Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Spring 2013 | Page 40

NORTHWOODS ADVENTURE September 16-21, 2013 Come to HoneyRock to enjoy the beautiful colors and weather of a Northwoods fall. While you are here, you can participate in rich fellowship, guided nature walks, pontoon rides, fishing, canoeing and much, much more! good-natured rivalry between the classes of 1953 and 1954. For months juniors had scoured resorts to locate the retreat site. But fate intervened: a junior followed an advance-party senior car to Jack & Jill Ranch in Michigan, 30 hours before the scheduled campus escape. That night, a dozen junior men descended on the ranch and were chased into nearby cornfields by camp security. Returning at dawn, they greeted the senior buses, only to be pelted by raw eggs! When seniors returned after a delightful sneak, class presidents Jim Anderson ’53 and Rex Roth ’54 met on campus to declare a truce. But it would be 59 years before the truce became permanent, with the signing of the Treaty of Embden Lane. Only a book could do justice to the stories of the Senior Bench. One incident occurred when the ’49ers brought it from being buried in a forest preserve and cemented it with rebars in front of Blanchard. Juniors tow-chained it away with a WWII jeep before the seniors recaptured it. With the bench anchored solidly in concrete in front of the Memorial Student Center, future scientists Wally Broecker ’53 and John Nuckolls ’53 tipped it into a trench overnight. Mysteriously disappeared! Unamused administrators threatened dire consequences until it reappeared. Nobody, however, has topped the 1959 helicopter flight with the bench dangling over the Homecoming football game. However, when the bench showed up in Chapel in 1965, the ensuing melee led to a hospital stay. Tighter oversight toned down the roughhousing without inhibiting “that we as a campus celebrate life and build our community through a longstanding Jr.-Sr. rivalry.” And the tradition continues with ingenious annual bench showings. Jeff Peltz ’81 was “scared to death” the four days it hid in his van for a class reunion photo op. John Castlen ’06 recalls his class drove it in a truck past helpless seniors at attention in ROTC formation. So where is that iconic piece of concrete now? Registration is now open. Wheaton College arChives and speCial ColleCtions Open to alumni and friends, ages 55+ 10% discount for 1st time attendees Scholarships available For more information contact Terri Jozwiak [email protected] or 715. 479.7474 ext. 212 wheaton.edu/HoneyRock/Groups/NWA The Senior Cake rivalry between juniors and seniors (1925-43) has long been abandoned, but today a plaque on the far southwest corner of Blanchard Hall marks the spot where the cake from the class of 1938 was buried.