{"id":59877,"date":"2025-10-15T00:48:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T04:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=59877"},"modified":"2025-10-15T07:44:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:44:39","slug":"emu-is-family-highlights-from-homecoming-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/emu-is-family-highlights-from-homecoming-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018EMU is family\u2019: Highlights from Homecoming 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As Dorothy \u201cDottie\u201d Nolt Weber \u201975 <\/strong>can attest, there\u2019s a special kind of magic in the air in the days leading up to Homecoming. The retired teacher, who taught for 40 years at Lancaster Mennonite High School, has had plenty of her students go on to attend EMU. And on Thursday, as she parked her car near the Sadie Hartzler Library to catch up with Systems Librarian Audrey Shenk<\/strong>, she bumped right into one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI get out of the car and these two girls are running by and, all of a sudden, one of them says, \u2018Hi, Dottie,\u2019\u201d said Weber. That student turned out to be Maria Longenecker<\/strong>, a senior biology major who had Weber as an eighth grade teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaria was one of the students I wanted to see,\u201d Weber said. \u201cAnd here she was, the first person I meet on campus. It\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her husband Tim chimed in: \u201cYou have to understand, we could be at the top of Mount Everest and she\u2019d know somebody. We could go anywhere and inevitably someone will say, \u2018There\u2019s Dottie!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weber recalled last being on campus in 2005 to cater the wedding reception of alumna and former faculty member Catherine R. Mumaw<\/strong>. She was one of nearly 70 members of the Class of 1975 making a special trip back to EMU this weekend for their milestone 50th reunion during Homecoming 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Members of the EMU Class of 1975 reunite at Martin Chapel on Friday.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As she and a group of classmates sat at a table in the Seminary Building on Friday leafing through a Shenandoah yearbook from 1975, they marveled at old photos and reminisced, sharing stories and memories from their time at EMU. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing who I can remember from these photos,\u201d someone says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another alumna asks, \u201cDoes anyone remember taking classes in the old chicken house? Is this the building where it used to be?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those classmates, Julia Shultz King \u201975<\/strong>, traveled all the way from Melbourne, Australia, to attend the homecoming festivities. After graduating with a nursing degree, she worked for the Medical College of Virginia and eventually the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, before serving as a missionary with Youth With A Mission. She has lived the past 13 years in Australia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She shared a story about putting out a fire in the Northlawn dormitory, after someone had left a candle near the window and a curtain had caught alight. This was the first reunion she could remember attending. She had missed the 50th reunion for her high school in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, because Australia had been in lockdown in 2021, and so \u201cit made me extra want to be here,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy to be well enough that I could travel alone to get here,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her friend, Weber, said something similar: \u201cWho knows, at this age, you might not be able to come back in another five years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Alumni from the Class of 1975 pose for a group photo.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This group of alumni, said Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed<\/strong>, who serves as director of alumni engagement and community connections at EMU, was the only graduating class to ever create a two-volume yearbook. The Class of 1975 welcomed Alex Haley, author of Roots<\/em>, to campus as part of a lecture music series. And the cross country team made EMU history, becoming the National Christian College Athletic Association cross country champion that year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was also a unique tradition that happened during y\u2019all\u2019s time here,\u201d she said. \u201cNewly engaged students were thrown in the fishing pond. A lot of people got engaged that year, from what I\u2019ve learned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n