Happy Forth of July! We're on the road early today leaving Minneapolis on the way to Rapid City, SD.  The event last night was great at the Town Hall Brewery.  We all had a blast sharing stories about some of our fondest memories at Witt and I had many volunteers tell their stories on camera, which was awesome!  It was great to be able to engage with alumni from the Minneapolis area.  It was easy to see how passionate this group is about Wittenberg. After the event last night we were able to catch the fireworks from a bridge overlooking the Taste of Minnesota which was a great way to start off the forth of July weekend.  We then hit up a few more of the local sights around the fun city of St. Paul.   We would like to thank all of you for coming out last night!  We were able to have engaging conversations in a smaller group setting. One of my favorite parts of the Witt Nation thus far is meeting alumni and hearing all their Wittenberg Stories.  Every alumnus has a special story about how Wittenberg molded him or her into the people they are today.  We would like to thank Dana Reamsnyder '09 and her family for hosting us at their beautiful home!  Thanks also to Gina for moving my "grungy" laundry from the washer to the dryer! Be sure to check out the pictures and video stories from Minneapolis and all the other stops around the country!

~BenNation

Click this link to see pictures and videos from the event!

The past few days have been an absolute blast! Our time at the Jane Addams Hull House was appreciated and we had fun spending time with the kids! My goal was to wear the kids out for their patient teachers. I believe I accomplished this by chasing them on the playground.  Yesterday the crew had a chance to explore the windy city and spend time with friends and family.  Our family friend Lisa and her two great daughters showed Ryan and I around the city and made great recommendations for food at the Taste of Chicago.  We had everything from deep-dish pizza to chocolate covered bananas.  It was such a nice way to sample Chicago's finest restaurants.  Our event last night was very successful at the former IBM building.  It was great capturing alumni profiles with the famous Chicago Theatre as a backdrop.  After the event we got an invitation to Sushi Samba by the manager Adam Feichter (ATR), a 2003 graduate.  We would like to thank him for his hospitality! After Sushi Samba we hit the Roof, another bar in downtown Chicago.  Now were off to Carthage College on our way to Milwaukee!

Click the link to see picturess and videos from the event!

Twitter... crazy word for a pretty cool way to get your hands on more Witt Nation. Who needs more Witt Nation? Well, from the hits I've been seeing on this site in the past couple of days, I'd say quite a few of you!

If you're not familiar with Twitter, it's one of those new Web technologies that lets you stay more connected with someone than ever before. In addition to these regular blog posts and video loads on our main Web site, the road crew will be sending periodic text message updates from their cell phones to the Web.

So, if it's 9:30 PM and you wonder what hot new Witt Nation news might be breaking, click on over and see what their Twitter messages say (we call those messages "tweets"). Did you know they are at an Abba concert tonight in Chicago? Wonder how it's going right now? Here is where the Tweets come in handy!

In fact, once you click on over, start "following us".  If we get more than 300 "followers" by the 4th of July the road crew is going to get a special surprise when they get to Jackson Hole (yes, that is a challenge). We're starting with 84 "followers" at 10 p.m. on the last day or June. 

The link to Twitter will always be available on the right-side of this page, just below the Fuel the Fund link. We wouldn't mind if you clicked on that link either! 

Hey What's up Tiger World!!!!!!!! Last night's event was a true blast at Victory Field in Indy. We had a an amazing turnout as several Witt alums gathered to take in great food, old friends and a great American pasttime, a night pro baseball game.  I really enjoyed myself meeting old Tigers and hearing great stories from the past. We really lucked up it was Monday Dollar night at the game so it was dollar popcorn, hotdogs and cracker jacks!!!! Talk about stimulating the economy!!!!!! I even got to show some old Tigers the "Johnny Apple Seed" dance!!!! The game was really cool. It really allowed me think back to my days of playing baseball and what it could have been. But, oh well (That moment didn't last long). We're now headed to Chi-town home of Da Bears, Da Bulls, Da Cubs, 23 and Ditka!!!! Looking forward to our event at the Hull House, where we'll be conductiing our service event of our leg of the trip. There, we'll be working with and tutoring kids from the Chicago area. This should be fun, because you know Ryan love's the kids!!!!!!! Until Next time Tigers!!! Don't sleep, just take a nap!!!!!!!!!

Ryan G

Not only did alumni devour some delicious ice cream, but a good number of prospective students and families came out to join in the festivities at the Cincinnati Graeter's Witt Nation event. Who better to hear the Wittenberg story from than current students and alumnae? There were some tough choices to make as I approached the counter. I decided to ditch the safe route of strawberry for a scoop of black raspberry chocolate chip. It was the best decision of the day, besides meeting Todd Gailar ’96. By chance Todd had met with my dad about a week prior to the Witt Nation event, without knowing that I had attended Wittenberg. Todd had mentioned to my father that he was a Witt grad and immediately they had a twenty to thirty minute conversation about Todd’s experience with Wittenberg, and my father shared his thoughts on my experiences at Witt. Luckily, my dad exchanged our information and we were able to meet at the Cincinnati event. It just goes to show that there are great Witt grads AND families everywhere!

