Category: Reed Traditions

Simplified Spelling and Reed College

William Trufant Foster, the first President of Reed College, was a strong
supporter of reforming the spelling of the English language. In 1909, while a
professor at Bowdoin College, Maine, he was on the Advisory Council of the
Simplified Spelling Board as well as being the Chairman of the Executive
Committee of the Maine Center of the Simplified Spelling Board. When he was
appointed President of Reed in 1910, he brought his convictions about spelling
with him.


Due to Foster’s influence, simplified spelling was used in many of the college
publications. Perhaps the most notable was Reed’s first yearbook from 1915.
The students of the initial graduating class compiled it and included an
explanatory note on the verso of the title page that read:

Note—The simpler, briefer and more fonetic forms of English spelling recommended in the first four lists of the Simplified Spelling Board ar used thruout this volume

One of the opening pages of the Yearbook, which features a uniquely spelled tribute to Foster


This publication confused readers then and continue to do so today; some think
that these early students were woefully bad spellers. What follows is a sample
paragraph from that first yearbook:


Other publications that reflect Foster’s simplified spelling influence for the
period of 1911 through 1919 are the student newspaper—the Quest, the 1916
Yearbook, and many official college documents. Number 1 of the Reed College
Record for March, 1911, notes that it “…starts out with simplified spellings—tho,
altho, thoro, thoroly, catalog, program, addrest, publisht, thru, thruout” (from
Simplified Spelling Bulletin, Vol. II:4, March 1911). It is interesting to note that
several of these words have become commonly accepted today.


Besides influencing the college publications, President Foster wrote articles and
gave talks in support of the new system. For instance, he addressed the annual
meeting of the Inland Empire Teachers Association in Spokane, Washington, in
April 1913, with a talk entitled “The Economics of Spelling Reform.” At least one Reed faculty member, Professor George H. Danton of German in 1915/1916, also
supported the new spelling, and in fact served on the Advisory Council of the
Simplified Spelling Board in 1913.

The Simplified Spelling Board was created in 1906 by Andrew Carnegie, who
supported it for twelve years. In an article in The New York Times, he stated that
he believed “English might be made the world language of the future” and thus
encourage universal peace. However, its role was hindered by its “contradictory
and difficult spelling” (NYT, 3/12/06). Many people adopted this idea besides Foster, including Mark Twain and William Dean Howells. In 1916, the Simplified Spelling Board restated its mission in the following manner:

The purpose of the movement is to hasten the process of rational orthographic change, to guide it in the direction of simplicity and economy; and gradually to substitute for our present caotic (sic) spelling, which is neither consistent nor etymologic, a simpler and
more regular spelling, based on existing rules and analogies, and in harmony with the history and genius of the language.

By 1918, Carnegie gave up on the idea, since even the Carnegie Institution of
Washington, D.C., did not use it in their reports. He wrote to the Board saying “I
think I hav been patient long enuf…I have a much better use for Twenty-five
thousand dollars a year.”

Original article by Mark Kuestner and Gay Walker, May 2009, additions by Tess Buchannan in 2026

7th Annual Nitrogen Day, Again!

Wednesday, April 22, 2026 marks Reed’s 7th Annual Nitrogen Day, put on by Reed’s American Chemical Society and American Nuclear Society! Enjoy liquid nitrogen ice cream, hot dogs, and fun science demos! In Nitrogen we Trust! See the below article written by Raymond Rendleman ’06 for the May 2009 Reed Magazine, or this Grail article from 2018, or the Quest article from this year about it.

You can’t see it. You can’t smell it. You can’t taste it. It doesn’t burn, explode, alter consciousness or make you talk funny. It is anything but rare—in fact, it makes up the greater part of the atmosphere.

It is, of course, nitrogen, and it is the apotheosis of dull.

Except at Reed.

Once a year, Reedies fling aside all pretense of neutrality and plunge into communal worship of the seventh element. The nitro-veneration takes form in everything from the freezing of ice cream and everyday objects with liquid nitrogen (ever seen a sock snap in half?) to the recitation of elaborate pro-nitrogen odes.

Nitrogen Day, which usually falls on the Thursday eight days before Renn Fayre, has become one of the most popular traditions on campus, enduring for more than 15 years. Yet illuminating its origins is no easy task.

Longtime chemistry professor Alan Shusterman has no idea how it started. Biology professor David Dalton, who has affixed his career to unraveling the mysteries of certain plants’ ability to self-fertilize, and who argues that the ability to fix nitrogen industrially was the most important discovery of the 20th century, is similarly baffled.

