| 08/06/08 08:20 PM |
#9
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Joan Grillo
I know some of you aren't excited about combining with the class of 1993, but I would encourage you to talk to some of the people who have been to our reunions and ask them if they had a good time.
The reason we combine is pretty simple. It's a matter of lack of money and lack of time.
Since these days, particularly in Atlanta, people don't stay in the same town they went to high school in and women don't all stay home with the kids, it's very difficult to get people to plan the reunion. Everyone has a million things going on and no time to devote to the extensive work that goes into planning the reunion. (We know, we tried for the 10-year, which was the original reason we are off by a year).
In addition, typically you can expect about 1/4 of your total class to attend the reunion (and that's only if you can actually get good contact information for all of them). With our class being 200 people, that's only 50 people. The prices per person would be about $200 per ticket if we were going to be able to make our money back with just our class. Also, we don't have the money to put out for the deposits in the first place. If we end up short, individual classmates would be responsible for paying the bills. As it was with the one we just had, Adria, Alvin from c/o 1993, and I were almost personally liable for over a thousand dollars each. If the power hadn't gone out at the hotel, we would have owed the money.
It is extremely common these days for classes to combine. I've seen up to four and five classes combining together for reunions. Right now on classmates.com, there is a Henderson High school class of 1990-1995 reunion being planned. Five classes!
The benefit is that, if you have 400 people or more, you can hire a reunion planner. Planners ask for a modest refundable deposit (our last one charged us $500 total for the two classes), and then they put the money out for everything. The costs are higher than you might think: postage and paper for mailers, deposits for event space, and much much more. They have special software that enables them to more easily find all our missing classmates, also. They basically take on all the responsibility for getting the most people to attend. Sometimes the committee ends up owing some money depending on your contract, but we're going to try to avoid that in the future.
We tried to have a solo reunion for the 10-year, and it didn't work out. This time, our president, Adria Trowbridge Rose, who lives in Canada, told me she wanted to continue to combine with 1993 and hire a planner.
The 10-yr reunion was a success, and the 15-yr was a lot of fun even though we didn't have a good turnout. I have talked to other planners who don't even do 15-yr reunions because apparently they always have very low turnout. I have gotten a ton of feedback from people saying they plan to come to the 20-yr.
I know you aren't interested in the class of 1993, but I can tell you that in the past, it has been a really big hit. If you think about the JV and Varsity sports teams and cheerleaders, etc., they all played with our underclass for at least two years. And, I might mention, we won State in football our senior year, with the class of 1993 players on the Varsity team.
Honestly, our class does not lose any of its identity by combining. Many of us had friends in the junior class anyway. I would strongly encourage you to not decide to skip the reunion just because we are combining. Give it a try. Seriously, we had so much fun at the 10-yr, after they closed the venue, we all went over to a restaurant that Margaret Bell Sagarin and her husband own for more drinks and chatting. Nobody even danced because everyone was so busy talking and catching up. It was way better than I could ever have hoped it would have been. The 15-yr was sort of doomed from the start, but the power went out in the hotel and even though we had no music or air conditioning, people STILL stayed for a long time and chatted and caught up. Then some people went out to a bar and kept the night rolling.
In the future, possibly at the 20/21 yr., we are going to have more events the weekend of the reunion. We will likely have a picnic the day after that we could consider dividing up by class. It's really a matter of cost and what people are willing to pay, and in five years, more of us will hopefully be able to afford a bit more for the event.
Again, I understand your concerns, but I would really urge you to just see what you think about it before you decide to skip it. Give it a shot. You might just have a wonderful time! In fact, I'm quite sure you will! If you don't believe me, ask some of the people who were at the reunion! Look at the pictures and find out who was there and send them a message!
Thanks, guys. : )
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