We are officially on the road and had a sweet start to our 33 day tour with Ice Cream in Cincinnati! Thanks to our sponsors Chip and Debbie Graeter, almost 100 attendee's enjoyed over 20 different flavors of ice cream at the West Chester Graeter's. Today's event was not only great, it was also fun and relaxing; the most stressful situation of the day was trying to decide between strawberry chip and cookies n' cream. I chose cookies n' cream but had a bite of the strawberry chip, both were equally delicious. Well, I have a story I think all of you Wittenberger's out there will enjoy. As we were setting up for the event a father and his three-year-old son were sitting at a table beside us. In the midst of small talk we discovered he was a Denison grad... Well, he walked up to the counter to order an ice cream, trustfully leaving his son in our presence. In a mere two minutes we slyly convinced the boy to say "Daddy, I want to go to Wittenberg!" As soon as his father returned, with only a small reminder, he very cutely regurgitated our line. His father responded with "Traitor!" Well, Wittenberg you should all know that we are starting to recruit early, after today we have a great class lined up for 2023 and also 2028. Wittenberg's future is looking bright. Thank you Cincinnati!

 Click here to see the photos and videos from the event!

We have just a few days before we leave on the journey across the states. Ashley and I, and the rest of the crew are so excited to get going! We had a great test drive event in Pittsburgh following the successful Springfield event.  These events made me even more prepared and excited for the tour! I've already met many fantastic alumni and have heard some hilarious stories, some of which are in the video clips on the site.  We are wrapping up last minute tasks in the next few days (like remembering name tags) and I should probably start packing my bag.... Eh I'll wait until Saturday to do that (I thrive under pressure).  The test drive gave me time to learn about some of Ashley's quirks like saying perfect after everything (even if things are far from perfect) and I think my habit of throwing Witt in front of everything--WittStore, WittEvent, WittHouse--is starting to catch on... It will spread across the WittNation! I hope everyone is ready for us to come to your city or a city near you, because we are officially on WittTurbo mode! See you soon!

~Ben

After just one incredible weekend we have already engaged over 100 alumni, friends and students, gathered several stories, made wonderful friends, and in the mean time we only broke one tent and forgot the name tags for one city. One for one, so, I would say we are off to a great start!

Well, I’m here to give you the inside story, the part that makes the road trip… well a road trip. We started our journey down interstate 70, packed, happy and ready. We made our first pit stop in Zanesville, Ohio. An interesting fact about the crews is that we like to prepare ourselves for each city by knowing an interesting fact about the city… we actually have an entire folder called “fun facts”. Well, Ben’s first question to our waitress after she very enthusiastically said “How many?” was “Tell us an interesting fact about Zanesville”, she replied with that same mediocre enthusiasm “There isn’t anything.” We quickly learned after a quick Google search, that Zanesville has the only Y shaped bridge of its kind in the United States. Lesson one for the trip: Google appreciates every city, because it doesn’t live there; In Google we trust.

After the short four hour drive we arrived at the beautiful home of Paul and Cynthia Liefeld. Over 40 Pittsburgh alumni attended, we ate delicious food and had a wonderful time meeting and mingling with everyone. The people of Pittsburgh were extremely welcoming and entertaining! Later that evening, the crew decided to grab a midnight snack at one of the local pubs. As we sat there recapping the night our food arrived. Professor Scott Dooley ordered a veggie sandwich; most would have reason to believe that it would just be the size of a regular sandwich. Wrong. The sandwich was humorously larger than his head, they used an entire loaf of bread for this baby, Dooley made a comment that there was so much bread it could soak up the entire drink he had in his cup with no problem. Ben, (who we quickly discovered will probably never run out of hilarious comments) said with his eyes wide open and stunned reaction on his face “ShamWOWWW”. Lesson two: If someone makes a reference to your food by saying, Shamwow, don’t eat it.

Finally, following the footsteps of last year’s crew, we decided to leave Jill’s name as Jill. Jill, is the talking voice in our Garmin GPS. She talked to us all day on Saturday, guiding us to our successful destination, but later Jill wasn’t doing so hot in the construction zone in downtown Pittsburgh so we turned her down and reverted to map quest and our stealth-like intuition. We made it to Nadine’s Diner, where we met SpartaNation, the traveling crew for York College. We had brunch with the two roadies Jessie and Kristin and talked about their adventure so far and gave them veteran advice for their final stretch. We knew it was a great meeting when the string at Nadine’s Diner broke …not once but twice while we were there. (Nadine’s was featured on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-in's and Dives… we learned from the show that it’s good luck when the string breaks). After we exchanged gear with SpartaNation and had our quick photo shoot, we were off again. As soon as we got in the van we turned on Jill…but there was no Jill! She wouldn’t talk to us…only silently guide us. We contemplated about what could’ve happened, but then we realized it was Dooley’s fault!!! In his advice to the other road crew he said “Jill is not always right”. Lesson three: Never make Jill mad, she makes mistakes, give her time to recalculate.

