Reunion saw alumni return to campus for a weekend of remembrance and reconnection.

Where do the years go? Members of the Class of 1975 hugged, laughed, reconnected, and reminisced with their Sidwell Friends classmates during last week’s Reunion Weekend. It may have been 50 years, but being with old friends makes it feel like it was only moments ago that they were studying the classrooms, competing on the courts and fields, and working together on service projects.

The class of 1975 were not the only alums who came from far and near to celebrate during Alumni Weekend. Alumni of all ages and graduation years attended special classes taught by current faculty. The curriculum included: “Metropolitan Policy and the DMV,” presented by Natalie Randolph ’98, director of Equity, Justice, and Community, and Robbie Gross, Upper School principal, and “50 Years of Horizon,” presented by Zachary Harvat, Upper School English teacher and faculty advisor to Horizon.

Meanwhile, throughout the weekend, alumni gathered on campus and off for special events and receptions. One dinner celebration featured the presentation of the Distinguished Alumni Awards. Awards went to: Sonya Clark ‘85, Grace Dammann ‘65, Tia Powell ‘75, and Toba Spitzer ‘80. Watch the tribute videos of the awardees. 

The class of 2020, which missed its traditional Commencement ceremony due to COVID, had an especially big turnout.

And of course, for those celebrating their 50th Reunion, there was the much anticipated visit from historian and Upper School Principal Robbie Gross. In what has become a favorite tradition, Gross headlined a special lunch for the ’75 alumni and provided the class with a retrospective on their time at Sidwell Friends. Using archived issues of Horizon, yearbooks, and other materials, Gross rekindled memories and drew out stories from the alumni about everything—from complaints about the bad lunches (not anymore!) and going to the Watergate burglar trials as part of a class to the long, earnest articles in the newly inaugurated issue of Horizon titled “The Female at Sidwell: The Many Sided Issue.” Gross closed out the group’s spirited conversation by quoting Charles Epps ‘75 who as a senior spoke about Thomas Sidwell at Founder’s Day 1975, summing up both the mood at the time and the enduring beauty of the School’s mission. Epps said then: “On Founder’s Day, I feel it is less important that we remember Thomas Sidwell, the man. It is more important that we remember the values which he believed in and instilled in his school. Mr. Sidwell stood for justice, truth, excellence, and kindness. In our cynical 1970s, these values may sound somewhat old-fashioned, or even corny, but I cannot think of a better foundation on which a school community may be built.”

During the weekend, one alumna noted that, especially as we get older, time does seem to fly by like those old movie montages where the calendar pages peel off one by one to show the passage of time. But at reunion, she noted, being with old friends with whom you shared some of your most formative years, time seems to stand still, to stretch and shimmer, at least for a little while.

View photos from Reunion Weekend here.