Collins alumni share fond memories

Alumni who lived in the Collins Living-Learning Center during their college years had another chance to see the residence hall and reunite with old friends Saturday during the Collins LLC Alumni Reunion.\n“It’s a pretty close-knit group,” said Collins Director Ellen Dwyer, who has been there since 2004. “Some people are here via Skype because they couldn’t actually make it. One’s in Alaska.”\nDuring the event, alumni got to take tours of their old rooms, enjoy a barbecue and even participate in an open mic night that gave everyone the chance to reminisce.\n“I’m taking people to see their old rooms,” Dwyer said. “Some people are staying here overnight.”\nFor Amy and Jim Stewart-Brown, one room has special meaning.\n“We met in RA training class in the spring of 2001,” Amy Stewart-Brown said.\nJim Stewart-Brown said he attended IU from 1997 to 2002 and majored in anthropology and religious studies. Amy said she came to IU in 1999 and studied communication and culture until 2003.\n“We were RAs together in ‘01 and ‘02,” Amy Stewart-Brown began. “He graduated.” \n“I stuck around,” her husband interjected.\n“To woo me,” Amy Stewart-Brown finished. “It worked.”\nJim Stewart-Brown proposed, and they were engaged April 27, 2003.\n“He proposed in my RA room, Smith 110,” Amy said.\n“I had elaborate plans, which involved the outdoors, but it was raining really bad,” Jim Stewart-Brown said.\nAmy Stewart-Brown was on RA duty in the residence hall at the time.\n“He brought me my favorite food from Bombay House, panir masala. He was acting really nervous and then he got down on one knee and proposed,” Amy Stewart-Brown said. “I said ‘yes.’ We were married three months later.”\nThe dorm rooms, however, are not the only places in which Collins alumni have memories. Kristen Murphy said her favorite memory took place during her senior year at Assembly Hall.\n“I would say a major highlight for me was organizing Welcome Week,” Murphy said. “The theme was ‘Peter Pan,’ so everyone had on matching green shirts and the director at the time was dressed up as Captain Hook. I ran up the ramp at Assembly Hall with a sword in my hand and all of Collins trailing behind me.”\nMurphy attended IU from 1998 to 2002 and majored in English. She lives in Bloomington, works at IU and said she tries to stay involved at Collins.\n“It’s interesting because stories get passed down and I get to meet people I’ve heard about,” she said.