🔹 It’s Commencement week! The class of 2025 will walk across the stage and join our alumni family on Saturday, May 3. What advice do you have for them? Reply and let us know!
🔹 We’re headed to the ballpark! Join us on Saturday, June 21, to cheer on the Charlotte Knights. Arrive early for pre-game catch on the field. After the game, stay for the fireworks! The best part? We’re in the shade!Register today.
At a recent Campus Update for faculty and staff, we recognized our team members who are celebrating special work anniversaries this year! If you’re still in touch, be sure to congratulate them on their dedicated years of service to Queens and our students. Queens alumni are noted with a crown.
Congratulations to the Staff Appreciation and Recognition Awards recipients!
Don Barton • Controller
Tiffany Britten • Director of Athletic Academic Success
Stephen Durst • SSC
Lauren Glase ’19 👑 • Graphic Designer
Nate Koski • User Support Analyst II
Austin Slough • Director of Athletic Communications
Natalie Stevens ’20 👑 • Chief of Staff for Advancement Operations
Let’s hear it for the Class of ’25
With Commencement just around the corner, we thought it would be fun to celebrate the Class of ’25 in a big way. So we dusted off the yearbooks, pulled out the archives, and took a little stroll down memory lane… all the way to 1925. The original Queens Class of ’25.
The graduating class that year was just 27 students strong, and by the looks of it, they packed every bit of joy, tradition, and growth they could into their four years at Queens. As freshmen, they hit the ground running. Their class beat out the other three classes to become campus basketball champions. They held the bragging rights for installing a newspaper rack in the library. They ended their first year “truer friends, and decidedly in love with our Alma Mater.”
Sophomore year brought changes. Their numbers shrank a bit, but their pride and perspective grew. They dubbed it “the year of awakening”—a time when they realized just how “green” the new freshman class really was. They also hosted a banquet for the seniors, a traditional gesture that seemed to boost their reputation.
By junior year, they’d hit their stride. They called it “the very happiest year”—a time marked by “assumed dignity,” junior privileges, and becoming recognizable fixtures on campus. One of the prized privileges? Getting to use the telephone, of course!
Senior year arrived with all the pomp and pride they had earned. They were back at Queens, nickels in hand for the new campus telephone, and proudly watched as their dream of a “Y Hut” on the back campus came to life. When graduation finally came, they left with “A-1 diplomas” and hearts full of gratitude.
“It hardly seems that four years ago we came to the Queens for the first time,” Margaret Harrelson ’25, class historian, wrote. “Four of the most wonderful, most carefree, the happiest years that any girl in the class of ’25 will ever experience. We love old Queens with the best that is in us and hate to leave her halls, but we must give our places to those coming on, that they, too, may be happy.”
And because the Class of 1925 wasn’t short on creativity, Annie Parks Moore ’25, class poet, left behind a poem that still encapsulates the collegiate experience all these years later.
Happy Days
The days of youth we count the best
Are these sweet days so richly blest
From Wisdom’s golden store.
Now life’s day dawns, with rosier hue,
Over a world so strange and new
Which never was ours before.
We love thee, happy college days,
But these gay hearts, whose carefree lays
Have often cheered these halls,
The graver joys of life now face.
In wisdom robed we take our place
Where higher duty calls.
With lingering step and heartbeat slow,
We soon depart from loves we know
Must live a memory.
Yet, with one voice, our banner blue
We claim our guide for paths yet new,
Wherever their end may be.
Highlights
Amongst the calendar overview for the year documenting events and happenings, these zingers stand out:
October 29: Seniors take one final fling at youth. Five of them attend circus.
February 17: Ruth Starnes fails to get her daily letter. The trains did not run today.
February 21: Margaret Ritchie did not have a date tonight. Davidson in quarantine.
March 2: First passing grade made in organic chemistry. Miss Stone disturbs peace of North Hall.
1) At the end of the yearbook are ads. Two stood out as truly representative of the times—a hotel and a bank. 2) A toddler was apparently the mascot. She makes at least two appearances in the yearbook.
Learn at Queens | Professionals, Retirees, and the Curious Invited
Estate Planning & Wealth Management Forum – May 21, 2025
This single-day, in-person conference offers a comprehensive educational program featuring nationally recognized experts, networking opportunities, sponsor booths, continuing education credits, and more. Learn more.
QUiLL – June 2-5
This summer, join fellow lifelong learners in the very first QUiLL Summer Passport Program at Queens. Designed for intellectually curious adults, this enriching program pairs engaging, interactive sessions led by Queens professors and local experts with meaningful cultural experiences each afternoon. From Landscape Painting and Bruce Springsteen to the Alchemy of AI, there’s something for everyone. Get the details.
Talent & Coaching Conference – June 4, 2025
Register now for the Queens Talent & Coaching Conference, a dynamic one-day in-person conference exploring the interconnected worlds of talent development and professional coaching brought to you by the McColl School of Business. Early bird pricing is available through May 5.
Day of Scholarship and Service
The inaugural Day of Scholarship and Service was designed to showcase our students’ academic achievements while giving back to the community that surrounds our campus. It’s a chance for all of us to live and breathe the Queens motto, “Not to be served, but to serve.”
The morning kicked off with 105 students presenting 66 research projects in a poster and conference-style format.
“The moment I was most inspired by while presenting my research was when I realized four of my professors (both past and present) had come to support me. People talk a lot about how having strong relationships with professors is such a benefit of going to a small school but observing that in action was much more powerful.” – Maura O’Toole ’26
In the afternoon, we partnered with Servants With a Heart, and more than 310 students, faculty, and staff members joined forces to pack 50,000 meals for individuals facing food insecurity around the world. We even had a few alumni join us to help!
Did you know the Knight School of Communication runs a news service where current students are the storytellers? They cover stories that community media don’t have resources for: Religion, Art, Non-Profits, Environment, and Sports Behind-the-Scenes. Learn more about the program that started in 2021 and check out their website.
Students in the Knight School are also looking for Charlotteans to tell the stories of how the COVID-19 pandemic affected them. Whether your job shifted, you lost a loved one, or experienced loneliness, consider taking a moment to share your story with our student journalists.
Congratulations to YOU!
You made it to the end of the newsletter, which means you probably like hearing about the cool things students and alumni are doing. Have you taken a few minutes to follow us on social media yet?
If you keep it professional we have both a LinkedIn Alumni Group you can join (for sharing jobs, looking for work, and making connections) as well as a LinkedIn Alumni Page you can follow.
We’re on the traditional platforms, too. We share alumni news, alumni shoutouts, and things to do on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
Can we share you?
We love more than anything to celebrate you and your achievements, share your Queens memories, congratulate you on your Royal weddings and future students, and show off your Queens reunions or visits to campus—but we only know if you tell us! Send a message with details and a photo to any of our platforms or email alumni@queens.edu so we can share.
