ANTIGONISH, N.S. - The ‘welcome back’ signs are being brought out of storage as St. F.X. gears up for its annual autumn celebration of alumni – Homecoming 2018 – taking place Sept. 27 to 30.
St. F.X. vice-president advancement, Murray Kyte, says Homecoming is an annual highlight for him, both personally and professionally.
“Personally, because I’m a 1987 graduate and I do enjoy the opportunities of reconnecting with alum from the mid-1980s, catching up with them,” he said.
“And from a professional standpoint, I have the same feeling with respect for catching up with all alum.
“It’s interesting; we all think St. F.X. is a special place and was particularly impactful for the time an alum was on campus. Whether you speak with someone from the 1940s, and we will have some people from the 1940s, up to someone who graduated from last year, completely different eras and experiences, but they all share that common feeling that - my time at St. F.X. was a time of great personal development and learning, and impacted my life greatly.”
This year’s festivities begin Sept. 27 with the St. F.X. Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Schwartz School of Business auditorium.
Registration and check-in take place the following morning at the Keating Centre hospitality suites, followed by a campus walking tour at 1 p.m. and the St. F.X. Alumni Association annual general meeting, which all alumni are encouraged to attend, at 3 p.m.
The big event Sept. 28 is the Welcome Home Reception and Dinner, which sees the presentation of the Alumni Awards of Excellence. Held in the main rink at the Keating Centre, doors open at 6 p.m. for mix-and-mingling opportunities prior to the 7 p.m. dinner.
There is also sports action during the evening as the St. F.X. X-Women rugby team hosts UPEI, for a 6 p.m. kick-off at Oland Stadium; and another chance to mix-and-mingle with fellow alumni and friends at the Bloomfield Centre, starting at 9 p.m.
Sept. 29 is an action-packed day starting with an 8 a.m. 5k run from the Oland Centre, while registration continuing on the day at the nearby Keating Centre.
Coffee with Coady
The popular Coffee with Coady begins at 9 a.m. at the Coady International Institute’s Dennis Hall. The event includes the presenting of the Katherine Fleming Award to a deserving Coady participant. Now in its 19th year, the award this year is being presented to Grace Arach, who will be the first person from Uganda to receive the honour. Arach is the founder and executive director of Foundation for Women Affected by Conflicts (FOWAC), a non-profit organization that helps women affected by conflict to reintegrate into post-conflict communities through psycho-social, livelihood and advocacy support.
Coffee with Coady concludes in time for folks to make the short walk over to the Schwartz auditorium and the 11 a.m. Hall of Honour Induction Ceremony and Student Alumni Recognition essay presentations.
Another 1 p.m. campus walking tour is followed by the St. F.X. X-Men football game versus arch-rival St. Mary’s, at 2 p.m.
Mount St. Bernard College Tea takes place at 2:30 p.m. and then it’s the President’s Reception and Golden Grad Dinner, which honours the Class of 1968, at 7 p.m. Similarly to the Welcome Home dinner, doors open at 6 p.m. and the location is the Keating Centre.
Homecoming Pub Night at the Bloomfield Centre, starting at 9 p.m., completes the busy day.
The Sept. 30 activities include Alumni Mass at the university chapel at 11 a.m., a farewell brunch at the Keating Centre from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., the final campus walking tour of the weekend at 1 p.m. and St. F.X. women’s and men’s soccer action at Oland Stadium; starting with the X-Women at 1 p.m., followed by X-Men at 3 p.m. Acadia provides the opposition for both teams.
Please note: Times were taken off St. F.X.’s website (stfx.ca) which is still listing them as ‘tentative,’ as of Sept. 19. Check the site for latest information.
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Chancellor installation
Not listed on the schedule for Homecoming weekend is an event Kyte wants to highlight.
“The installation of our new chancellor, John Peacock, will take place Sunday (Sept. 30), at 9 a.m., at the university chapel,” Kyte said.
“It will go from 9 until 10 a.m. and then we’ll have a light reception, refreshments in Dennis Hall, at the Coady International Institute.”
Kyte is expecting the weekend to be very well-attended, adding that
there will be alumni from 1948 who will mark their 70th reunion, as well as those attending from such far-off places as South Africa, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and many from the U.S.
He noted the numbers for Homecoming continue to increase each year, and suggested some reasoning behind the positive figures.
“The impact St. F.X. has had on people, I think that’s important,” he said. “It remains a special place and we, regularly, engage our alumni through alumni news and keep them engaged, through various touch-points, about coming back.
“And our alumni chapters are pretty engaged. We have 40 alumni chapters across Canada and around the world who are working hard to create those opportunities; as well as the work we do with our alumni association and the work of the executive and alumni council.
“So, I think, it’s communicating what is going on, and we also have more alumni because we have close to 1,000 students graduating every year that’s creating, obviously, more alumni out there.”
He also noted social media has created opportunities for alumni to stay in touch more often and then Homecoming just acts as a place to reconnect face-to-face.
