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MC Homecoming’s new Founder’s Day Showcase to spotlight the arts for alumni and the public

Oct. 10, 2023

The Maryville College Homecoming experience is a celebration of tradition, remembrance and the resiliency of an institution that’s been a part of East Tennessee for more than two centuries, and on Friday evening, Oct. 20, the public is invited to take part.

The annual Founder’s Day ceremony, which has in years past been a ticketed dinner, has been revamped for Homecoming 2023 to serve as a showcase of some of the arts at Maryville College, as well as a time to honor three of the College’s best and brightest alumni. The Founder’s Day Showcase will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20, in the Ronald and Lynda Nutt Theatre of the Clayton Center for the Arts and is free and open to the public.

“For years, Homecoming at Maryville College was a community-wide event that included a parade through downtown Maryville, and inviting the public to our Founder’s Day Showcase is a way of returning to that tradition,” said Suzy Booker, vice president for institutional advancement at MC. “Our fine arts ensembles and organizations hold public performances throughout the year, and this is a way for members of the community to get an idea of the incredible talent our student performers provide, in a state-of-the-art performance space that’s one of the best in East Tennessee.”

The evening will include performances by:

  • The Maryville College Concert Choir, MC’s preeminent performance ensemble made up of students who often serve as musical ambassadors on national and international choir tours;
  • Tartanband, a student instrumental ensemble featuring players from across the College’s nine academic divisions;
  • Off Kilter, The Lads and The Lassies, three smaller vocal ensembles made up mostly of upper-level students who perform at banquets, conferences and social events, among other things;
  • Maryville College Theatre students, who will preview the upcoming performance of “The Laramie Project,” scheduled for Oct. 26-29; and
  • A performance by the annual Homecoming Choir, an ensemble that combines student singers with alumni whose voices once rang from MC stages as students. 

The Founder’s Day Showcase, Booker added, will be the first time the Homecoming Choir has performed on Friday evening instead of its traditional Saturday concert.

“To give our current students an opportunity to get to know and perform with alumni in whose footsteps they follow is one of the most meaningful things about Homecoming,” said Jennifer Phillips Triplett ’07, director of Alumni Affairs at Maryville College. “The Homecoming Choir is always a highlight of the weekend, and giving the public a chance to hear Scots both past and present perform on the Clayton Center stage will be something really special.”

In addition, the annual awards presentation by the Maryville College Alumni Association will honor Scots who have set out to “do good on the largest possible scale,” a calling put forward by MC founder Rev. Isaac Anderson that’s a part of the College’s DNA. The Alumni Citation, awarded to any alumnus/a of MC who has demonstrated outstanding leadership or initiative service in his/her community, church or chosen profession, will be given to Denise Hinds ’80 and Adam McCall ’99. The Kin Takahashi Award for Young Alumni, which recognizes an alumnus/a who has, within 20 years of his/her graduation from MC, lived a life characteristic of College legend Kin Takahashi (Class of 1895), will be given to Mark Libell ’03. (The College’s annual Distinguished Service Award was given to Bruce Guillaume ’76 at a separate ceremony held last May.)

While the traditional seated dinner will not be a part of the festivities, Pearsons Dining Hall will be open to the public for dinner beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 20, and alumni and community members are encouraged to experience everything Metz Culinary Management — MC’s partner and food services provider — has to offer. During the Showcase’s intermission, complimentary beer — brewed by MC students and faculty — will be served, along with wine and snacks.

Attendance is free, but advance registration by alumni is kindly requested. Those alums wishing to take part in the Homecoming Choir can register to do so at www.maryvillecollege.edu/alumni/events/homecoming/choir.

“Homecoming is the highlight of the year for so many of us here at Maryville College, and we look forward to sharing this special weekend with our friends and neighbors here in Blount County,” Triplett added.

For more information about Homecoming 2023, visit the Maryville College website at www.maryvillecollege.edu/homecoming.

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”