Yes, it has been 10 years, and we’re still full of passion, still working on public policy, still willing to go the extra mile for a classmate, and, of course, still playing as hard as we work. So, there we were in May, packed into Henrietta’s Table at the Charles Hotel for our 10th reunion kickoff reception, halumniugging each new arrival, taking photos, and yakking so much that it took us forever to realize that Acting Dean Fred Schauer and Alumni Office Director Betsy Myers MPA 2000 were there to welcome us back to the Kennedy School. And, those of us on the reunion committee couldn’t grin any bigger as we ticked off the arrivals and rejoiced at how many of us had made it from all parts of the globe.

Five years ago, a few of us from the Mid-Career class of 1991 decided to organize a reunion in Cambridge to see what everyone was up to. We planned our weekend in 1996 around the refresher weekend, as many of us wanted to take advantage of both activities. The fifth was great fun (about 60 classmates came), and we started an informal e-mail list to “glue” us together between reunions. Last summer, we were off and running again. We put together a committee led by the indomitable Mac Prichard, teamed up with the folks in the alumni office, and started planning for May 2001. Initially we were only Mid-Career graduates, but we quickly picked up reps from both the MPA2 and the MPP programs and turned the event into a reunion for everybody in the class. Our staunch committee included Andrea Fowler, housing and finding lost classmates; Dean Kaplan, treasurer; Mike Scott, co-chair of the program group and editor of a reunion newsletter called Decade of Discovery; Tom Moss and Liz Fedor, editors of a class book of essays and photos; Will Shafroth, co-chair of the program group; Julie Ames, memorial fund; Andy McLeod, memorial fund and MPA2 rep; and Sarah Smith, MPP rep.

What does it take to pull off a successful reunion? First, you have to find everyone to tell them when to come; e-mail turned out to be our biggest asset as it is easy, cheap, and not bounded by time- zone means of communicating. We took our existing list of roughly 50 classmates and the alumni list provided by KSG, and went looking for everyone else. Soon, we had expanded the list to 170 and had prompted both the MPA2 and the MPPs to hunt for their missing classmates as well. The committee split up tasks to take care of logistics, content, and socializing; I would bet that only the committee saw any of the glitches that happened during the reunion. Even the weather cooperated for Saturday’s barbecue.

Second, you need a balance between play and work, and we included both. The Kennedy School has a longstanding tradition of bringing movers and shakers from all arenas to speak at the Forum. We arranged for Michael Dukakis to come. He gave us his perspective on rail service in the United States (he is the current vice-chair of Amtrak), as well as taking a number of questions on the politics of the day. What was different about this conversation from one we would have had 10 years ago was that this time we had some real involvement in some of the topics and we were equal partners in the discussion. We followed that with panels on health care, leadership and politics, natural resources and the environment, and international relations and the global economy run by and for us. Besides some meaty and sometimes tense discussion, we learned more about what each of us is doing now.

Our class has a tradition of taking time, following our Saturday night dinner, to allow people to speak or sing. First, however, we remembered three of our deceased classmates — Mollie Beattie, Kyle McHugh, and Raphaelle Semmes — and introduced the first recipient of an internship paid by a fund we created to memorialize our classmates (see "A Public Service Push").

Afterwards, a number of classmates spoke about what the Kennedy School had meant to them — a truly pivotal moment in their lives — and all of us thanked Sue Williamson, who heads the Mid-Career program, for all her encouragement before, during, and after our year. We also presented her with a copy of the class book, with its contributions from 85 people. Roger Keithline serenaded us with a splendid rendition of “In a Harvard One-Year Wonderland,” parody lyrics by Andy Store. The finale was KSG singers Michael Brown, Leena Kirjavainen, Dave Willis, Debbie Pringle, and Sue Williamson, with a rousing rendition of “MTA” and “Those Were the Days, My Friend.”

Sunday brunch brought more photos and lots of hugs and goodbyes.

About 120 of us showed up for some part of the reunion. Some of us had trouble with planes and bosses and visas, but we persisted. We came from Portland and Hong Kong and Washington, DC, and Darjeeling and Halifax and Manhattan, and Kuala Lumpur and Cambridge and Helsinki. We brought friends and spouses and children. We brought Harvard ties and little black dresses. We may be grayer and creakier, but we’re still full of fire about what we do, and we still believe we can make a difference. Most of all, we got to remember how much we love and treasure one other. You can bet that we will do this again in 2006 and 2011 and 2016 and…

Nan Carroll MPA 1991 is a member of the reunion committee and deputy director of the Center for Legislative Development at the University of Albany SUNY. For more information about the class of 1991, visit www.ksg.harvard.edu/alum/mpa1991.html.

For information about upcoming KSG reunions, go to the reunion page on the alumni Web site.

photo: Martha Stewart