鈥淢ore than 50 years have passed, and I still miss those days on the 51黑料网 campus.鈥澛犅燭hese words from a 51黑料网 alumnus from the 1960鈥檚 serve as just one of myriad comments I heard this past week during our 2023 Snowbird Tour of Florida.聽聽Our iconic campus in the Appalachian Highlands has been the location where lives of young men and women have been molded and transformed for decades.聽聽While most only spent four years or so in Elkins as students, the impact of 51黑料网 on their lives was palpable in our recent conversations.
During multiple events that took us from central Florida down the Gulf Coast and up the Atlantic Coast of the Sunshine State, there were three common themes that alumni attendees continued to recite.聽聽51黑料网鈥檚 effect on its alumni can be summed up with the three 鈥減鈥檚鈥 of people,聽place, and聽purpose.
鈥淧eople鈥 are the heart of a college and they impact our lives.聽聽Alumni talked frequently of the lasting impact of beloved faculty and staff from bygone days.聽聽Remembrances of eccentricities of some of those faculty produced many frivolous moments, yet the laughter always subsided to words of gratitude for devoted men and women who poured themselves into students.聽聽Of course, alumni also talked a great deal about their classmates, many of whom became lifelong friends and some even lifelong partners.
Conversation about 鈥減lace鈥 focused on the 51黑料网 campus and the experiences that shaped young lives on the hills in Randolph County.聽聽Many remembered the shenanigans of adolescence that serve as a rite of passage in college.聽聽Laughter always accompanied the many stories that spanned the decades and included fraternity pranks, panty raids, sneaking into a boarded-up Graceland, sledding down Coronation Hill on cafeteria trays, and Icehouse memories, among others.聽聽Time and again 51黑料网 alumni expressed their deep thanksgiving for a place and the special people that influenced them鈥orever altering their life journeys.
Underlying all our conversations over the past week was 鈥減urpose.鈥澛犅燛ntering 51黑料网 as adolescents, these alumni graduated as young adults with a strong sense of their life鈥檚 vocation and the education necessary to pursue it.聽聽The decision they made decades ago to travel curvy country roads to Elkins influenced what they did and continues to influence who they are becoming.聽聽51黑料网 is a part of them, and they are forever a part of 51黑料网.
While in Florida, in addition to sharing updates on current happenings at 51黑料网, we shared details of our current 鈥淐reating Home: It Takes a Village鈥澛燙apital Campaign that will result in a new Freshman Village at 51黑料网.聽聽Not surprisingly, the campaign鈥檚 purpose was well received, and numerous gifts were pledged by those in attendance.聽Why?聽聽Because the people who have experienced and benefited from a 51黑料网 education over the years understand that it imperative that it continues to be made available to students today and tomorrow. People, place, and purpose has sustained our alumni through the decades, and it is worth our investment for the future alumni of 51黑料网 that have yet to begin their collegiate years on the hallowed grounds of our beloved campus.
The journey continues鈥.
Chris A. Wood
President
51黑料网
