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Greetings from the Hill

By Nathan Soland '04
September 3, 2008

As you open this e-newsletter, another academic year has begun on Manitou Heights. Our newest students, the Class of 2012, have already begun negotiating the unfamiliar. They are finding balance between home and school, classes and free time, space and lack of it, and co-curricular activities and course work. Surely, theirs is an experience similar to your first few weeks on the Hill.

SolandNathan08
Students first held classes on Manitou Heights in 1878 -- 130 years ago this fall. As Joseph Shaw '49 recounts in his book, Th. N. Mohn: First President of St. Olaf College, President Mohn had asked returning students to come back early and move all equipment, books, and materials from their downtown Northfield location to the Manitou Heights one. What they found on the Hill that year was the Main, a new structure that towered over the town and would soon house all aspects of campus life.

This year is no different for our community. Regents Hall, the new home of natural and mathematical sciences, has taken shape and is currently alive with faculty, students, and staff who are filling and preparing offices, classrooms, and lab spaces for a landmark year of teaching, learning, research, and scholarship.

The excitement on the faces of our community members -- to see firsthand this dream fulfilled -- is similar to that of the donors, builders, and campus shepherds who imagined such a building and boldly took steps to make it happen.

On the weekend of Oct. 3-5, it is time for us all to gather, share in this excitement and formally dedicate Regents Hall. Set among the activities of Homecoming and Family Weekend, the dedication ceremonies will complement the autumn traditions of learning, athletics, and reconnecting. Not only will we officially open the doors for tours and exploration, but there will also be numerous opportunities for you and your family to learn, be entertained, and engage in the life of the college. Pre-registration is encouraged.

Just as your St. Olaf experience is a reference point in your life, so too is the dedication of Regents Hall a reference point in the great history of our college. I warmly invite you to be present for this moment and to take part in all the weekend's festivities. Fram! Fram! St. Olaf!

Nathan Soland '04
Director
Alumni & Parent Relations
solandn@stolaf.edu

Contact Nathan Soland at 507-786-3310 or solandn@stolaf.edu.