NTID Reunion, Day 3

Walked around the campus some more with friends. Although it was Saturday, we managed to get into some of the buildings and peek into the classrooms and offices. I found that the College of Science building now had a sit-down eating area that was not there in my time. One of my friends took numerous photographs and he will be putting together a website.

In the cafeteria, I had the pleasure of meeting alumni from even earlier years, and later that night, actually met someone from the SVP of 1969! It was like meeting royalty.

In the afternoon, I explored the Dyer arts center (which was built with the help of contributions from deaf alumni) some more. The arts center replaced an outdoor quad, and some of us alumni were nostalgic for the quad. The arts center had videos playing of a young David Strom, starring in several theater productions. Unfortunately with so much to do, I did not have the time to stay and watch all of it..a tape was also playing of the very large 25th aniversary celebration.

There was also a poignant exhibit: NTID remembers... a large poster with the names of all the NTID alumni who are no longer with us. Alumni were gathering around that poster, looking for the names of people they had known, and sharing memories of those people. I found the names of Alberto Ramirez, my friend from the summer of 1984, and Beth Krieger, who had been my roommate at Gallaudet after she transferred from NTID along with me and several others. I knew that somewhere on the campus there was a tree that honored Alberto, but despite asking someone who knew where the tree was, I could not find it - the plaque that had been placed there to honor Alberto, was apparently gone.

With no workshops in the afternoon, the afternoon was spent milling around, and enjoying myself at a carnival. The carnival had primarily kid games, but the alumni really enjoyed themselves at the "soak 'em" game where someone sits and a ball is thrown in an attempt to make water cascade down on the "victim." When the folks running the game asked "Who wants to soak Dave Strom" there was a huge chorus of "Me!!!!" I tried but failed to soak Strom, while Steven Baier was successful. If anyone has a photograph of a very cold and wet Dave Strom, please send it to me so that I can add it here!

Dinner was a long relaxed affair (at which when I remarked that I had forgotten how much walking we had had to do long ago via the quarter mile, my tablemate remarked in response, "I forgot how much energy we had had!"), followed by the closing ceremonies. Mary Beth Mothersell (the former Mary Beth Barber, a previous Miss Deaf America) introduced speakers. Bob Davila addressed alumni and commented that while he had an honorary degree from NTID, he did not have an SVP experience. Davila said that he could see how important that SVP experience is to NTID students.

Alan Hurwitz made a long presentation on the history of NTID and talked about its future. This future includes a far more diverse student body, more international students, and more students with cochlear implants. An important sign of progress is that while in the 80s maybe 8 percent of NTID students continued their studies at RIT, today more than 40 percent do! He also talked about NTID's need for outreach to the deaf students of tomorrow now that most are mainstreamed - it is harder for today's deaf students to learn that an NTID even exists. Another point was that the college also needs financial support from its alumni. (According to an exhibit on NTID's history in the Dyer arts center, the total number of alumni is over 5,000 to date).

Hurwitz also said NTID hopes to build a new building in between the Dining Commons and the LBJ building. I talked with friends and we all agreed that the new building, if it gets built, ought to be named after Dr. William E. Castle, the former director of NTID. Most alumni have fond memories of him.

One of the best parts of the closing ceremonies was when they quickly ran through ALL of the SVP signs, asking people from each SVP to stand as their sign was shown. Another highlight was an entertaining and sometimes challenging, "Who wants to be an NTIDAire" game. While most questions were easy, a few were tricky and several were based on NTID heritage. Several people thought that Sunshine Too was a student theater group from the 80s, while the correct answer was Prism and Co.

And Prism and Co. presented the evening's entertainment, signing songs as loud music played in the SAU cafeteria. It was great to feel that loud music again, and see them perform again.