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From alumni and their toddlers to staff and students, the Valparaiso University community was in a jolly mood Tuesday evening as they came together for the 11th annual campus tree lighting.

Harre Union was the site of several stations offering traditional Christmas fun. Loretta and John Frank, of Valparaiso, were hamming it up at the photo booth with their three grown daughters and three grandchildren.

“I’m a longtime employee,” said John Frank, who’s worked at VU for 42 years.

His daughter Alicia Cooper is an adjunct professor in the Education Department. Her three children, Lucas, Andrew, and Eleanor, were sorting through two long tables of props. “I did the cheerleader and the princess,” said 5-year-old Eleanor.

“We started with the firs

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