The Class of 1970 is gathering today, along with hundreds of other alumnae from Mount Holyoke College to celebrate our 40th reunion since graduation. I’m imagining that the topic of conversation among us baby boomers will have to include the enormous changes we’ve encountered since we first set foot on the South Hadley campus in the mid-60′s.

Then there were curfews with locked dormitory building doors, no locks on our dorm room doors, no phones in the rooms, no computers, dress-up meals (skirts for dinner nightly; Gracious Living with stockings and pumps on Wednesday nights and Sunday lunch) and men only allowed in the parlor rooms on the first floor.

During the tumultuous end of that decade ALL of that changed along with protests to the Vietnam war, a moratorium on exams and peace signs on our mortar boards. Ted Kennedy was our commencement speaker.

Here we are 40 years later with vegan dorms, wireless everywhere and majors in fields I’ve never heard of. What has stayed the same is our commitment to being “uncommon” women — Mary Lyon, our founder’s, special word for us.

I come back every 5 years to find out what my “uncommon” classmates are up to. It’s always something fascinating, engaging and of service to the world. I’m a proud alum and happy to be a part of the baby boom generation.

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