Spent the day in Century Park with highschool classmates – three families with two kids. It has been 15 years since we graduate, and we were planning a 15-year anniversary gather on Saturday, May 29, 2010 in Zhengzhou. Visibility is the best way to make things happen, so I put the date on my calendar and on my blog. I was the key organizer for the 10-year anniversary 5 years ago. We planned hotel in Qingdao, and we planned the date, and we planned the communication. The only problem was, we didn’t gather.
I am lucky to spend the most memorable 3 years from 1992 to 1995 at Luoyang No. 1 Middle school. We are still very well connected after 15 years.
Below is the photo we took in 1992 – few days after entering the high-school. Can you find me in this photo? I was there, although looked very different from today.
The below is taken in one Sports Game.
People on these photos do not appear as fashion as the current high school students, but as young as they are.
A side note: To setup the tent in Century park is a great idea. The trick is, find grassland without many people, and spend the afternoon there.
Planning a school reunion is a tedious job, which requires a lot of time and coordinations. First, you need to know what day(s) would be convenient for most people to attend so you can make hotel reservations for them. We’ve had two very successful college reunions so far. To achieve so, you need to have a informal head count by giving a few dates for them to choose and respond via emails. Once you nail down a date and venue, you should collect a reservation fee to commit the attendeess, otherwise, you will have people changing their minds constantly. I found having a one-night stay reunion at a hotel is a key of making it a success as people don’t need to rush home, and thus you can have more time recounting the good old days. Then, you need to make plans for the activities, and choose where to have meals. It can be a lot of fun and well worth the planning. But you need to find someone who’s willing to put in the time to organize and coordinate everything.
2nd from the right, just behind the girls.
@ILH, you are right. That was me.
@TW, yes, it takes a lot of work. Now we don’t have the resources to complete the task you mentioned. So our solution is simplicity and dictatorship – set the time and location, and see what happens. That is it.
Locating everyone for a high school reunion can also be a very tall order. Make sure you start planning way out so that the word gets out and some people will even reach out to you with their contact info. Set up a website or a blog where people can get updates, share info, etc.
Finally, find a people search service to fill in the blanks in your roster of classmates. I used Intelius and 123people to locate the rest of our class. Good luck and have fun!
http://blog.intelius.com
http://www.123people.com/