Ever since I graduated , I didn’t often think about coming back to Beloit College. My memories of college weren’t particularly warm and fuzzy. I was younger than most of my classmates — 16 when I started college – not quite socially ready for it. I remember feeling uncomfortable, out of place, and not always sure if or where I belonged.
I was about to discover that these memories weren’t the whole story.
I came back to Beloit this September 2026 to speak at EntreCon Midwest about Entrepreneurship. I expected to give a talk. I didn’t expect to spend two days rediscovering my life.
Following the Breadcrumbs
I started walking around campus and the town, revisiting places I hadn’t thought about in years.
I went by the Coughy House, the student bar where I once worked as the bookkeeper. I knew nothing about accounting before that, but I learned enough to get and do the job.
I visited the Logan Museum of Anthropology and toured its extraordinary collection. I had majored in Anthropology, and some of those artifacts inspired my senior project on Textiles of the Americas, as well as my Field Term at the Phoenix Indian High School.
I walked through the Sports Center and the Neese Theatre, the rehearsal and performance spaces where I danced while at college. And I walked by Middle College where I did my final dance performance during my final summer semester.
I walked on Park Avenue, White Avenue, Emerson Street and some of the other streets to find the “Arts & Crafts House” and other houses where I had lived. remembering all my crazy hippie housemates with whom I learned to create community, make bread and granola and yogurt and tofu, and cook gourmet vegetarian meals.
Connecting the Dots
Each of these slivers of my Beloit experience back in the ’70s became the foundation for an unexpected life path, with many twists and turns.
For 15 years I was immersed in the modern dance and ballet world, performing professionally in SF and NY.
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Throughout my dance years and beyond, I worked as a bookkeeper and an accountant, and then had a long career building accounting software products.
As a hobby and a passion, I designed and made elaborate garments – Wizard Robes and Chupas and other textile projects..
I taught software programming and design courses in a university, in corporate training settings and I now mentor founders and job-seekers.
Anthropology never really left me either. Much of my later work — building products, understanding customers, advising entrepreneurs — has involved observing people, asking questions, and trying to understand the world from someone else’s point of view.
And I still cook gourmet vegetarian dinners…
Very Beloit, no?
Returning as the Person Beloit Helped Create
During my 2 day visit, instead of sitting in a Beloit classroom, I came as that person that Beloit had helped create:
- I visited an entrepreneurship class at CELEB (Center for Entrepreneurship at Beloit) and spoke with students about startups, careers, failure, opportunity and the unpredictable paths that connect them, sharing stories from my own journey.
- I spoke with faculty at Beloit’s business school and entrepreneurship programs (impressive new departments that didn’t exist in my days here), recounting how Beloit shaped my journey since my days here.
- I gave a presentation at EntreCon Midwest on what I learned from more than 30 years working with and in technology startups – a fitting summarization of my 30+ year career in this field.
- I met the current director of the dance program and learned that Chelonia — the dance performing group that began 48 years ago during the years I was dancing at Beloit has been going strong since then.
The students change. The buildings change. The faculty changes. Even the departments and majors change. But the breadth of a liberal arts education continues…
The Conversation I Didn’t Expect
Perhaps the most important experience of my return had nothing to do with a building, a class, or a presentation.
I had a conversation with a remarkably thoughtful 14-year-old. We talked about what it is like to be younger than your peers — to find yourself intellectually ready for an environment that you may not yet be socially or emotionally or physically ready to navigate.
This conversation hit surprisingly close to home – because that had been me. For decades, when I thought about college, I remembered much of the discomfort. I remembered the hard parts. This conversation helped me finally put my memories of my experience into a larger frame, without needing to rewrite or suppress them.
Alongside the discomfort was discovery.
Alongside the awkwardness was creativity.
Alongside the uncertainty were experiences that seeded passions, hobbies, relationships and careers that have lasted throughout my life.
New Appreciation
I came home from Beloit with something I hadn’t expected to bring back: A Beloit College sweatshirt.
I’m going to wear it proudly.
And from now on, I’m going to remember to remember the good times too.
PostScript
I was first introduced to Beloit – enthusiastically – by my uncle Mark Steinback, class of ‘68. Mark passed away in June 2024. I dedicate this story to his memory.