{"id":30233,"date":"2016-10-17T13:39:58","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T17:39:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=30233"},"modified":"2017-02-07T09:21:38","modified_gmt":"2017-02-07T14:21:38","slug":"homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Homecoming and Family Weekend draws a crowd to reunions, arts and athletic events, food and fun"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In 1966, eight women, all elementary education majors at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), started a circle letter after graduation. Nearly 50 years later <span class=\"st\">\u2014<\/span> after moves, weddings, births and other significant life happenings <span class=\"st\">\u2014<\/span> six of those women traveled from four states to reunite at EMU\u2019s Homecoming and Family Weekend Oct. 14-16.<\/p>\n<p>The six friends (see photo below at right) were among nearly 600 alumni who came to the Harrisonburg campus to reunite, make new friends, enjoy arts and athletics events, and revisit favorite places on campus.<\/p>\n<p>Alumni who registered for the weekend came from 20 states and two countries, representing classes from 1956 to the most recent graduating class of 2016.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"highlight highlight-right\"> View a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/easternmennoniteuniversity\/albums\/72157675235431616\">photo album,<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/video\/tentalks\/\">watch TenTalks<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/10\/homecoming-worship-service-lifts-words-micah-honor-alumni-award-winners-retiring-professor\/\">read inspirational words<\/a> from EMU\u2019s distinguished alumni honorees.<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWe were thrilled by the attendance and support for the weekend,\u201d said Director of Alumni and Parent Engagement <a href=\"https:\/\/www.emu.edu\/personnel\/people\/show\/jas844\">Jeff Shank<\/a>. \u201cWhat was so special was seeing our community come together around its love for EMU, the positive influence and lifetime impact of the education we offer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shank said the weekend\u2019s new events, such as the Friday night a cappella concert and Saturday\u2019s Fall Festival on the lawn, provided students, alumni and parents more opportunities to gather and interact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, the weekend is really about creating ways in which all of the people impacted by this place can be together and celebrate the joy and the legacy of EMU,\u201d Shank said. \u201cThe EMU community is far more than current students and alumni. It includes parents of current students, spouses and family members of alumni, faculty and staff, even community members who are influenced and impacted by EMU folks doing good works in the area. Homecoming and Family Weekend is a time when we can celebrate that multi-generational impact and influence of this unique place and the people who shape it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The new \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/video\/tentalks\/\">EMUTenTalks<\/a>\u201d with its tagline <em>Impact. Influence. Inspire. <\/em>highlighted this legacy. Based on the popular TED Talks, the event featured <strong>Shirley Showalter<\/strong> \u201970, author and president emeritus of Goshen College; <strong>Leonard Dow<\/strong> \u201987, lead pastor at Oxford Circle Mennonite Church in Philadelphia and board vice-chair of Mennonite Central Committee; and <strong>Erik Kratz<\/strong> \u201802, professional baseball player.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30242\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30242\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/10\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/20161015-homecoming-jubilee-women-letter-circle-001-1000px\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-30242\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30242 size-medium\" src=\"\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/10\/20161015-Homecoming-Jubilee-women-letter-circle-001-1000px-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Miriam Bauman Allison, Lois Moyer Longenecker, Peggy Halteman Blosser, Barbara Mosemann Penner, Dolores Godshall Bauman and Sharon Kandel Yoder.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/10\/20161015-Homecoming-Jubilee-women-letter-circle-001-1000px-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/10\/20161015-Homecoming-Jubilee-women-letter-circle-001-1000px-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/10\/20161015-Homecoming-Jubilee-women-letter-circle-001-1000px.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30242\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Six of the eight women in the Class of &#8217;66 who started a circle letter that continues today; Sharon Kandel Yoder, Miriam Bauman Allison, Dolores Godshall Bauman, Lois Moyer Longenecker, Peggy Halteman Blosser, and Barbara Mosemann Penner, Carol Layman Parks and Anna Lois Longacre Lind were unable to attend.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>About 50 people gathered at the Chamber Singers reunion Saturday afternoon to honor Professor <strong>Ken J. Nafziger<\/strong>, retiring at the end of this year. Many returned the next morning to provide the final selection of Sunday\u2019s worship service, singing \u201cDona nobis pacem\u201d [Grant us peace], a canon by Johann Sebastian Bach.