Stay tuned to see what other lessons we learn while on the road!

~Ashley

Click here to see the great video SpartaNation from York College put together about Witt Nation!

I am returning from the Witt Nation stop in Pittsburgh. We had a great time at the Liefeld’s meeting and reconnecting with alums. Breakfast at Nadine’s on the south side of Pittsburgh, featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Dives and Drive-ins”, was quite an experience. Good food and conversation with the York College Spartanation crew, running their pilot summer tour similar to Witt Nation. With permission, we left a Witt Nation sticker on the window of Nadine’s…..look for it if you are ever there. It has been a great time with Linda, Ashley, and Ben. I am sold on Witt Nation and will possibly be able to come to other events this summer. I am definitely a re-up for next summer.

Scott Dooley
Associate Professor of Art

Click this link to check out the photos and videos from the event!

Ralph Lauren was a no show, however, on the beautiful grounds of the Polo Club, WittFREE managed to ignite the crowd as Witt Nation 2009 kicked off the tour with a TGIF party. During set-up, with the wind whipping (only lost 1 Ez-Up), and the weather questionable, the clouds cleared and the sun came out to welcome alumni, friends, and guests as they listened to the faculty band play and the Witt Nation crew discuss their plans to cross the country. The Witt Nation van was on display, corn hole bean bags were flying, videos were recorded, and the alumni were excited to be part of the best thing since Ezra Keller galloped off on his first fundraising quest to gather periodicals for the library.

We would like to thank our hosts for the evening, Alicia '82 and Greg Hupp, they supplied the perfect venue for this fabulous event. Also, thanks to all of those that attended to wish us well on our journey. If you didn't make it to this event, join us along the route at any of the other stops...we'd love to see you!
Linda~

Click this link to check out the photos and videos from the event!

It’s hard to believe that after months of planning the time has finally come.  The T-shirts are rolled, the van is ready, and hundreds of alumni, current and prospective students, parents and friends are waiting anxiously across the country for the arrival of the crew.  Tonight is the kick-off right here in Wittenberg’s home town of Springfield, Ohio! I’m so excited that I woke up every hour last night hoping it was time to get up; let’s pray this doesn’t happen for every event or insomnia will probably kick in around Minneapolis. Well, this is my and Ben’s first time in the “field” so we are pretty much considered the “rookies” on the crew. I can just see the rest of the crew sitting in their offices now crossing their fingers in hopes that they picked the right “kids” for the job. We were talking about it last night, and we’re pretty fast learners, so I’m going to consider us professionals after this event. Our professor Pam Schindler has been preparing us for years to walk among those in the real world, so I’ll say with confidence that we are ready. I can just picture us now (everything is in slow motion to add effect) driving down the road, windows down, hair blowing in the air, I’m bad to the bone playing on the iPod, Ben and I giving each other a Witt-high-five… wait Ben? Shoot! Okay, just kidding I promise I won’t leave Ben behind at any stop…

On a more serious note, tonight is going to be an exciting kick off to the tour. We have Wittenberg’s very talented faculty band, WittFree, playing great music the entire evening, good food, drinks and lots of guests signed up to attend! It’s going to be a fun night so come out and join if you’re in town!

As we get ready to head back on the road for Witt Nation 09 I can't help but reflect on last year's road trip. It was quite an adventure and we learned many valuable lessons along the way. I have collaborated with Brian DeSantis to compile this list of "10 Things We Wish We Had Known" for the new road crew. Ashley and Ben take note, in no particular order.....

1. You will eat fast food. Don't try to avoid it. Let Subway be your North Star.
2. If someone (Bob Rafferty) gets one of the air matresses sweaty, rolls it up, and puts it back in the box, don't sleep on it or you will get a rash.
3. Ask your hosts how to use their shower before you get undressed. That 20 minutes you will spend fiddling with it before you decide to get dressed and go ask them for help is time you can't afford to waste.
4. The alarm on the van is sensitive....learn how to disarm it. Quickly.
5. People will tell you that this drive or that drive is "IMPOSSIBLE!" don't believe them. We mapquested it. It is possible. Unless you aren't as good as last year's road crew (yep, that's a challenge)
6. Bring Febreze, wrinkle releaser and any other miracle spray you can find.
7. If you accidentally end up on a military base because your GPS is on the fritz. Stop, drop and turn around. Quickly.
8. No matter how tired you are, always say yes to an alum that asks you to go out for a beer, play a game of MarioKart or look through old yearbooks. Memories are made out of these moments.
9. Sleep in the van whenever you can. The time change is going to kill you. Literally, kill you.
10. Take notice of all Tow Away Zone signs and their hours. This can get confusing.

Armed with that knowledge and a good ol'Wittenberg education you two crazy kids should be just fine. Good Luck! (said with only moderate sarcasm)