The key to unlocking the elusive origins of N-Day came from emeritus professor of chemistry Tom Dunne, who remembers with pride the impassioned nitrogen-related speeches delivered by science majors in the quad. Dunne says he may have delivered a speech or two himself. “It was always a lighthearted thing,” he recalls.

Dunne suggested we contact physics major Rob Mack ’93, who confessed to being one of the instigators, although he stressed that it was a group effort.

Posing as the “Committee to Sustain Mysticism, Spirituality, and Awe While Deconstructing and Rationalizing the World Around Us,” the organizers staged the first N-Day on April 23, 1992. Starting at 4 p.m., the festivities began with a brass-band parade from the library lobby. On the Student Union porch, religion major David Weinstock ’92 presided over a ceremony titled “In Nitrogen We Trust,” according to Mack’s original Quest article. Hotdogs cooked over burning charcoal, the Just Say N to O Band provided a musical interlude, and the celebration concluded with an “Ode to nitrogen and its triple bond.”

From Reed College Quest Vol 158 No 11 Apr 21 1992

Biology major Nick Kaplinsky ’93, who helped with the first N-Day, calls it another one of those Reed events that popped out of a “wouldn’t it be great if’ conversation among friends.

The event was so successful it was repeated the next year. “The most amazing part was how quickly it caught on,” says bio major Al Kun ’95, another principal organizer.

By 1994, political science major Francisco Toro ’97 wrote N-Day’s annual Quest advertisement, saying that seeing the inaugural event as a prospie was “one of the main reasons” he chose Reed. From the student handbook to admission office literature, the event—invariably described as the ‘Seventh Annual” in a nod to its place in the periodic table—has become a quintessential demonstration of Reed culture. Last year, the first known extramural N-Day celebration was held at the house of chem major Steve Carlson ’93 in California.

Besides the addition of tofu dogs to the barbeque, little has changed of N-Day traditions. The craziest thing typical of the celebration is a nitrogen-infused beer garden. (Professor Dalton regards the smaller bubbles of dissolved nitrogen in ale as the 20th century’s second-greatest discovery. )

Why nitrogen? Theories abound. “It was fun to say, ‘I will make you love something you didn’t know anything about,” Mack recalls. Nitrogen’s tendency to be overshadowed by flashy elements such as oxygen also appealed to Reedies. “People feel they must root for the underdog,” recalls physics major Ben Brau ’93.

If one were to remain neutral on the subject, one could argue that other elements are as interesting and as important. Oxygen supports combustion; carbon is essential to all known forms of life; helium makes you sound like Donald Duck. Among Reedies gathered in the Quad for N-Day, however, any suggestion that another element might make a superior object of veneration will elicit a chorus of boos. Whatever the reason, Reed and nitrogen share a unique and powerful bond.

More than a century of Canyon Day

Reed is notorious for our traditions, but few have the staying power of Canyon Day. Canyon Day dates to nearly the school’s inception, with our first records pointing to April 15, 1913. At the time, Albert Doyle submitted plans to transform the canyon into “an artful landscape of Tudor Gothic quadrangles and formal gardens.” When the college’s shoestring budget of the time made that impossible, focus shifted to adapting the canyon from a cow pasture and trickle of a stream to a recreational area.

Campus Day work across the canyon with a pair of horses to help, 1913. Most of the students and faculty are clearing ground with rakes or hoes.

Even the college president, William Trufont Foster, put his back into it:

Campus Day near the Reed Lake dam, circa 1914. Students and faculty are clearing logs out of the Canyon Lake. President William T. Foster is in the water, pushing a log.

In 1915, students excavated a ten foot deep swimming hole on the west side, complete with bathhouses. In the ’20s, a dam was built to make way for a formal swimming pool. In the ’50s, the north bank was excavated for the construction of cross-canyon dorms. A Quest article from `1955 reminds students that they would soon,

“have a chance to uphold a miss-clad tradition when they forsake the cloisters of academic learning to shoulder arms . . . against the common enemy. Weapons will be rakes, shovels, hoes, and related miscellany suitable for an attack on the defiled beauties of nature.”

Year by year, the community gathered with snacks, gloves, shears, and every once in a while, with a live band to cheer them on.  

Canyon Day, April 1962. A student German Band is playing in the rain at 6:30 a.m., probably outside of the Old Dorm Block.

