Photo Gallery: Fall Homecoming a Time to Celebrate

“I’m coming home again,” Instagrammed an alumna making her way back to campus for Fall Homecoming, held on Sept. 26-28. Warm weather and blue cloudless skies provided the perfect backdrop for this year’s festivities.

Friday featured the Return to the Classroom series, a favorite with alumni. Faculty opened up their classrooms and lectured on various topics, including contemporary Christian morality, environmental history, nanotechnology and cognitive neuroscience. Professors engaged students in animated discussion, and participants left intellectually energized.

Members of the 1843 Society experienced an exclusive tour of “The Italian Presepe: Cultural Landscape of the Soul” exhibit in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery. Gallery director, Roger Hankins, led the tour. Guests enjoyed Italian antipasto, cookies, cannoli, prosecco and frizzante and met with the exhibit’s artistic collaborators, Margot Balboni, an independent curator and photographer, and Sarah Stanbury, a medievalist and the Monsignor Murray Professor in the Arts and Humanities in the English department.

Recognition and celebration were the themes on Friday night. Approximately 350 guests attended the Holy Cross Alumni Association’s annual dinner where four distinguished alumni — Colleen F. Amann ’92, Stephen A. Lovelette ’78, Jack D. Rehm ’54 and John P. Sindoni ’67— were presented the In Hoc Signo award for their outstanding service to the College. Jared A. Fiore ’07 was awarded the Young Alumni Leadership Award.

Purple pride was on full display on the Hogan Courtyard at the Purple Key Society’s ’Sader Nation pep rally. The Goodtime Marching Band provided music, and Men’s Basketball Coach Milan Brown and Football Coach Tom Gilmore joined the crowd to celebrate Crusader athletics and to cheer on the football team in anticipation of Saturday’s game.

Game day Saturday saw cars streaming onto Fitton Baseball Field for the traditional pre-game tailgate. Tents, barbecue grills, coolers and stadium chairs dotted the field. Despite a tough loss (45-16) to Fordham, Crusader fans’ enthusiasm and energy never waned.

After the game, people lined up to sample an array of cultural foods at the Multicultural Student Organization Kimball Quad Takeover. Musical performances, cultural dancing and games entertained the crowd. Students from the Caribbean African Student Assemblage (CASA), Advocating Students Interest in Asia (ASIA), Black Student Union (BSU), Developing and Educating South-Asian Ideologies (DESI), Latin American Student Organization (LASO), Mecha (the national Mexican-American student organization that promotes higher education, culture, and history) and Pride (a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organization) hosted the event.

A number of meetings and networking events also took place on Saturday. Of particular interest was an alumni panel featuring magazine professionals. The panel included Kate Lawler '86, former executive editor of the Ladies' Home Journal, Aimee Bell '88, deputy editor of Vanity Fair and Cassie Shortsleeve '10, executive editor of Shape.com. Holy Cross Magazine editor Suzanne Morrissey moderated a candid discussion about the rapidly changing publishing industry.

In Mary Chapel, members of the Jesuit community and alumni celebrated a special Mass commemorating the 200th anniversary of the restoration of the Jesuits, the founding order of the College, whose values continue to inspire past and present students.

Saturday evening, The O’Callahan Society, the alumni association for military and naval officers, hosted its annual dinner, which featured distinguished speaker Vice Adm. Michelle Howard, USN, vice chief of Naval Operations. Vice Adm. Howard recently made history when she became the Navy’s first female four-star rank in early 2014. Her inspirational three-decade career, throughout which she confronted prejudice and resistance, inspired those in attendance.

Sunday morning Mass wrapped up a wonderful, memory-filled weekend. The HCAA looks forward to welcoming alumni back in the winter for its next Homecoming event.

Fall Homecoming gallery »