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Alumni News
the meanInG of aLUmnI
By P.J. Cunningham‘80
OLD SCHOOL VS. NEW SCHOOL
Alumni Basketball Weekend Returns
reUnIon
The Storm King School
June 7-9, 2013
Cocktail parties, dinner, music, and more!
alumni—WHaT DOES THaT mEan?
Is it a title implying a legacy
to the school? Is it a position of honor? I think it’s both. The continued
existence of the school will be our legacy. It is an honor to have
succeeded in becoming men and women, although many of us
certainly have thought about reversing that reality, for only a minute
or a certain experience we would like to relive.
When I first attended Storm King, I could think of only one thing
while I was there; to leave. I was a homesick kid who just didn’t know
how to deal with “leaving the womb.” My parents stood their ground
and provided countless words of wisdom to learn how to embrace my
surroundings and enjoy it.
Looking back, I wasted a considerable amount of time wishing
everything away. Time I would now go to the ends of the earth to get
back. While this is a common viewpoint for anyone watching the years
go by, my use of this clichéd phrase is tied to the desire to wallow in a
time filled with laughter, innocence, and a connection with others
which could never be matched in any other place or time in life.
Previous reunion weekends have been both pleasant and
bitter-sweet. Pleasant in that I was able to spend a little slice of life
walking the campus and seeing a familiar face here and there.
Bitter-sweet in that there weren’t more of those familiar faces to see.
We all had our cliques which dominated our interactions, but today,
we all share the honor of being alumni, and when we set foot on the
grounds we once called “home”, we are all part of a much larger clique.
It is this clique, that I want to appeal to. We have outgrown the
mindset which tells us we can only hang out with certain people, and
we have joined a larger group of people we can now recognize are all
like us. Alumni!
It is apparent to me today, as it has been for some time, that Storm
King, and the people who attended before me, with me, and after me,
all represent a family. That is even more true for me, because my
brother Philip ‘72 and my cousin Christopher Donohue ‘76 also
attended The King, as we call it, before me and in that order.
But I have digressed a bit. We are all a family, and although we have
all spread our wings and flown, we should never forget the ways in
which we grew when we were here and how those whom we called
friends helped to shape us into who we are today.
I have great memories of The King, and I am far too young to
believe I am unable to make many more, and neither are all who hung
out in the dorms during these formative years in life.
Whether you are sitting in your living room, or you are doing a little
reading in bed before you call it a night, make a commitment now to
the memories from the past, the memories which have yet to be
made, the friendships to be developed and rekindled, and the school
which needs all of us to keep it alive. Buy a plane ticket, or put the key
in the ignition, and come back to The King.
on January
12
and 13
more
than 15 alumni
returned to their
old stomping
grounds to defend
their “King of the
Mountain” title
from last year’s
Alumni Basketball
game when they
beat the current
students in double
overtime. After
first beating a
team consisting
of current faculty
and staff by a
score of 37 to
33,
the alumni
took on a student
team anchored
by much of this
year’s boy’s varsity
basketball team.
Once again,
the two teams
were evenly
matched—with
the game ending
in an overtime
tie at 57 apiece.
As Billy Shovan,
who acted as host,
emcee, and referee
for the weekend
said “The fact that
the game ended
as a draw will
give both teams
something to
work even harder
for next year!”
Thanks to
everyone—
alumni, students,
parents, faculty,
and staff, who
came together to
make it such a
great weekend.