Over time, our approach to the canyon has evolved–it has been named part of the Johnson Creek Watershed in recognition of the headwaters of Crystal Springs Creek on the east end, and the canyon is now protected as 60 acres of habitat for urban wildlife. In ’01, the college constructed a fish ladder to re-establish connectivity between the lake and the lower creek, allowing access to the salmon spawning grounds. Opening day featured champagne and a timely spring downpour.

A snowy day in the Canyon, featuring the Reed College Fish Ladder, circa 2009

As such, a century into the tradition of Canyon Day, the focus is on planting native trees and shrubs, pulling out invasive plants, maintaining trails, and collecting debris. 

Canyon Day, April 4, 2010. Students are making piles of weed debris behind the Studio Art Building.

In the area? Join the community on April 4, 2026 to get your hands dirty! We can’t promise a live band, but we can guarantee camaraderie and a day’s work to feel proud of. 

The 50th Anniversary of Reed Rugby: 50 Years of Reed-Sanctioned Mud Wrestling

Before American Football, there was rugby and before rugby there was rugby, and our school has been playing rugby officially for 50 years now. Starting in 1974, the proud members of the Rugby club had only a book on rugby as their head coach and a foreign exchange student from Keele as their assistant coach. Somehow, they managed to win their first game, but that was probably mostly due to dumb luck. Paul Lucre ’92 said that they only won two games while he played on the rugby team, but nevertheless he had a lot of fun. Eventually, the rugby team managed to get a coach by the name of Peter Carmini. The Rugby team back then was dirt poor and could not even buy their own Rugby balls, they had to ‘acquire’ them through various means (and from various teams).

Rugby players in 1974

One time the rugby team was going to play against a Catholic School, and some students decided that it would be funny to dress as monks, and bring out a cross and burn it in front of the Catholic players. Understandably, the Catholic players were not pleased and promptly left without playing a game. 

Typically, when people talk about Rugby, they are talking about two different styles of Rugby: fifteens and sevens. Fifteens is fifteen players versus fifteen players, and sevens is seven players versus seven players. The beauty of Rugby lies in the fact that you need all kinds of body sizes to make an effective team—you need your big guys to play forward positions because they can tackle and hit more effectively, meanwhile the smaller and faster people play as backs. These are your scorers, they run around with the ball and score tries (Rugby touchdowns). Personally, I enjoy the rush of tackling someone to the ground (Yes officer, I assure you I am indeed a sane person), but in rugby there is a position for everyone’s body size and for everyone’s interests. Rugby is not a gentlemanly game played by thugs, it’s a thuggish game played by gentlemen.

50 years of anything is bound to create traditions, and Reed Rugby is no exception. At the end of the year all the members, regardless of gender, put on prom dresses and play rugby. The Rugby team is also famous for winning the owl fight on multiple occasions, sometimes in collaboration with other entities like the Russian House, or sometimes just by themselves. (Bulky Reedies who exercise regularly and have built-in teamwork are bound to do well in a brawl for a concrete owl.) Some traditions have changed, for example, there used to be a tradition where after a person scored their first try they would have to strip naked and dance. This has (thankfully) been replaced with just drinking a beer out of a boot.Rugby players in prom dresses during a skirmish

The Reed Rugby Team is not just a team of Reed students; it merged with Lewis and Clarke to form the Reed Lewis and Clarke rugby club or simply RLC, which has two teams under it, the W+ team and the M+ team or the Porcupines and River Rats, respectively. This merger is most beneficial for everyone since we get to borrow LC’s football players while they get more bodies on their rugby team. At the end of the day, we get more wins, which is great for all parties involved. To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Reed Rugby, there was a game held on the Rugby Field during Reunions. Many people showed up and despite some of the alumni’s ages, a lot of them were just as fast and just as slippery as they were when they started playing rugby.

Mildly Concussed,

William 

From the Ashes of Vandalism and Theft, a New Boar’s Head Rises

Boar’s Head Procession in 1952

A long, long time ago, there was Boarus: the first boar’s head. Alas he was stolen and brutishly attacked by three dogs (who gnawed off one of his ears). After his career ending injury sometime ago, he retired and Boarus Jr. took up the mantle of Boar’s Head until his retirement last year. Not to leave an opening in the procession, we now have a third contender for the Boar’s Head. 

This young, up-and-coming prospect hails from an unknown curio shop, picked up by an alum and graciously donated to Alumni Relations. This new boar’s head was drafted first overall by the Reed Alumni Relations, after impressing scouts with its ability to win staring contests and being overall unwieldy and heavy. But, what the boar makes up for in unwieldiness and overall prowess as a boar’s head, it lacks in a name, and this is where you come in, dear alum. 

