In recent months, more and more alumni games have taken place. Soccer, lacrosse, baseball and basketball games have happened with alumni from state championships returning to play one more time with their fellow teammates. Athletes are able to come back and play on the same field that they started their athletic career on and are introduced to alumni of various graduating classes.
In the past, few alumni games have taken place, but this year, there has been an initiative to integrate alumni into school events more and more.
“We’re still trying to find out the right time frame,” Assistant Athletic Director Travis Sanders said. “Is it during a holiday break? I think we’re going to take some time, give it a run this year and then we’ll evaluate and see what teams we want to add next year and what times work best.”
Bringing alumni back to campus allows them to see the growth of the school, the athletic program and help to mentor athletes.
“We just have such pride in our school, and I think a lot of our alumni feel that way,” Sanders said. “A lot of our alumni enjoy com-
ing back and hanging out and telling stories. It’s been really fun to listen to stories, even alumni that graduated a long time ago come back and talk about their memories.”
Alumni meet different groups of people from differing graduating classes and reunite with teammates they crossed paths with.
“My husband went (to the baseball alumni game), and his senior big brother was there,” alumni coordinator Hannah Schuttler, who is
also an alum, said. “These were guys that he knew because he was in sixth grade when they were seniors, and they were so cool when we were little, and then he got to go and hang out with them, and I think that was really fun.”
Alumni also get the opportunity to reconnect with a sport that influenced their high school lives so heavily and brings back the nostalgia of their childhood. Alumna Taylor LaPeters is now an assistant weightlifting coach after being asked to come back by alumna and current English teacher Erin Miller and being a former weightlifting athlete.
“Weightlifting was just so important to me at that time,” LaPeters said. “It helped me learn that I loved lifting throughout the past decade,
being away from high school and everything. I would pretty much do anything for Erin Miller. People like that just make such an impact on your life that you’re like, yeah, of course, I’ll do anything to help out.”
Alumni games also give students an opportunity to continue their legacy with new athletes.
“It’s fun for current coaches and athletes to meet their alumni that they’ve heard stories about in our boys lacrosse program,” Sanders said. “We have guys who graduated a while ago and come back.”
Alumni can also pass on advice that only comes with time, experience and reflection of the sport they love.
“I hope that the girls can take away, especially the seniors, that they are lifters,” LaPeters said. “As women, they are allowed to take up space in a gym. I want to instill that confidence because that’s what was instilled in me.”
These new alumni events are an initiative that reshapes community and outreach, extending beyond social media posts highlighting old classmates to truly bridging the connection with the past and present.
“I think it’s really awesome to be able to come back and see your teachers and see the places that shaped you,” Schuttler said. “And we know that athletics, being on a team, is such an integral part of growing and becoming a good professional and a good person as you grow up. And so having those relationships and continuing those relationships I think are really important, but also getting to see people that you don’t normally see.”
