Gosh, I remember using my book bag in 1948. Can’t imagine going without one. Ended it’s life as an ammunition bag I used while hunting.

Peter Meyers CHE 1953

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Read with much delight the stories of other students and their Tech book bag. I transferred to Tech from GMI in the fall of 1980. And switched my major from mechanical engineering to Geophysics.

After graduating from Tech in November 1982, the oil patch was on the verge of a long decline. Unable to find employment in Michigan, I applied to grad schools and was accepted at the University of Houston. On January 1, 1984 I left Traverse City with a U-Haul trailer behind my non-air-conditioned Volkswagen rabbit. It was a turning point in my life moving to Bayou City from my little town in NW Michigan.

Houston turned out to be a friendly town with a lot of opportunity. Found a full-time job in a couple of weeks and attended classes at night. UofH is quite unique in that it caters to the working student. My Tech book bag got a new lease on life and served me well for the next 3+ years it took to complete a part-time MS Geophysics degree.

Houston was the springboard for overseas opportunities and a few years ago I retired after a 20+ year career with Aramco in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. I live on a big freshwater lake on the east side of Interlochen.

My memories of Tech are still pretty fresh. A few years ago my favorite professor Jimmy Diehl retired from teaching. Joe Kirkish was an influential professor in the humanities department.

I still have that Tech book bag.

Doug Weber

Applied Geophysics, 1982

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Bookbags were in common use when I arrived on campus in the fall of 1948. I got one within my first week on campus. It was a very practical solution to the challenge of carrying several textbooks, especially during the winter season. After several moves around the country since graduation mine has disappeared.

Pete Jansen ‘52

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I purchased my first Tech Bookbag as a freshman in 1967. A couple of years later while working in a lab, a large container of aqua regia (nitric acid and hydrochloric acid) broke in a chem hood behind me and spilled all over my bookbag and my relatively new jeans. It essentially ate my bookbag and and created several holes in my relatively new jeans below the knee. (They were salvaged by turning them into shorts). However, the bookbag was not salvageable. Fortunately I was not burned by this very caustic acid.

I bought a new bag at the bookstore, but the style had changed from my original one and looked very new compared to my old one. I was always self-conscience that people would look at me as a “newbie” instead of the upper classman that I was.

Don Thompson ‘71

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Might as well join in.  Still have mine from 62, used it to carry hunting supplies after graduating from Tech.  Still in good condition, surprisingly how it’s lasted.

Sam Lambert ’62′

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I was one of the few of my era that didn’t have a bookbag. During high school, a much-loved aunt had given me a fine leather briefcase which I carried around the latter part of my time there.  Talk about looking like a dork!

Anyway, the case served me well for my five years at Tech.  And my slide rule fit nicely inside, so I didn’t have to have it swinging from my belt.

Larry Doyle

Class of 1964

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I recently found a copy of this picture of the ice statue of Fred Lonsdorf in my “archives.” Since it’s Winter Carnival (i.e. ice statue) time, I thought you would like to see it.  The quality isn’t great since it’s a scan of a copy of the original picture in the newspaper.  The article says it all.  As I recall, we had a great time building it.

Rick Vickstrom 1978

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Hello Michigan Tech!

This is a photo of a statue I worked on in 2013 with the help of my fraternity brothers of Delta Sigma Phi – Beta Pi.

I will never forget the suspended train weighing over 2000 lbs we constructed and the -20 to -30 degree wind chills we lived and worked in while we created this statue. What a wonderful school, community and fraternal organization I was lucky enough to be a part of. I will never forget my time at Michigan Tech and strive to visit once a year every year to pay my respects to everything Michigan Tech, Houghton and Delta Sigma Phi – Beta Pi has done for me.

-Gabriel Martinez

Graduate BMSE December 2014

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Kelly ‘00 and Steve ‘04 Vizanko welcomed baby girl Alina Marie Vizanko. She is 6 lbs, 2 oz and 18.5 inches long.Mom and baby are both doing great! Addison is a proud big sister.