We, Alumni Relations, must identify this nameless boar’s head, and we need your input. We need a name, any name will do, Wilbur, Franklin, Boarus Jr the III, or even Chris P. Bacon. It does not matter, we just need something shorter than the boar. Our draft pick requires a name by December 12 in order for him to participate in the holiday festivities in time. Got an idea? Submit a suggestion now!

Scouting New Prospects,

William Clarke ’27

A visit from…Boarus?

More rapid than owls, his coursers they came.

And he whistled and shouted, and called them by name;

Now Diver! Now Doyle! Now Chittick and Ladd!

On Foster! On Scholz! On Quincy in plaid!

So up to the holiday party they flew 

for eating with friends and dancing too.

As the holiday season approaches, so does Reed’s annual alumni holiday party. Have you heard the Reed myth about a group of people dressed in black druidic robes, marching in a hallowed procession that includes a cappella singing, torches, and a boar’s head on a pallet? This curious scene isn’t just lore; it’s the annual alumni holiday party. This yuletide celebration dates to the college’s early years, with the boar’s head procession appearing in the 1920s and becoming quite the beloved tradition. 

For many years in England, a roasted boar’s head has been associated with holiday feasting. The custom may be associated with the Norse practice of sacrificing a boar to the god Freyr during the winter solstice, in order to gain his favor in the new year. It seems that the tradition moved from Scandinavia to England with St. Stephen, whose feast day is December 26. The “Boar’s Head Carol” dates to the 15th century, and the words and tune used in Reed’s performance are the same as those sung every Christmas at Queen’s College, Oxford.

We hope that whether you’re able to join us for this festive occasion on campus on December 13 or not, you’ll have a great holiday season. Stay tuned for updates on our friend dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot.

Sending holiday cheer,

The Alumni Relations Team

Oodles of Owlettes

At the beginning of the year, when Reed college gets a new group of students, these wide-eyed kids get to hang out for a week before the rest of us arrive. Orientation is the time for these upcoming freshmen to get acquainted with the campus, and each other. I have fond memories of greeting at least half the freshmen class during my first day of orientation week, and then spending the next two days in my room, slowly recharging my social battery. Other people who are extroverts actually spent those other days going about and making friends.

Another thing I remember during my orientation how there were long stretches of nothing followed by everyone getting crammed into the Kaul Auditorium to learn about the joys of drug abuse or Reed’s sexual harassment policy. All of which every new student totally remembers. One thing that the older alums might not remember ever seeing are the Orientation Week Leaders (OWLs)–these are students who are tasked with talking about the ins and out of Reed and answering any questions these freshmen might have. I remember how my OWL talked about which professors were amazing and which classes were hard to get. Freshmen then get the moniker “Owlettes” during these first few weeks. 

Some lucky Reedies even got to go on Odysseys, which are trips either around Portland or the Pacific Northwest, either to go white water rafting or walk around Portland and sample all the wonderful food carts. In years past, they’ve included bike tours, backpacking, and rock climbing trips too! Some freshmen this year went surfing on the Oregon Coast, or on a Deschutes river rafting trip, or out to explore the iconic waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge. They have a chance to borrow outdoor gear they might need from the Backpack Co-Op. If you went on an Odyssey, I would love to hear about your experience and where you went.

Keeping an eye on the Owlettes,

William Clarke ’27

Oh The Humanities – Hum 110 Inspired Cocktails

Harry Mersmann ’82 helmed a Hum 110 Alumni Book Club this year, and he enriched his group’s virtual romp through the syllabus by creating a cocktail recipe for them to enjoy from their own homes. Harry shares these recipes with all who are interested, to accentuate their own visit to ancient Sumer and Babylon, Pharaonic Egypt, ancient Israel and Yehud, the Persian empire, and the archaic and classical Greek city-states.

Unit I: Gilgamesh / The Limits of Civilization: Walls and Other Boundaries

For Gilgamesh, given how much death there is in the text, I went simple with a Death in the Afternoon (1 ½ oz absinthe topped with 5oz sparkling wine), although Hemingway might have been cranky.

