats. The weekend before classes started, the entire campus community (all students, faculty, and staff) were required to take a COVID-19 test, which was administered on campus in Great Hall resulting in a less than one percent positivity rate. Beginning on February 1, 2021, the College began random weekly surveillance testing where approximately a quarter of the College community will be tested.
Admission numbers for 2022 are looking up as there is a 30% increase in deposits and a 40% increase in student-athlete applications.
As of March 17, 2021, we had 32 class members donate to the Ripon Fund. This is a great start toward meeting our class goal. I encourage all classmates to support our efforts in making our 50th Class Reunion gift the best in recent years.
As we look back at our experiences at Ripon, we can all see the benefits we derived from that special time. In some way, the Ripon Fund assisted all of us. It underwrites all aspects of yearly operations, including but not limited to laboratory supplies, technological innovations, library resources, faculty support, financial aid and scholarships, athletics, opportunities to study abroad, the arts, and facilities. Thanks to those of you that supported the Ripon this past year. I urge your consideration to increase this year’s gift in recognition of all we have accomplished because of Ripon College.
I look forward to seeing you at our Class Reunion in August!
Sincerely,
Jim Beisner ’71
(770) 570-7725 / [email protected]
Your 1971 Class Agent