“Then and Now” campus tours invite Grand Valley State University alumni to return to campus, revisiting what it means to be a Laker in 2023. The tours focus on celebrating fond memories and the home the GVSU campus has come to be for alumni and current students alike during GVSU’s homecoming weekend on Saturday, Oct. 28.
The “Then and Now” tour features stops at buildings and landmarks across the Allendale campus where GVSU alumni and retired staff members shared stories and personal anecdotes from their time in school.
“Then and Now Tours celebrate what it means to be a Laker for a lifetime,” Ashlyn Leavitt, Assistant Director of Event Planning and Volunteer Management within the GVSU Alumni Relations Team and graduate of the class of 2020, said.
Tours departed from the Alumni House and Visitor Center at 9:50 a.m. before the homecoming football game and tailgate. The tour takes roughly two hours and stops at important campus locations such as Seidman House, Russel H. Kirkhof Center and Mary Idema Pew Library. After the tours, attendees were encouraged to join homecoming festivities like the “Reunion Row” tailgate and the football game against Michigan Technological University.
“We’re at the point with our alumnus, which (there are) over a hundred thousand, that some are grandparents and some are people who are 22, 23, so the range of their experience at GVSU is like a timeline,” Andy Beachnau, Ph.D., Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs and graduate of the class of 1985, said.
Beachnau said the decision to invite alums to explore campus through “Then and Now” tours was easy.
“One of the things GVSU does really well is (instilling) a sense of belonging like this is a place that matters,” Beachnau said.
Beachnau said the question for alumni is “When did you know you were a Laker?” For some grads, they felt at home the first day they walked on campus. Others took longer, but all were able to identify a moment in which they knew they’d found their home at GVSU.
GVSU alumna Megan Zack said she met her husband of six years while attending GVSU at a party in the apartment complex then known as Copper Beech Townhomes. They have taken their daughter Sloane to campus multiple times to “look at the beautiful fall colors and show Sloane where we (they) fell in love.”
“My favorite memories on campus were riding the wrecking ball before it was taken down, meeting my husband, eating not-so-great food at Kleiner and taking naps in the library,” Zack said.
Alums had the opportunity to talk about their experiences and the impact GVSU had on the people they are today. The “Then and Now” campus tour event connected alumni to current students while reminiscing about their shared college experiences.
