Celebrates past, looks to future

Centennial co-coordinator Eleanor Vander Haegen said the college feels the history is worth celebrating and that there is a great future for students and faculty here at KSC.

"We don't think of this as an ending celebration as much as, 'you ain't seen nothing yet,'" Vander Haegen said.

The celebration began in August 2008 and will continue through December 2009. However, the Centennial committee began working on the events in 2007. 

Together, librarian Irene Harold and Vander Haegen formed a group of constituencies that helped indicate what should be included over the course of the Centennial. The group consisted of community representatives, retired faculty, staff members, alumni and student group affiliates. The current committee seats eight members.

The celebration launched with the remembrance of KSC in its start as a normal school in 1909. Vander Haegen explained that a normal school can be defined as a school that was established to set the norms or standards by which teachers would be educated.

So far, there have been six events associated with the celebration. Members of the college can look forward to at least nine more before the end of the next fall semester.

According to Vander Haegen, the cost for funding these events ranks fairly low.

"I'm a very thrifty budget manager," Vander Haegen said. "And we are doing this with certain contributions from the community."

For example, the fireworks scheduled for the proclamation party on April 15 will be mostly donated by the Atlas Firework Company. KSC has also received special subsidies from Keene's own baseball team, the Swamp Bats.

Sophomore Lee Ann Clark, who is one of 13 Phonathon callers for the KSC Alumni Fund, said the donations acquired between the Spring and Fall semesters gathered between $38,000 - $45,000. These funds will be used specifically for events held throughout the Centennial celebration.