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SKS
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Our Common Ground
Our Common Ground is a new feature in OTM for alumni to communicate in an authentic
way. Whether we attended Storm King in the pre-digital era, or we were among one of its first
coed classes (full disclosure — I was), or even graduated a few years ago and miss the Mountain
and its familiar magic a bit — we are a multi-generational and international community.
Regardless of when we left or even why we came, Storm King is part of our common narrative,
and our stories are an important part of its history, too.
My own renewed involvement as an alum began in February 2009. I received an invitation
from Irene Seguin asking me to participate in Career Day. I hadn’t set foot on the campus since
a reunion in 1992. Career Day was an opportunity for the current SKS student population
to hear directly from us about the diverse paths our lives had taken since graduating. Some of
us had never met before yet everyone on that stage spoke of the profound and lasting impact
that Storm King had in shaping them as human
beings. We’d traveled uniquely different roads since
graduation and we were all candid about the bumps,
conflicts, and occasional tragedies encountered along
the way, in addition to our many achievements. But
we also shared a common strength and conviction
of how we’d learned to “keep on keeping on.” We’d
found careers we were passionate about in music,
photography, sports, writing and film publicity. Some
of us are parents and our own kids are in college
now; others hadn’t started their families. The students
were appreciative, inquisitive, funny, polite and well,
young. We toured the campus and ate dinner together
in the Commons. In a matter of hours I felt happy and connected to Storm King in a new old
way; one that was familiar and natural.
That experience reminded me of the value of generational perspective: It’s priceless. Storm
King, situated in its jewel-like natural setting, maintains an almost magnetic pull on so many
who spent their teenage years here. Whenever I visit I feel it, and it feels like home. Although
many of the faces I see are unknown, I am greeted with a welcoming smile. The School today is
an incredibly friendly and open place.
In this age of social media where strangers seek out one another for mostly virtual
connection and the pretense of anonymity seduces, those of us who have attended Storm King
can always find, at the very least, one mutual friend. Yet connections have gotten lost or broken
over the course of time for a variety of reasons. We all have opinions on what has gone wrong.
We’ve been heard and changes continue to be implemented. Now is the time to move forward.
Ongoing efforts have been underway to improve communication with alums; updating the
database, creating the SKS alumni portal, and building pages for Facebook, Twitter and
LinkedIn. Of course there’s still snail mail and the phone. The School is reaching out to us and
it’s easier and faster than ever to reconnect.
Last spring an online survey was designed to gain a more systematic understanding of
alumni feelings about their SKS experience; their experience as alums; and how to serve them
By Diane Travers ‘72
“
Our Common Ground is a
newly featured hybrid space
in OTM created specifically to
give alumni an opportunity to
reconnect and remember our
shared past...”
continued on page 32
