The halls were filled with warm greetings and excited reunions Monday, Jan. 8.  Not only did current students return from their three-week winter break, 40 alumnae of the class of 2017 and eight alumnae of the class of 2016 returned for the Home for the Holidays Luncheon and College Scoop Panel.  

“A lot of the class [of 2017] had to go back to school early so a lot of them couldn’t make it, since we went back to school late,” Alumnae Coordinator Colleen Godinez said.

All members of the class of 2017 were invited to attend the annual luncheon in order to reunite with their classmates and visit previous teachers.

“[Alumnae] can always come back here and there is always a family at Sion,” Godinez said.

Godinez invited several members of the class of 2016, based on nominations from their former teachers, to speak on the annual College Scoop Panel.  The panel consisted of a question-and-answer style setup about college directed towards current juniors and seniors with questions from the college counseling department and from students in the audience.  This year’s selection of representatives came from seven schools and traveled from five states.

“Students can hear from me, as their college counselor, or Mrs. Henning, or they can hear from their teachers and they certainly hear a lot from their parents, but I think getting to hear the perspective of a peer, someone who was an upperclassman who had the same Sion education and who is already a year and a half into the college experience is very valuable,” Director of College Counseling Erin Stein said.

The alumnae shared insight with the audience about their academic, social, dormitory and athletic lives.

“I hope that we showed [current students] that we were in your shoes and we all turned out fine,” class of 2016 alumna Kate Pendergast said. “I hope that [it helps current students] experience the process with a little bit more excitement and a little bit more of an open mind.”