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/10\/homecoming-worship-service-lifts-words-micah-honor-alumni-award-winners-retiring-professor\/\">Homecoming worship service<\/a> celebrated the contributions of Alumnus of the Year <strong>Harvey Yoder<\/strong> \u201964, Distinguished Service Award recipients <strong>Donna<\/strong> \u201969 and <strong>Wayne<\/strong> \u201967 <strong>Burkhart<\/strong>, and Outstanding Young Alumna <strong>Grace Praseyto<\/strong> \u201910.<\/p>\n<p>In athletics action, EMU field hockey <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/fh\/2016-17\/releases\/201610161lnrx1\">battled<\/a> Virginia Wesleyan, women\u2019s soccer <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/wsoc\/2016-17\/releases\/20161015ycavc8\">lost 3-0<\/a> to Roanoke College, and men\u2019s soccer <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/msoc\/2016-17\/releases\/20161015z9zr3u\">drew a tie<\/a> with Guilford in the final game of the day.<\/p>\n<p>At the field hockey game, Hall of Honor inductee <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/hallofhonor\/fh\/2005-jonalyndenlinger\">Jonalyn Denlinger<\/a> (2002-05) was honored in a halftime ceremony. An All-American in 2004, Denlinger was a four-time All-ODAC First Team and NFHCA All-Region honoree. She was inducted into EMU&#8217;s Hall of Honor earlier in the day, along with track All-American <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/hallofhonor\/wtrack\/2006-meganmlinarchik\">Megan Mlinarchik<\/a> (2004-06).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1966, eight women, all elementary education majors at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), started a circle letter after graduation. Nearly 50 years later \u2014 after moves, weddings, births and other <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Homecoming and Family Weekend draws a crowd to reunions, arts and athletic events, food and fun<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,7931,5583,17562,8845,60],"tags":[13839],"feature":[17427,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-30233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-arts","category-campus-community","category-digest","category-emu-at-lancaster","category-homecoming","tag-margaret-martin-gehman-art-gallery","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Homecoming and Family Weekend draws a crowd to reunions, arts and athletic events, food and fun - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Homecoming and Family Weekend draws a crowd to reunions, arts and athletic events, food and fun - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 1966, eight women, all elementary education majors at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), started a circle letter after graduation. Nearly 50 years later \u2014 after moves, weddings, births and other\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-17T17:39:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-07T14:21:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/10\/herm-on-the-lawn.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/\",\"name\":\"Homecoming and Family Weekend draws a crowd to reunions, arts and athletic events, food and fun - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/10\/herm-on-the-lawn.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-17T17:39:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-07T14:21:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/10\/herm-on-the-lawn.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/10\/herm-on-the-lawn.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Homecoming and Family Weekend draws a crowd to reunions, arts and athletic events, food and fun\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Homecoming and Family Weekend draws a crowd to reunions, arts and athletic events, food and fun - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Homecoming and Family Weekend draws a crowd to reunions, arts and athletic events, food and fun - EMU News","og_description":"In 1966, eight women, all elementary education majors at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), started a circle letter after graduation. Nearly 50 years later \u2014 after moves, weddings, births and other","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2016-10-17T17:39:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-02-07T14:21:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/10\/herm-on-the-lawn.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/","name":"Homecoming and Family Weekend draws a crowd to reunions, arts and athletic events, food and fun - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/10\/herm-on-the-lawn.jpg","datePublished":"2016-10-17T17:39:58+00:00","dateModified":"2017-02-07T14:21:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/10\/herm-on-the-lawn.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/10\/herm-on-the-lawn.jpg","width":1000,"height":667},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/homecoming-family-weekend-draws-crowd-reunions-arts-athletic-events-food-fun\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Homecoming and Family Weekend draws a crowd to reunions, arts and athletic events, food and fun"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245","name":"admin","sameAs":["http:\/\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30233"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30428,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30233\/revisions\/30428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30233"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=30233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}