By Katie Zager

After two years of privately seeking donations and funds, the Development Office is bringing the Capital Campaign into the public sphere this weekend. Campaign Event Coordinator Karlyn Wegmann has planned two days of both public and “invitation only” events for the hundreds of alumni coming to campus this weekend.

The main event, an all-campus celebration, begins at 8 p.m. in the Leonard Center on Friday. Wegmann said that the school is planning for 1,500 people to attend. The event will include food, a Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Bar, dancing, and several smaller activities.

Friday night’s celebration will also feature a program where the winners of the student film contest, in which contestants were asked to make a film representation of Macalester, will be announced. All of the entries will be screened in the Leonard Center.

Wegmann said the celebration is meant to connect students and alumni, so “donors from the class of ’48 can meet students from the class of ’08.”

She said that one of the most common requests from alumni is “to do stuff with the students.”

The rest of the weekend centers on showing alumni the best Macalester has to offer-its students, Wegmann said. Forty of this weekend’s visitors have requested student guides, while over 80 students will showcase posters about their research projects, study-abroad and internships. Several alumni will be given tours of the campus in golf carts driven by students.

The weekend showcase is a chance for alumni to gain a deeper understanding of what Macalester is and where it is headed. The alumni who graduated from Mac forty plus years ago, arguably graduated from a different place than the Macalester we have today.

Other school-wide events, including meals and the homecoming football game are on the schedule as well. The weekend will culminate with an invitation only gala in the Leonard Center, featuring more student showcases, the premier of a new promotional video, and a performance by the musical group Sounds of Blackness.

Wegmann hopes that students will take advantage of the opportunity to connect with alumni. She said that it’s “mutually beneficial.”

“The alums want to meet students for their energy, while students want to meet people with real world experience,” she said.

Wegmann said that the focus of this weekend’s event is on the community and that they will not ask for money during any of the events. Although, she added, the hope is that by showing alumni and community members Macalester today, they will generate enough excitement and interest that will translate into donations in the future.

The school launches a Capital Campaign every 10 years where they seek donations for improvements around campus, as well as funds for endowed scholarships, professorships and research grants. The campaign, which has a goal of raising $150 million.

The public phase of the campaign generally comes at the halfway point. This is where the school looks to all of its alumni and community members to make additional donations.

Once the kick-off celebrations come to a close, a fundraising team will take several elements of the show to other major cities across the country.

Editor’s note: For more on the Step Forward Campaign see “College begins to court small donors in Capital Campaign” in this issue.