‘Smith Is The Thread That Connects Us’

Inside Seelye Hall, Cassandra Tseckares Hostetler ’86 is having a flashback. She’s just arrived on campus from her home in Maryland to celebrate her 40th Reunion. This is her first time back in more than a decade, and the memories of her time as a student rush through her mind. 

“I can see myself with a blue exam book in my hands, walking nervously into class to take a test,” she recalls. “I remember you could buy your books down in the basement—and some candy, too. There were notes all over the walls, handwritten by people looking for rides to Boston or New York.” She takes a breath and looks around. “It feels so great to be back here. There’s a sense of continuity. I’m a different person, but it’s also like I never left.”

That feeling resonated for many of the nearly 2,000 alums from more than 20 countries who converged on campus over two weekends in May to celebrate their reunions.

“Welcome home,” said President Sarah Willie-LeBreton to hundreds of alums packed into Sage Hall for her state-of-the-college address. She had one request: “Introduce yourself to a Smithie you don’t know from another class. Each year, I hear about alums who have become friends because of Reunion.”

The telltale signs of Reunion were evident all across campus: tents on Chapin lawn, rows of chairs in the Quad and on Burton lawn, the joyful sound of laughter and shrieks of delight as classmates and friends embraced in front of buildings and under trees that held the memories of their time as undergraduates. 

In Seelye Hall, chalkboards were covered in messages from alums sharing the excitement of being back at a place that, for many, transformed their lives and opened up their worlds to new possibilities. “Who would have thought that we’d still be marching together 55 years later?” read one note on the class of 1971’s board. “Happy days are here again! I can’t wait to see my wonderful classmates,” wrote a member of the class of 1976. 

In Sage Hall, the spirit of the celebration was perfectly captured when a group of alums jumped on stage to join the Smiffenpoofs—celebrating their 90th anniversary—for a rousing rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain”: “Chain keep us together,” they sang in unison, the sentiment of never-ending connection echoing throughout the hall. 

Following the performance, Anna Steckel ’16 said singing with the Smiffenpoofs was the “cherry on top” of her weekend. “I would so sorely miss it if singing weren’t a part of the Reunion experience,” she said.

Meghna Purkayastha ’16, a chief of staff at Salesforce, flew in from San Francisco to be with her classmates. Since her five-year Reunion was held online because of COVID, she didn’t want to miss the chance to see the campus in person and reconnect with friends, some of whom she hadn’t seen in at least a decade. 

“There are ebbs and flows to friendships, but Smith is the common thread that connects us,” she said. Being back affirmed what Smith means to her. “I don’t think I’d be who I am or where I am in life without the agency that Smith gave me,” she said. “That’s something you don’t realize until years later.” 

Speeches, presentations, and programs throughout both weekends reinforced the value of the liberal arts, the spirit of generosity common among Smithies, and the impact Smith graduates have on their communities and the wider world. “More than 150 years on, Smith remains what it has always been: a place that takes seriously the possibility that when women are given unfettered access to robust education, they change the world,” said President Willie-LeBreton in her state-of-the-college address. “This has never been more true.”

During a panel discussion on the Smith experience, students spoke about what makes Smith distinct. One student recounted that for her the 10-minute period between classes, when students crowd campus paths on their way to their next destination, makes “everything feel possible.” At the end, one alum approached the microphone and joked, “I think I speak for all of us when I ask, can we reapply?” 

In her expression of gratitude during Ivy Day, Sonya Abdalla ’26 recalled the moment a Smithie changed her life. As a child, she fled Iraq with her family, making her way through Turkey to a refugee camp in Greece. Her options at that time were limited, but she insisted on maintaining her education and within three months had taught herself English, Arabic, and Greek. But college seemed forever out of reach. 

“When you are a refugee … the doors to higher education are not just closed, they are built like they were never meant to be opened,” Abdalla said. Then she met a Smithie, who spent time with her and told her stories about Smith and how supportive and generous the community is. “I remember feeling something I hadn’t felt in a long time: hope. Real hope that the doors that had once seemed closed were now open to me,” she said. “I was accepted to Smith with a full scholarship. It was the first time someone looked at me and didn’t just see a refugee. They saw a scholar.”

Chloe Lin ’16 stayed on an extra day after her Reunion so she could roam through Northampton and spend a little more time soaking in the beauty of the campus before catching her flight back to Los Angeles. For Lin, it was the sensory details that immediately triggered her memories. One afternoon, she opened the window in her room in Morrow House—her home for Reunion weekend—and took a deep breath. “The air smelled like it did a decade ago,” she noted. “I immediately said, ‘I’m back!’”

Lin, who works as a program coordinator at the UCLA School of Law, said she came to Reunion this year because she wanted to say thank you to the place that played such an important role in her life during a particularly formative time. “Smith shaped me,” she said. “Before coming to Smith, I never allowed myself to dream big, but at Smith the possibilities of your world expand beyond anything you could imagine. I’m forever grateful for the gifts Smith gave me.” 

Back in Seelye, Cassandra Tseckares Hostetler ’86 reflected on the biggest lesson she took away from Smith. It wasn’t necessarily something she learned in class. Rather, she said, it was the unshakable confidence that came from sharing the same space as other smart and highly capable women. 

“You can’t help but carry yourself differently when you’re in that kind of environment,” Hostetler said. “What I left Smith feeling—and it has stuck with me ever since—was the belief that I can do this, so just go do it.”