{"id":17407,"date":"2022-01-25T16:25:10","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T16:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-news\/?p=17407"},"modified":"2026-02-27T22:24:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T22:24:44","slug":"centering-your-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/centering-your-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Centering Your Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Alumni Board strives to connect alumni with one another and with Macalester, and each board member supports those efforts by joining a working group focused on athletics, career connections, or diversity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021 and 2022, the Alumni Board\u2019s athletics working group is delving into how stories from the past can inform the present and shape priorities for the future\u2014and how alumni athletes\u2019 experiences reverberate far beyond in-game memories. \u201cAthletics is a lens into broader political discussions that were happening at each step in the college\u2019s history,\u201d says chair Matthew Bergeron \u201908. \u201cThere are lessons to learn from stories from the past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year at Reunion, alumni shared their experiences as BIPOC athletes at Macalester in the 1970s at a panel put together by Eric Anderson \u201975. This year, the working group will again center stories from that decade, but this time with a focus on the fiftieth anniversary of Title IX, which ensures equal access to activities at institutions that receive federal funding. At Macalester, Title IX\u2019s impact included launching varsity women\u2019s athletic teams for the first time in the college\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alumni Board members are working with the Athletics Department and Archives to learn more\u2014and they want to hear from athletes who were involved in building the women\u2019s athletics program at both the varsity and club levels. \u201cWe want to tell that story as part of Reunion this year\u2014the first decade of Mac women\u2019s athletics\u2014but we don\u2019t yet know the story we need to tell,\u201d says Bergeron. \u201cI have no doubt that steps forward were contentious and incremental. What did the college do in the \u201970s and \u201980s that led to the current programs? What lessons from early successes and mistakes can we apply to other endeavors today? It\u2019s important to be honest about how we got to where we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Share your story<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n