Middlebury College fetes mid-year

graduates with annual ski-down celebration on Feb. 3

MIDDLEBURY, Vt.―Eighty-six

students from the class of 2001 expect to receive bachelor of arts

degrees from Middlebury College upon the mid-year completion of their

academic requirements at the liberal arts institution in Vermont.

These graduates first entered College during the spring term instead

of the fall, and subsequently earn degrees mid-year. Because they

must nevertheless wait until May to receive actual diplomas, the

College plans a special mid-winter celebration to more immediately

honor their accomplishment. This year, the annual “ski-down” in cap

and gown will take place on Saturday, Feb. 3, at the Middlebury

College Snow Bowl in the nearby Green Mountains.

Following the custom initiated by

mid-year graduates over a decade ago, most students choose to

participate one way or another in the festive procession on the

slopes. Led by a Middlebury College standard-bearer, honorees ride

the chairlift up the mountain and parade back down again in a

procession of caps and gowns, blue and white balloons, skis,

snowboards, sometimes snowshoes, sometimes toboggans—and even,

once, a canoe—to the cheers and hearty congratulations of

family, friends, and College faculty and staff waiting

below.

The College also looks forward to

seeing its ski-down graduates return 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.

For more information, contact Glenna

Emilo, Middlebury College campus event coordinator,

802-443-5335.

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