That’s One More for the Scrapbook

A snapshot taken on the St. Norbert campus has led to an annual tradition, seeing Kristen (Broten) Dummer ’05 and her family (pictured) through five years – and a few family additions.

Kristen and her husband, Steve, along with their three children, visited the SNC campus in 2015, and they captured the trip with a photo of their kids on the grounds of Kristen’s alma mater. When the Dummers welcomed their fourth child soon after, they made sure to update the family photo when they visited SNC the following year.

Since then, the Dummers have returned to campus each summer – oftentimes with one more youngster in tow. Their last two trips included their six children: Finley (8), Declan (7), Harper (6), Lachlan (4), McAllister (3) and Torryn (1 1/2).

“We just started using the college as a backdrop, I guess,” Kristen says. “I see us going there every year because it’s such a gorgeous campus, and there’s so many places to take interesting pictures.”

It’s also a way to connect her past with her present, she adds. “I love that when we have these pictures hanging in our home it’s something too from my past that I love, so it’s the best of everything: It’s my family and then it’s that history that I have there.”

The Dummers travel from their home in Hartford, Wis., to visit the campus for SNC Day and the annual Track & Field and Cross Country Alumni Reunion, which includes a kids’ run in which many of the Dummer children participate.

“One of their favorite things, and how we get them to kind of do well for the pictures – because it’s a lot of people to get to look at a camera and even smile – they love the center of campus in front of Main Hall, the cement benches there that kind of form a circle. And they just love playing and running across the top of those. … We always kind of save it for last and let them just go crazy there,” Kristen says.

Picture perfect
As the St. Norbert campus has grown over the years, so too have the photo opportunities. The Kunkel Meditation Garden and “The Conversion,” a 16-foot sculpture depicting Norbert of Xanten’s conversion, are recent campus installments that offer unique backdrops.

But many families – of alumni, current students and prospective students – often are found taking their photos in front of iconic mainstays like the SNC Arch and Main Hall. And, depending on the weather and the time of day, the Fox River provides a peaceful setting for photos, says SNC staff photographer John Devroy. It’s also a great spot for photos of the campus itself. “The water can be as calm as a pane of glass in the evening, so there will be some brilliant reflections of the campus buildings in the water.”

March 17, 2020