January 30, 1999

Middlebury College Fetes Mid-Year Graduates with
Annual Ski-Down Celebration Jan. 30

Bachelor of Arts degrees from Middlebury College
will be received by 73 students from the Class of 1999 upon the
mid-year completion of their academic requirements at the liberal
arts institution in Vermont.

Although March graduates earn their degrees months
earlier than the rest of their classmates because they enter the
College a semester earlier, they must still wait until May to
receive their actual diplomas. To more immediately honor their
accomplishment, however, the College invites students to participate
in a special mid-winter celebration: a weekend of receptions,
dinners, speakers and a special address to the senior class by
the College president in Mead Chapel followed by a ski-down in
cap and gown in the nearby Green Mountains.

Following the custom initiated by mid-year graduates
over a decade ago, most students choose the College’s ski facility-the
Middlebury College Snow Bowl-for the site of outdoor festivities.
After skiing down Worth Mountain’s long-favored trail, the Allen,
led by a Middlebury College standard-bearer in a parade of blue
and white balloons, skis, ski-poles, snowboards, mortar boards,
flapping gowns and flying tassels, yahoos and hoorays, the skiing
honorees meet at the bottom of the slope for more cheers and hearty
congratulations from family, friends, and College faculty and
staff.

The College then looks forward to seeing its ski-down
graduates return to campus later each spring, when they join the
rest of their graduating class at the College’s official commencement
ceremony on the main campus in May.