Gathering Across Generations

Benjy Renton ’21, who returned to Middlebury in 2026 for his 5-year class reunion, reflects on the experience of hearing from the classes of 1951 through 2021 at Convocation. 

The word “convocation” comes from the Latin convocare, meaning to call or come together. 

And this year, the largest group of Middlebury alumni ever—more than 2,300 in total—returned to campus to celebrate Reunion. Driven in part by the pandemic causing many to miss their last reunion (with the 10th class having never celebrated on campus) and a record 45% participation from our Class of 2021, this year’s reunion brought together alumni from one-third of the College’s history to pick off where we left off half a decade ago. 

As speakers from the classes of 1951 (with two celebrating their 75th reunion) to 2021 recounted memories from days of yore (some through haikus), it was as much a woven tapestry of Middlebury experiences as it was a world history lesson and anthropological study, capturing the zeitgeist of each generation of students and even the music they listened to.

In the 1950s, tuition was $1,200 a year, chapel was mandatory, women had a curfew and students all wore the same beanies. In the 1990s, students set up emails for the first time as some studied abroad during the fall of the Berlin Wall, bringing pieces back to the U.S. As the speeches continued, paper gave way to phones as members of the Class of 2006 talked about bringing Blackberries to campus. 

But beneath all the hugs and renditions of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” is a deeper sense of connection to this place. Inscribed on the Chapel is a verse from Psalm 95:4: “The Strength of the Hills is His Also.” There is a permanence to Middlebury as an institution, and we return to pay it forward for every future of the next generation. 

In just five years, the Class of 2021 is a class of doctors and lawyers, social workers and scientists. At a time when human connection is under threat from an epidemic of loneliness, and the value of higher education as a whole is being questioned, nearly 300 returned to Vermont. As we made our way to our class dinner, the heavy rain gave way to a double rainbow arcing over Middlebury Falls. Maybe it was the hills talking.

Thank you to all who made Reunion 2026 a huge success.