Annual ski-down procession at Middlebury College Snow Bowl on Feb. 3

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January 18, 2007

Mid-year graduates to be fêted with special celebration

Mid-year graduates congratulate each other during the college's 2007 ski-down celebrationPhotos by Trent Campbell

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – At the end of Middlebury College’s winter term, many students will celebrate the closing of their undergraduate college careers. More than 110 students from the class of 2007 will earn bachelor of arts degrees from Middlebury upon the mid-year completion of their academic requirements, officially on March 1.

As part of a congratulatory weekend for these graduates, the annual “ski-down” procession in cap and gown will take place on Saturday, Feb. 3, at the Middlebury College Snow Bowl in Hancock.

The college offers admission to students twice each year, in September and again in February. A program in its own right at Middlebury since the 1970s, February admissions is designed to allow some first-year students to begin their college studies in the spring semester after high school graduation instead of starting immediately in the fall.

As these students complete their undergraduate careers, the college honors their accomplishments with a weekend-long mid-winter celebration. Following the custom initiated by mid-year graduates more than two decades ago, most

Scott Buckley, who received the Jason Fleishman Award at a ceremony earlier in the day, joins the procession on a rescue sled guided by fellow mid-year grad and member of the ski patrol Courtney Matson.

students choose to participate one way or another in the ski-down event, a festive procession on the slopes. Led by a Middlebury College standard-bearer, honorees ride the chairlift or trek up the mountain to ply their way back down in a procession of caps and gowns, regalia-bedecked faculty, skis, snowboards and snowshoes to the cheers and hearty congratulations of family, friends and college faculty and staff waiting below.

The college community looks forward to seeing its March graduates return later each spring, when they join the rest of their class at the official commencement ceremony on the main campus in May.

For more information prior to the event, contact the Middlebury College Alumni and Parent Programs Office at (802) 443-5183.