Are you so passionate about something that you’d like to share it with the world – or at least, with the rest of the KSC community? Well, here’s your chance. The wonderful folks at the Thorne invite you to display your art, crafts, collectibles, or whatever you’re passionate about in a summer exhibition called Passionate Pursuits: Keene State College Alumni, Faculty, Staff, and Our Community Partner the Friends of the Thorne Share Their Creations and Collectibles. The exhibit opens Friday, June 4, and continues through Sunday, July 25; then it reopens Friday, September 3, through Thursday, September 30. The Friends of the Thorne will host a public reception on Friday, June 4, from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

This is a non-juried exhibit, and the gallery will accept pieces on a first-come, first-served basis and display as many items as it can. The exhibit is not meant to promote a business or product, so nothing will be for sale.

This will be the third Passionate Pursuits exhibit. Past exhibits have included a bird-carving collection, rock-climbing photos, handcrafted baskets, hand-colored photos, baseball memorabilia, a Native American collection, hand-knitted items, wood-turned containers, and an antique penny-farthing bicycle.

If you’d like to share your passion, please fill out our online form by Monday, April 19. We’d also like you to write a paragraph explaining why you are passionate about the material you’ve submitted and what the Thorne Gallery means to you and the community.

The Owl men and women swimmers are awash in victory! They headed to the Upper Valley Aquatic Center in White River Junction, Vt., on Sunday, Feb. 21 to defend their New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association (NEISDA) Championships and did just that. Both teams expected Bentley College to be a formidable foe. Maybe it was, but that still didn’t stop the Owls. The women posted a 924-802 victory over Bentley, capturing their third-consecutive crown, and the men earned their second-straight title with a 656-555 victory.

The KSC men and women set 30 school records and six meet marks in the three-day event. Cody Larrimore, a senior from Trappe, Md., was named the men’s Swimmer of the Meet, while Kaila Umbarger, a freshman from Chelmsford, Mass., was selected as the women’s Swimmer of the Meet. Kristine Trutor, a Holden, Mass., native, won the award for most points by a senior.

More information.

Nicaragua
Seven students and four staff members traveled to Nicaragua in January as part of an integrative studies course, Nicaragua in Change. The group met with journalists, environmentalists, women’s groups, musicians, artists, and community leaders who taught them about the economic, psychological, and political consequences of the Contra war on the next generation. The group also heard traditional folk music and live reggae in Managua and visited an active volcano in Masaya and a waterfall in Rio Blanco.

As part of the learning experience, there was also time for sampling local cuisine, staying with families on a rural farming cooperative, dancing, laughing, swatting piñatas, playing sports with the local kids, making tortillas, milking cows, riding horses, and watching monkeys on the lake in Grenada. Oh, and the gang helped local community members paint a preschool. The paint job included a mural featuring planet earth and the KSC owl. The small building, which had been unused, will now serve as a schoolhouse for the cooperative’s youngest children.

The students are now back at KSC, wiser, more enriched, and more fulfilled. Please join them in April as they share their own experiences from the trip as well as their diverse research projects and perspectives on international issues and community service. They’d like to thank  everyone who bought poinsettias during their December fundraiser and the College for supporting this experiential learning course.

El Salvador
Fourteen students and four staff members headed to El Salvador in January for a Habitat for Humanity Global Village Project. Working with local masons, the group helped build a home for a local family. But besides all the hard work, the trip included hiking a volcano in San Miguel, sampling local foods, learning to dance the salsa, visiting an orphanage, and surfing at a local beach. The group had a great time and made many close friends. They’ve continued to stay in touch via the wonders of email and Facebook. When you’re on campus, please check out all the photos  in the display case on the third floor of the Student Center.

You’re always welcome on campus, and never more so than during Reunion, when we really roll out the red carpet and do our best to host a great party. Reunion this year is June 4, 5, and 6, so mark your calendar and start making plans!

Is your class celebrating its 10th, 25th, or 50th reunion? Your classmates are likely planning special gatherings and dinners to celebrate. Relive the good old days by booking a room in one of our classic dorms like Huntress or Fiske, or experience a couple of nights in our new dorms by booking a spot in one of the Pondside III suites.

Keep checking the Reunion webpage for updated info and online registration. And be sure to block the first weekend in June 2010 as “Save for Keene”!

From the time she was in grade school, Harriet Richardson Ames knew she wanted to teach. Through the grace and generosity of the local women’s club, the Barnstead Parade, N.H., native got the money to attend her first year at Keene Normal School. She earned her two-year teaching certificate in 1931 and went off to pursue her dream, eventually landing a position she loved as a teaching principal at the Memorial School in Pittsfield, NH. She taught first grade there for over 20 years until she began to lose her eyesight to cataracts, which forced her to retire in 1971.

Throughout her teaching career, Harriet continued to take classes at UNH, Plymouth State College, and Keene State College to improve herself professionally. She always wanted a B.Ed., and asked during one of her last classes at KSC what she would need to do to complete her degree. The College told her that she just needed to take one course in public speaking. “I was already going around talking to panels; the ladies’ circles had me come, the Rotary had me come – I was already doing public speaking,” Harriet recalled in a interview Film Professor Larry Benaquist recorded when she was 98. Though she wanted to complete that last course, her eyesight was already failing, and she realized she’d have to retire, so she never took that last step.

“She was such a lovely person,” Dr. Benaquist said, “and a beloved teacher. She had a bureau full of letters and testimonies from her former students.”

When Harried celebrated her 100th birthday on January 2, 2010, Norma Walker ’51 visited her to deliver a certificate from KSC President Helen Giles-Gee honoring Harriet’s centenarian status. Harriet’s health was failing, and she was under Hospice care. Norma mentioned that the KSC Advancement Office had recently come across Harriet’s course records and was working to see if the College could award her a B.Ed. “Harriet was so moved that she started to cry,” Norma said. “She asked me if I would read the diploma at her funeral if she didn’t live long enough to accept it herself.”

However, the wheels were turning. Word of Harriet’s dying wish reached President Giles-Gee, who requested that the offices of the provost and registrar act quickly to see if Harriet had done the work to earn the degree. After a flurry of calls to the institutions where she had taken courses to verify her credits and professional experience, Keene State determined that, yes, Harriet Richardson Ames had indeed completed the requirements for a Bachelor of Education, and the degree was granted. This was not an honorary degree; Harriet was reviewed through the same process every KSC student goes through – the College made no special exceptions for her, save speeding up the verification process. Norma; Sean Gillery ’89, from the Development Office; and Kay MacLean, from the Alumni & Parent Relations Office, drove the document to Harriet’s bedside on Friday, January 22. Harriet died the next day.

Norma recalled that, during one of her earlier visits, “Harriet said she was perturbed with God because he wouldn’t take her when she wanted to go.”  Fortunately, Harriet held on long enough to learn that she’d been granted her dying wish.

Her memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday Feb. 9, at Havenwood in Concord, N.H.  (33 Christian Ave., phone: 603-224-5363).

If you remember Harriet, please leave us a comment about her.

In this video, recorded by Larry Benaquist and edited by Kevin Sweet, Harriet explains why she never took the last step to finish her degree.