Reedies Volunteer!

In Greek, “Xenia” embodies hospitality between a host and a guest, centering generosity and reciprocity. In this spirit, we celebrate the volunteer and community work done by Reedies throughout this past year through the Alumni Board’s Xenia Initiative. We’d like to share a few of our favorite photos and comments from this year! Comments have been edited for length and format. 

Tina Le ’08 writes:

“Over the past 12 months, I led Nasdaq’s Green Team, a supportive employee group for people with environmentalist values. We invited speakers from nonprofits like The Nature Conservancy, Environmental Voter Project, Climate Voice, etc. and carried out local volunteer activities around the world. We also held an Environmental Justice series in collaboration with another support group called GLOBE (Global Link of Black Employees), because minority groups are almost always victims of environmental destruction.”

Tina Le, class of 2008, picture second from the left, poses with fellow volunteers for Nasdaq's Green Team during a local volunteer cleanup event.
Tina Le ’08 leads Nasdaq’s Green Team.

Lawrence Sherman ’86 (BA); ’87 (MALS) writes:

“I have been a volunteer manager and coach for Southwest Portland Little League or other Little Leagues since 2005 when my kids played baseball/softball, and after they moved on continued coaching softball every year. I also have been a volunteer coach and manager for a travel softball team for the past six years (the players are now seniors in high school), and even managed to get the players through the pandemic, providing them with an opportunity to get outdoors and play the sport they love.”

Lawrence Sherman, class of 1986, pictured center, poses with his Southwest Portland Little League team. Lawrence has been a volunteer coach for Little League since 2005.
Lawrence Sherman ’86 (BA); ’87 (MALS) has coached for Southwest Portland Little League since 2005.

Duncan Parks ’92 writes: 

“[I am the] Team Director and level 3 coach for youth mountain bike team (Portland Metro Composite), part of the Oregon Interscholastic Cycling League and National Interscholastic Cycling Association.”

Duncan Parks, class of 1992 pictured center, fist bumps a member of the Portland Metro Composite youth mountain bike team. Duncan volunteers as a team director and level 3 coach.
Duncan Parks ’92 coaches the Portland Metro Composite Youth Mountain Bike Team.

Sharon Toji ’58 writes:

“I represent the Hearing Loss Association of America as a voting delegate and Co-Chair of the Communications Task Group on the American National Standards Association (ANSI) A117.1 Committee on Accessible and Usable Buildings and Sites.”

Sharon Toji, class of 1958, works to represent the Hearing Loss Association of America and the Communications Task Group on the American National Standards Association (ANSI) A117.1 Committee on Accessible and Usable Buildings and Sites.
Sharon Toji ’58 is a leader on Hearing Loss representation and Accessible and Usable Buildings and Sites.

Barbara Bates ’67 writes: 

“JourneySongs Hospice Choir where I run the Google Workspace for the group and also sing at the bedsides of folx in hospice; Newton Conservators (a land trust preserving open space in Newton) where I maintain the website (Newtonconservators.org) and their Google Workspace, as well as lead nature walks in Newton, give nature talks, and tech host webinars on nature.”

Barbara Bates, class of 1967, pictured on the left, leads a nature walk for Newton Conservators. Barbara also spends time volunteering for a hospice choir.
Barbara Bates ’67 leads a nature walk for Newton Conservators.

The world needs more Reedies!

Love Reed,

The Prexy Ghost

Reed’s Annual Festival Of Learning

If there’s one thing that unites Reedies, it’s our love for learning, and that’s what Paideia is all about. This year, Paideia will take place from Saturday, January 18, to Sunday, January 26, and will include an array of classes taught by students, professors, and alumni. With some returning courses such as “Building Reed College in Minecraft”, “Reed College Survivor,” and “The Art of Pokemon Battling” along with some new ones like “World Domination 110: the Reed Alumni Agenda”, there’s classes for everyone!

As we move towards post-pandemic life, Paideia is once again open for all Reed community members, which includes alumni, so we hope to see you there!

Excited to take classes with no exams,

Taliah Churchill ’25

Ft: some pictures from years past:

Paideia 2016, The Folly of Frack
Paideia 1018, class unknown

Paideia 2023, class unknown
Paideia 2023, fencing

Riffin’ Griffin Returns

The Riffin’ Griffin is SO back; did you miss us? After a many year hiatus, there’s much to catch up on, and while blogs may not be as hip and happening as they were when I was on Tumblr 10 years ago, I think it’s prime time they came back. This blog was created back in 2010 to serve as a home for news and announcements, multimedia offerings, and observations from our staff and colleagues. We’re proud to announce that in addition to all the classics, the new and improved Riffin’ Griffin will also include news about your fellow alumni, tales from ye Olde Reed, and whatever else tickles our nostalgia bone! We hope you’ll join us on our journey down memory lane and maybe even rekindle some friendships along the way.

To give you a glance at the disembodied voice behind the screen, I’m Taliah, a current senior and the Alumni Relations student assistant! I’ll be posting a lot of the content for this blog (other staff members may also blog from time to time), and hopefully in a few weeks you all will have the opportunity to submit posts too! We’re working on an easy to fill out form so that if you have any stories about Reed or otherwise Reedie related content you can submit it to us and we can post it on the blog.

TTYL,
The New Riffin’ Griffin Editor
Taliah Churchill ’25