Get ready for a one-of-a-kind experience at UC Santa Cruz.
Back for its second year, Return to the Redwoods invites all UCSC alumni, friends, and family back to campus for a three-day, two-night immersive Banana Slug experience. Alumni can relive their Santa Cruz days in an on-campus apartment or residential unit with friends and family or opt for hotel accommodations around Santa Cruz County. Scheduled celebrations, events, and exploration opportunities will take place all across campus from August 16-18, 2024.
The UCSC Alumni Association has partnered with organizations across campus and alumni-owned businesses, vendors, and performers to create a UCSC weekend unlike any other.
"The UCSC Alumni Association is thrilled to invite all alumni, their families, and friends back to campus for an unforgettable experience with Return to the Redwoods,” said Assistant Director of Alumni Regional Programs and Return to the Redwoods organizer Kayla Judd. “This unique event promises a nostalgic yet vibrant journey through our beautiful campus. We can't wait to celebrate our shared history and create new memories back on campus together.”
With over a dozen optional activities and excursions, you’re in control of your weekend.
Exclusive excursions and events include the Spotlight Santa Cruz Street Fair featuring alumni vendors, guided hikes, O’Neill Yacht Cruise (includes pizza and pints), and more.
Alumnus Jeremy Carlson (Rachel Carson ’99, politics and women's studies) will host a tie-dye workshop on Saturday, August 17 at Return to the Redwoods. The owner of A Brighter World tie-dye shop, Carlson, has been creating tie-dye pieces for decades. He started in the 1980’s as a way to buy Grateful Dead tickets and toured the country, selling tie-dyed bandanas at their concerts. In 2012, he opened A Brighter World Tie Dye Store in downtown Santa Cruz. The business did well for several years, until the COVID-19 Pandemic made it impossible for Carlson to sustain the number of customers coming into his store. Now, Carlson frequents festivals and events acoss Santa Cruz County, and hosts tent tie-dye workshops.
Carlson is excited to bring A Brighter World to UCSC alumni in an event setting for the first time.
“There are so many people who, like me, were changed so drastically by the education we received at UCSC, which you don't get as much of elsewhere. I really appreciate the place and feel so lucky between everything I've done in life, I'm glad I get to be a part of an event up there.”
An overwhelming number of alumni identify with the extraordinary landscape of UC Santa Cruz over any other factor—a statistic unique to UCSC compared with other universities nationwide.
With an experience like Return to the Redwoods, alumni have the opportunity to reconnect with a campus unlike any other.
Alumna Sara Kaiser (Stevenson ’14, anthropology) decided to attend UCSC for its unparalleled beauty and unique landscape. Now, on her 10-year graduation anniversary, Kaiser returns to campus for a one-of-a-kind performance at Return to the Redwoods.
Kaiser will hold a Sonic Activation workshop alongside her musical partner, Shaun Diaz, on Saturday, August 15, at the Porter Quad. Sonic Activation is an immersive experience that integrates gentle stretching, breathwork, guided visualization, and meditation within an evolving soundscape of live cello, vocals, ambient layers, and sounds of the natural world.
“In this world, it is getting harder and harder to slow down, be still, and to have an extended attention span,” Kaiser said. “The way Sonic Activation works is it eases people in and allows them to stay in as long as they can find the motivation to begin in the first place. So for us, it's about creating a container that can facilitate needed transformations.”
Kaiser is excited to return to UCSC and hold a Sonic Activation workshop for fellow alumni.
“The landscape of the campus and the surrounding areas was really essential for my mental health and my inspiration when I was a student there,” she said, “and my classes also supported a deeper understanding of ecologies and sensitivity to what's around me.”
For Return to the Redwoods, Kaiser plans to create a unique experience beyond what she and Diaz have done in the past. With audio from natural landscapes being a key element of Sonic Activation, Kaiser and Diaz plan to incorporate sounds specific to UCSC and the greater Santa Cruz area.
“One of the key elements of the Sonic Activation is that we bring in audio from the natural landscape,” Kaiser said. “So we're going to be bringing in sounds from the UCSC forest, and we're looking into getting whale song audio from local conservation research organizations.”
In addition to the Sonic Activation, Kaiser and Diaz will be hosting a musical performance the evening of August 17. They will perform original songs composed of vocals and cello, weaving progressive folk and crossover classical with lyrical intrigue, ambient layers, and Celtic influence. This set will also include songs played individually and together from their solo projects, Nectar Moth and Shaun Diaz.
Want to join in on the festivities, but don’t want to stay on campus? With a weekend pass you will gain access to various events happening throughout campus during Return to the Redwoods. A kick-off party, lectures with John Ibister and Bettina Aptheker, Stars and S’mores, Sonic Activation, reunions and more are included in a weekend pass.
New to Return to the Redwoods this year is the Spotlight Street Fair taking place on August 17. The fair welcomes UCSC alumni, current students, and friends of the university to participate. If you are interested in becoming a vendor at the Spotlight Street Fair, apply here.
