Senior Alumni Dinner Begins Grad Process

More than 400 alumni and seniors attended the annual Senior-Alumni Dinner in Love Gym on Friday. The dinner, which began at 6:30 p.m. and lasted over two and a half hours, marks the beginning of the Class of 2017’s transition to graduation.

The evening included the presentation of the President’s Award to Pablo Barrutia ’92  David Rice ’51 and Ed Mills ‘51. The award is given by the president of the General Alumni Association to members of the Alumni Council who have made contributions to the Academy within the past two years. Mills is a class officer, a PEA-defined volunteer role, whose class has had 100 percent participation in donations to the Exeter fund for the past decade.

The dinner also provided seniors with the chance to connect with older alums, many who shared similar experiences and passions with the seniors and were able to provide them with valuable advice.

“We’ve got a great team of class officers and honestly I think this is going to be a great year.”

Senior Class President Joel Lotzkar enjoyed talking to the four alumni at his table, which included Mills. The discussion topics varied from current issues on campus to the alumni’s careers and lives. “It was a special feeling knowing that so many alumni were able to reconnect with their high school roots and attend the dinner to spend time with the seniors that night,” he said.

After connecting with different alumni, several seniors noticed a common feeling and understanding between them, despite the age gaps.

Senior Jesus Rivera spoke with an alum who described this feeling as being a part of “The Exeter Tribe.” The dinner made Rivera excited about having the Exeter community to connect with and fall back on for the rest of his life.

“It seems to me that you experience Exeter  with the people in your dorm, and people that you go to class with,” Rivera said. “But then beyond that you also experience Exeter with the people that you’ll meet in the future that might not have been at Exeter with you, but also went through the same process.”

Several seniors used the night as an opportunity for networking. After graduation, seniors became part of an alumni network, allowing them to connect with each other at any time. Connections and Exeter, he felt, were synonymous to some extent due to the sheer number of people that had passed through the same doors.

Senior Matt McShea said that he enjoyed the event, not only because of the good food but also because he was able to come back and meet the students at Exeter thirty, forty years later.

“I think it’s awesome to set up these relationships,” McShea said, “and not just in a networking perspective.”

Senior Kesi Wilson initially felt intimidated by the large group of successful, established Exonians. However, she began to connect with them and saw how their Exeter experiences were parallel. She found it interesting to compare their stories with her own and hear about how the campus has changed.

“I think that pretty much everyone thinks that Exeter is like their home.” Wilson said. “But once you leave they don’t just throw you out back into the world. There’s still a community that you’re part of.”

Megan Smith ’16 did not attend her Senior-Alumni Dinner last year because she was abroad in France. However, through her job at D-Squared Java, she has noticed several Exeter alumni who live in the area that come by to get coffee.

“I immediately feel some sort of connection with them, simply because of the shared experience,” she said. “and I didn’t realize how strong that it would be until I actually lived it. It’s a powerful connection. You can totally tell that it’s there.”

Nick Devonshire ’07 and Bry Kleber ’09 have attended the event every year since they graduated. The couple met through the Environmental club while they were both at Exeter, and Devonshire proposed to Kleber at the end of the dinner last year. They are both in graduate school now. “Exeter is still definitely the most important school to us,” Devonshire said. “We support Exeter more than our colleges.”

Rhona Nunez, wife of Charles Nunez ’57, explained that her family comes back to Exeter every year for Exeter Leadership Weekend, especially because their children and grandchildren have attended the school. “The highlight of the whole weekend is to have that time with the seniors because they’re so interesting and fun,” she said. 

Jonathan Peele ’87 has come back for several years and several different reasons. “One is to learn more about what’s going on at Exeter, to be a better ambassador for Exeter. Second is to interact with the students and give them the opportunity to ask questions, and I have an opportunity to learn certain things from them,” he said.

The dinner also served as a reminder for seniors that their time at Exeter is soon coming to an end. The senior class representatives, secretary Alejandro Arango, vice president Charis Edwards and Lotzkar, are looking forward to their last three terms at Exeter. They have several plans for senior events throughout the year. “We’ve got a great team of class officers and honestly I think this is going to be a great year,” Arango said. “We had an open mic night recently that was very popular—there’s room for an encore.”

Lotzkar mentioned that they are currently organizing Exeter/Andover gear, class gear and two social gatherings for the seniors per term. “We want this final year to be memorable for the Class of 2017, and will do our best to plan fun and successful events.”

The trio are still in the process of deciding what they plan to do for the Senior Class Gift. They haven’t decided whether to use the funds to bring something concrete and visible to campus or rather to establish a fund. “Both have their pros, and we want to weigh all our options before we settle on anything,” Arango added. 

Overall, many students were grateful for the opportunity to meet alums and receive advice for moving forward on the next few stages of their lives.

Senior Soren Rossi described the alumni as supportive and sympathetic, offering the seniors advice on the future. “They’re really helpful in terms of what to think about after college, what we should be doing to stay in touch with Exeter and how that can help us in our futures,” he said.