Unit II: Sinuhe & Eloquent Peasant / Hierarchies and Boundary Crossing

Sinuhe’s Journey Cocktail

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz Pomegranate juice (symbolizing life and fertility)
  • 1.5 oz  Gin (representing the journeys and encounters)
  • 0.5 oz Honey syrup (1:1 honey and water, for sweetness)
  • 0.5 oz Fresh lemon juice (for balance)
  • 1 oz Fresh cucumber juice (for a refreshing note)
  • A dash of cardamom bitters (to evoke the spices of the ancient world)
  • Fresh mint leaves (for garnish)
  • Pomegranate seeds (for garnish)

Method:

  1. Prepare the Cucumber Juice: Blend fresh cucumber and strain to extract the juice.
  2. Mix the Ingredients: In a cocktail shaker, combine pomegranate juice, gin, honey syrup, lemon juice, cucumber juice, and a dash of cardamom bitters.
  3. Shake: Fill the shaker with ice and shake well until chilled.
  4. Strain and Serve: Strain the mixture into a chilled glass filled with ice.
  5. Garnish: Top with fresh mint leaves and a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds.
  6. Enjoy: Sip and reflect on Sinuhe’s adventures and the rich tapestry of ancient Egypt.

Optional Twist:

For a sparkling version, top with a splash of soda water or sparkling wine to add effervescence, reminiscent of the Nile’s vitality.

This cocktail captures the essence of Sinuhe’s journey through the use of rich, vibrant flavors and symbolic ingredients, making it a delightful nod to the ancient narrative!

Unit III: Genesis / Making Order

The Forbidden Fruit

Ingredients:

  • 1 oz Honeycrisp apple vodka
  • 1 oz Peach Vodka
  • ½ oz lemon juice
  • 6 oz lemon-lime soda

Method:

Serve over ice in a Collins glass or even better, a hollowed-out pineapple, orange, papaya, or coconut. Garnish with your choice of earthly delights or an edible orchid.

Unit IV: Exodus and Theogony / Making Order II

The Burning Bush Cocktail

A fiery, aromatic drink with layers of flavor to evoke the spiritual and dramatic journey of Exodus.

Ingredients

  • 2 oz mezcal (symbolizing the smoky presence of the burning bush)
  • 1 oz pomegranate juice (representing the plagues and sacrifice, as pomegranate is a biblical fruit)
  • 0.5 oz honey syrup (milk and honey: the Promised Land)
  • 0.75 oz fresh lemon juice (purification and renewal)
  • Dash of bitters (reminders of bitterness in slavery)
  • Sprig of fresh rosemary (burning bush garnish)
  • Optional: edible gold dust (symbolizing wealth and idolatry, like the golden calf)

Method:

  1. Add mezcal, pomegranate juice, honey syrup, lemon juice, and bitters to a shaker with ice.
  2. Shake well until chilled.
  3. Strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube.
  4. Light a sprig of rosemary on fire briefly, extinguish, and place it in the drink as a garnish to represent the burning bush.

Unit VII: The Oresteia / Democracy, Citizenship and Exclusion

The House of Atreus

Style: Smoked, complex, and bittersweet. A dark Greek twist on a Manhattan.

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz Metaxa 7-Star Brandy (Greek brandy, smooth and spiced)
  • 0.75 oz Sweet Vermouth (symbolic of the tangled web of fate)
  • 0.25 oz Cherry Heering (for the bloodline… and the blood)
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters (for the bitter weight of justice)
  • 1 dash orange bitters (citrusy contrast to balance fate and revenge)
  • Optional: A smoke rinse (burning rosemary or oak woodchip, for that sacrificial temple vibe)

Garnish:

  • Luxardo cherry speared through a bay leaf (bay for Apollo, the god who ultimately sanctions Orestes’ revenge)
  • Orange peel, flamed

Glassware:

  • Coupe or Nick & Nora

Instructions:

  1. If using, prepare your smoke rinse by capturing smoke in the glass (burn a sprig of rosemary or woodchip, invert the glass over it for a few seconds).
  2. In a mixing glass with ice, stir the brandy, sweet vermouth, Cherry Heering, and both bitters until well chilled.
  3. Strain into the smoke-rinsed glass.
  4. Garnish with the bay-leaf-cherry spear and a flamed orange peel.

Mood:

To be sipped slowly while contemplating divine justice, blood oaths, and the price of retribution. This is a drink that honors Clytemnestra’s cunning, Agamemnon’s arrogance, and Orestes’ tragic duty.

Unit VIII: Thucydides / Speech in Crisis

The Peloponnesian Old Fashioned

This is a brooding, contemplative take on the classic Old Fashioned. It combines Athenian elegance with Spartan austerity, symbolizing the war between ideals and realities. Aged spirits represent history’s weight, while bitters and herbs capture the war’s moral ambiguity. A cocktail best enjoyed slowly, in deep conversation about fate, politics, and the unchanging nature of human ambition.

