ASPEC CELEBRATION

This year – 2007 – ASPEC celebrates its 25th birthday.  From a meager beginning, when a handful of enthusiastic men and women met several times each week in the lobby of the Eckerd administration building, to today, when more than 300 people meet daily in Lewis House, we have seen the campus change, the community change, and certainly the activities of ASPEC change.

This year – all year – we celebrate this 25th anniversary. We do this through our Interest Groups; through our participation with Eckerd College faculty, staff, and students;  and through our participation in the St. Petersburg community.

Following are some of the particular events and activities in motion for this year:

• Kick-off Birthday Party:  More than 100 ASPEC members and guests were present for this New Year’s Day party
• Conference: Lifelong Learning and Sharing:  The ASPEC Approach.  A day-long conference exploring the approach   ASPEC employs in serving our members.
• Lecture:  The Early Days of ASPEC.  ASPEC’s first Director, Leo Nussbaum, described the size, the goals, the membership of the young organization
• Concert:  The ASPEC Singers.   More than 20 members making up this group presented an hour-long concert.
• Newsletter Inserts.  Each of the more than 44 Interest Groups is described in a one-page insert in each issue of the weekly calendar.
• Running Slide Show.  Each year, in March, ASPEC has a black-tie gala. This year a running slide show of past galas was presented.
• Picture Calendar.  ASPEC lives by the calendar, with approximately four or five activities taking place each week day.  What could be more appropriate than a picture calendar, depicting 12 scenes showing our members?
• Special Emphasis Interest Group meetings.  Most of our Interest Groups continue their programs for months, years, and even decades.  This year each Interest Group is being invited to look back, and look forward, at its beginnings and its future.
• Lobby Display.  ASPEC is a family, and a collage of hundreds of these family members has been developed  and hung in the Lewis House lobby.
• Coordination with ASPEC alums.  A special effort is being made to host ASPEC alums in one or more ongoing events.
• Polo shirts.    What’s a special event without a special monogrammed shirt?  Polo shirts are being purchased by members
• John Hope Franklin.   Our must illustrious ASPEC Fellow, John Hope Franklin, visited for an informal hour-long discussion
• When I  was 25.  Yes, ASPEC is 25 years old.  But what about us? Dozens of pictures of ASPEC members when they were 25 are posted in the Lewis House lobby.
• Special birthday party.  Virginia Lewis, ASPEC’s oldest member, celebrated her 100th birthday at Lewis House. 
• Special Student Event.  ASPEC, along with Campus Activities, sponsored a special event that included line dancing, a mechanical bull, and calf roping.
• Special videos.   Video snippets of people and events have been prepared for special showing at ASPEC events
• Greeting Cards.  Everybody uses greeting cards, and specially prepared ones with Lewis House on the cover are now available.
• Time Capsule.   Interest groups are being asked to predict the future. These predictions, along with current memorabilia, will be placed in a time capsule for opening 25 years from now.
• Silver Jubilee.   Our year of celebration will conclude with a black tie- optional jubilee in November, 2007

To See Photos- Please visit the Gallery on this Web site!!!