Alumni News

December Alumni Perspectives: Shay Totten '91

Congratulations to December graduates–the newest Bennington alumni!

Hello! 

Thanks to everyone following along with my re-entry to Bennington College this fall. This week marks the end of my first term, and I thought I’d just reflect a little on the conversations I’ve had and some of the things we have planned for early 2025.

For starters, if you’ve missed the news from last month: We have a date for our next all-class Reunion. Join us on campus October 3–5, 2025!

Email me if you’d like to volunteer your time and/or ideas to help bring classmates, former roommates, housemates, and Bennington friends back to campus. 

Speaking of Reunion, on Monday, December 9, I had the honor of joining a celebration on campus honoring this year’s December graduates and our newest alumni! There to cheer them on were staff, faculty, classmates, and friends. I can’t wait for you all to meet them and the rest of this senior class, and for them to meet you, on campus next year.

The event got me thinking of advice alums could give to these alumni and found myself turning to a clip of Spencer Cox '90, which is part of an interview connected to the incredible documentary How to Survive a Plague. If you haven’t already, bookmark this clip and return to it now and again. Read more about Spencer’s outsized impact on the world on Bennington’s website. We all have alums whom we miss, and Spencer is one of them for me.

If you have pearls of wisdom to pass along to our newest alumni, you can hopefully deliver them in person; we have plans for alumni networking events in Los Angeles in early February. Keep a lookout in your inbox for a save-the-date. I’m also working with alumni in San Francisco, New York City, and Boston to host events there too.  

If you are interested in finding out if there are alumni near you and would like help hosting a small get-together, just let me know. A shout out to the Chicago alumni—Ciaran Cooper '87 and Ted Teuten '91—who helped organize a get-together in November and have plans to do more networking events in the future.

A reminder that while Reunion is months away, you may want to make plans now, starting with booking your rooms, as fall is a busy time in Vermont. We do have a couple of places that have reserved rooms for us: You can book a room at Hotel Vervana (formerly the Paradise Inn). Just let them know you’re part of the Bennington College Reunion group to get a discounted rate. You can also call the Knotty Pine and mention “Alumni Reunion" when booking the room. We are working to reserve blocks of rooms at additional area hotels and will add them to this list as we secure spots. Here is a handy link of additional places to stay

And, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that there’s still time to make a gift to Bennington and have your donation matched.

Onward,

Shay Totten '91 
Director of Alumni and Constituent Engagement