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz barrel-aged Greek Metaxa 12 Stars (or a quality brandy or bourbon if unavailable)
  • 0.25 oz spiced honey syrup (honey, cinnamon, clove, black pepper)
  • 2 dashes black walnut bitters
  • 1 dash Peychaud’s bitters (for a hint of drama and complexity)
  • Expressed lemon peel
  • Sprig of thyme (symbolizing remembrance and valor)

Method:

  1. Combine Metaxa (or chosen base spirit), spiced honey syrup, and bitters in a mixing glass with ice.
  2. Stir deliberately, like a general weighing the cost of war.
  3. Strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube.
  4. Express lemon peel over the drink and drop it in.
  5. Garnish with a sprig of fresh thyme, slightly singed for aroma—like the smoldering remnants of a besieged city.

Unit VIII pt 2: Plato / Speech in Crisis

The Socratic Hemlock

This drink is a philosophical paradox in a glass—simple yet profound, herbal yet bright. It pays homage to Socrates’ calm acceptance of death in Apology and his rational refusal to escape prison in Crito. The name references the infamous poison Socrates drank, but this version invites reflection, not demise.  This is a drink for those unafraid to examine their convictions—and to sit with questions that have no easy answers.

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 oz gin (preferably herbaceous, like Hendrick’s or a Greek gin such as Grace)
  • 0.5 oz green Chartreuse (symbolizing hemlock—bitter, herbal, mysterious)
  • 0.5 oz fresh lemon juice (clarity and moral sharpness)
  • 0.25 oz honey syrup (2:1 honey to water — tempering the bitterness with ethical sweetness)
  • 1 dash celery bitters (a nod to the philosopher’s austerity and reason)
  • Fresh sage leaf (garnish—representing wisdom)

Method:

  1. Shake all ingredients with ice.
  2. Double strain into a coupe glass.
  3. Garnish with a single sage leaf placed gently on the surface.
  4. Optional: Serve with a small side of chilled water—mirroring Socratic dialogue: the companion to a deep experience.

I encourage you to craft a cocktail and sit down with the accompanying book from the syllabus; perhaps a few ounces of Metaxa help make Agamemnon more sympathetic!

Looking forward to mescal in Year Two,

Tess Buchannan ’21

Foster’s Quest: Reunions Scavenger Hunt

On an otherwise unremarkable spring day in 1915, William T. Foster, Reed’s first President, strolls toward Sallyport, lost in thought. Life is a course charted between knowledge and ignorance, light and dark, truth and fiction – indeed, between Lux and Nox, the two grotesques guarding the portal as he enters. Where to guide his nascent College, newly troubled by adversity? And it is this question, posed precisely between these two poles, exactly as he enters the portal, that bends the fabric of time toward an answer and propels him out the other side… into 2025!

Reunion-goers have the chance to pick up the quest–your task is to help him return to his time by deciphering 11 clues to 11 locations around Reed Campus, enjoying a rather pleasant tour while collecting one letter at each locale. Then, gathering together those letters, you have only to unscramble them into a four-word phrase and you have saved the day. But more: the first 250 to show their work at Prexy earn a special keepsake reward – and yes, boundless glory!The Scoutbook you’ll pick at Prexy contains valuable information to spark your quest, or pick up the trail at any of the 11 locations if you happen upon one over the weekend.

Scavenger hunt designed by Matt Giraud ’85

Goodbye…and Hello!

With theses completed and celebrations held at Renn Fayre, the seniors (myself included) prepare for their final day as Reed students and the event that will transform them into Reed alumni: Commencement.

Personally, I feel torn between a myriad of emotions. I’m relieved to be getting my degree and excited to move on to new exciting things, but I’m also nostalgic for the time I’ve spent at Reed and sad to be leaving the community I’ve become so ingrained in over the last four years.

I’ve been reminiscing on my underclassman years, and looking through photos from my entire time at Reed. How much I’ve changed and grown, and how Reed has shaped who I’ve become. I wonder how life will be outside of the Reed bubble and how my connections to this community will change as my class disperses into the world.

Working in the alumni office has definitely framed my outlook on the post Reed community positively though. The resources and connections available to us do not just vanish upon graduation (clearly, as I’m writing this blog for alumni). Knowing that the Reed community will still be there for me brings me comfort in spite of the uncertainty that the world outside Reed promises.

See you on the other side,

Soon to be Reed Alumna

Taliah Churchill ’25