Three years in the making, the long-awaited film, Enter to Learn, Go forth to Serve: the First 100 Years of Keene State College, will premiere at the Colonial Theatre in Keene on Friday, October 1st, kicking off the Alumni Fall Festival & Homecomig weekend. Emeriti faculty member Larry Benequist and a host of talented production staff have spent countless hours creating this wonderful documentary chronicling the history of Keene State College. He has researched college documents, ancient film footage, slides, yearbooks, and ephemera and interviewed more than 100 alumni, former and current administrators, faculty, and staff.

Dr. Benaquist showed part of the film to a packed house last year during the centennial Reunion.Tickets for the big event will be available in September. You’ll definitely want to mark this one on your calendar!

This Saturday afternoon, the Mason Library is having its piece of the Centennial pie.

Library tours will start at 1:30 p.m.; Ernest Hebert ‘69 (also a former Keene State writer-in-residence and honorary degree recipient, Keene native, and author of ten books, including the Darby series) will give a talk entitled “Keepers of the Flame” at 2.

As part of the Centennial, the department of Communication, Journalism, and Philosophy has sponsored a timeline of the almost 100 years of student newspapers at Keene State.

Professors Julio Del Sesto and Rose Kundanis will present this timeline Friday, November 6, at 4 p.m. in the Media Arts Center Atrium. Join us as we celebrate the Equinox — and earlier versions of the student newspaper.

To RSVP or for more information, contact Rose Kundanis.

Irene Herold, Dean of Mason Library, is hoping to identify KSC Alums who have gone on to be employed in the library profession. While KSC does not have library program/courses offered, we do know some former students have entered the field.

If you are such a person (or know one), please contact her, as we are planning a special centennial event this November at the Library and would like to extend invitations.

This year the Clarence DeMar Marathon will again be partnering with Keene State College to celebrate our Centennial. The marathon is named for a seven-time winner of the Boston Marathon and former Keene Normal School faculty member. The race will be held on Sunday, September 27, starting in Gilsum and ending on Appian Way.

Among the ways that KSC is participating this year are:

• President Giles-Gee will be the official starter for the marathon.
• The design for the shirt and the medal was chosen from designs submitted by students in one of Bob Kostick’s graphic designs classes. It’s beautiful and commemorates our Centennial.
• There will be a special Keene State College division for marathon runners (faculty, staff, students and alumni) with a plaque for the top KSC male and female finisher. Register online, and then e-mail Ockle Johnson so he can add you to the list of KSC runners. And encourage any KSC-affiliated runners you know to register, too!
• Members of the KSC Cross Country teams and others will be providing directions along the course. If you would like to help out on the course providing directions at your favorite turn or helping at the finish line on Appian Way, please contact Ockle as soon as possible.

The Grand Centennial Reunion is this weekend!

We’re expecting more than 500 alumni and guests at this point. And you’re not too late to get in on the action. A few of the events we have planned:

• An alumni preview screening of the first 40 minutes of the Centennial film on Friday night. Call us at (603) 358-2106 to reserve a seat.
• Fireworks for all at 9:40 on the A-Field, and a social in the Redfern Arts Center
• Saturday morning tours of campus with student tour guides
• Decade tents on Fiske Quad, also Saturday morning
• The Music Majors Luncheon and Jazz Ensemble Alumni ‘rehearsal’ session in the Band room
• The Annual Meeting Luncheon of the Alumni Association
• A Saturday afternoon commemorative photo with 1-0-0 spelled out in alums wearing red Centennial t-shirts — you won’t want to be left out of that!
• Renderings of the new Alumni Center and a beam for alumni to sign in support of the Center
• Saturday night BBQ on the Quad and dance featuring the Tom Foolery Band. Tickets will be on sale for $10 at the door.
• Sunday morning brunch, hosted by President Helen Giles-Gee

For more information about Reunion, including a complete schedule, visit our reunion webpage.

If you’ll be on campus this summer – especially if you’re coming to Reunion – check out the Centennial exhibit at the Thorne. It’s a real walk down memory lane that includes lots of photographs and memorabilia documenting 100 great years of campus history. You just might find yourself in one of the photos. Let us know if you do!

The exhibit also features some of Andy Warhol’s  Polaroid and silver-gelatin prints that the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program donated to KSC. It’s the first time they’ll be on public display. The show opens for Reunion weekend, Friday, June 5, from noon to 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sunday, June 7, from noon to 4 p.m.

What are they watching? Were you there? Are you in this picture? Comments, por favor.

More information.

Remember last year, when we kicked off the Centennial festivities with a night at the Swamp Bats? No? Boy, howdy, did you miss a good time. President Giles-Gee threw out an excellent first pitch, hall of fame athletes came to help out, we had a few laughs at the alumni tent, and there were giveaways galore. Plus, you know, great Swamp Bats baseball.

And the festivities continue with another game this summer, June 20 at 7 p.m. You won’t want to miss it; we’ll post more details here as they become available.

The one detail we can share now: The College is giving away a bunch of tickets, at a bunch of times, including but not limited to Grand Reunion. Watch for your chance to join us for free.

The Alumni & Parent Relations office is busy, busy busy these days with registrations for the June 5-7 Grand Reunion coming in by the hour!

We’re all hands on deck to be sure you and your guests have a great time:

• Kay MacLean, the Event and Program Coordinator, has been organizing most of the 15 events for the weekend, including catering and entertainment details.
• Andrew Cunningham, Web Communications Coordinator, developed the online registration software.
• Pauline Dionne, College Ceremony Coordinator, has been cataloging online registration responses with painstaking detail to ensure you all get the right accommodation assignments and event tickets at the check in tables.
• And Alumni volunteers have been hard at work for months preparing the event schedule and making visual displays spanning our hundred-year history.

Want more information about who’s going and what’s planned? We thought you’d never ask. A listing of Alums who have consented to share their attendance in advance of the big celebration and a full schedule of events with online registration can be found at the KSC alumni webpage.

Were you on campus, or near campus, or even on Rt. 9 between Keene and Concord on Weds., April 15th? If so, you probably saw something of the big splash we made as just part of our Centennial celebration. Early that morning in Concord, NH, Gov. Lynch signed a special KSC Centennial proclamation and handed it off to the first in a long line of relay runners and walkers who hand carried the document all the way back to campus for a big birthday celebration that included fireworks and a giant (and I mean giant) cake!

If you were driving from Keene to Concord during the day, you might have seen the relay runners along Rt. 9. Maybe you even showed up on campus that evening and got a piece of the delicious cake and thrilled to the fireworks and all the enthusiasm. Even if you were just somewhere near campus, you probably saw the fireworks and heard the cheers.

Our intrepid Lucy Webb, who spent the entire day manning Centennial Command Central, kept a rolling blog going that tracked the doings each step of the way. Visit it to see the day’s events and some of the great photos and video coverage (including the fireworks!), and let us know what you think.