Graduations and Reunions

Wanting to plan a reunion for your high school classmates?

You’ll need a small planning committee. Three-four individuals is ideal. Consider letting the ResponsiveEd Alumni Network Coordinator know who the committee members are, their role in the planning, and their contact information so that if any questions about the reunion come to the Network office, they can be forwarded to the proper committee member.

It would be best to ‘test the waters.’ Reach out to classmates that you are currently in touch with and see if there is enough interest to make it worth your while to move forward. If everyone is enthusiastic, it’s time for next steps.

Consider what type of reunion you want to plan - will it be a single event, a day with several events, a reception or meal at a restaurant? Who or what do you want to connect with? Do you want to visit the school or utilize school facilities? Once you have your basic reunion concept, then you can start to plan accordingly for locations, dates and budget. Please contact the Alumni Network office if you want to visit the high school campus or use rooms on the campus or you want to discuss other possible cost-effective venues.

Who do you want to invite? Will you include alumni from exclusively your class year, or will you include other class years, as well? Do you want to include former teachers, administrators, coaches, etc.? Once you have determined this, you can set out to find them. If you have yearbooks or graduation programs with a list of graduates, these can be helpful to make certain that you aren’t forgetting someone. See below how the ResponsiveEd Alumni Network can assist you in locating classmates and publicizing the event.

Consider sending invitations and handling all financial transactions, if needed, via an online event service such as EventBrite. The ideal is to have everyone pay for their own food, drink, etc. at each event so that the committee does not have to handle money, sell tickets, or pay bills. But if you are planning to sell tickets prior to the event and paying for decorations, caterers, room fees, etc., consider setting up a temporary bank account for this specific purpose. Online ticket sales and contributions can be tied directly to a bank account. This approach provides a detailed record of transactions should any of the participants have questions. Some online event services allow the addition of a donation if you would like to create a fund that supports the students at your high school. See below the best way to make that donation.

Think through the details of the event - directions to the location, parking, volunteers needed, registration, etc. Will you have a program, speakers or entertainment for the event? Who will be the “emcee” for the event? Will you have activities to help classmates to become reacquainted? This part of the reunion should be well thought out and well organized. Attendees will appreciate that the committee has made the program move quickly and efficiently. See below a detailed checklist for planning that may be helpful.

Once the reunion is over, there are several steps that will wrap things up and leave everyone feeling great about their experience. Send a thank you for attending. This can be done via the same online event service through which invitations were sent. Post photos on social media and share with the ResponsiveEd Alumni Network sites. Consider sending name of the attendees and their current contact information to the Alumni Network so that alumni records can be updated. Close out the bank account if one was established. Thank your sponsors, if any. Send school donations to ResponsiveEd. See below for the process.

Here’s how the Alumni Network office can best assist you:

• We hope that you will utilize the guidelines above as well as the event planning checklist below to help you on your way to a successful high school reunion.

• When identifying classmates to be invited, the Network office can provide you a list of names of those that our records show graduated in that class. To protect privacy, we are unable to provide contact information directly to the committee, however, we can send a message via email or mail on your behalf and ask that they contact you. Or, if you are searching on your own and you have some individuals that you cannot seem to find, we can reach out to them through mail or email on your behalf and connect them to one of the committee members.

• Once your plans are made, contact the Alumni Network office so that we can use our channels of electronic communication to help you promote your event.

• If your reunion attendees want to give a gift to your high school to benefit the current students, there are several ways to do this and a few things to think about.

  • Specific need - Do you want this gift to benefit the school in a particular way such as purchasing a piece of equipment or other specific need? If so, the Alumni Network office will contact the school administrators to determine greatest needs.

  • Student assistance fund - Your committee may prefer to establish a specific fund such as student emergency fund or college assistance fund.

  • Donations may be collected by the committee via the online event system. In this case, the committee would send one check to the ResponsiveEd Foundation tagged for the specific high school use. Please provide a list of those who donated, so that the Foundation can give proper credit.

  • Donations can also be made by individual attendees directly to the ResponsiveEd Foundation via a secure online form https://responsiveed.com/responsiveed-foundation/donate-to-your-school/

Contact Information:

ResponsiveEd Alumni Network, Anne Scott, Alumni Coordinator

Responsive Education Solutions

PO Box 292730

Lewisville TX 75029

alumni@responsiveed.com

ResponsiveEd Foundation, Angela Bernstein, Campus Development

Responsive Education Solutions

PO Box 292730

Lewisville TX 75029

REFoundation@responsiveed.com

Reunion Event Planning Checklist

Get Started - 18 months prior

❏ Form a committee (3-4)

❏ Determine the interest of classmates - ask about interest in attending, type(s) of activities preferred and days/dates

❏ Assign committee members certain areas of responsibility

❏ Brainstorm your reunion concept and theme

Moving Forward - 12 months prior

❏ Set your date(s)

❏ Choose a location and reserve it

❏ Create a budget if the event requires it

❏ Estimated costs

❏ Estimated attendance

❏ Estimated ticket price

❏ Send the Alumni Network office the names, responsibilities and contact information of the committee members as well as the basics of the event - date, time, location

❏ Create your class list and guest list and begin locating classmates. Contact the Alumni Network office for assistance if you are having trouble locating some classmates. Keep track of contact information for your classmates and encourage them to fill out the online update form https://responsiveed.com/alumni/information-update/

❏ Determine your method of handling invitations, RSVP, and money and get those processes set up

❏ Determine if you want to do a class gift to your high school and how you will handle that process

❏ Do the first promotion of the event - “mark your calendar”

❏ Contact the Alumni Network office so that announcements can be placed on the website and in other electronic communication

Details, details - 2-6 months prior

❏ Think through all the details of the actual event itself. Because the committee knows the event so well, members often forget things that others might wonder about. So, put yourself in the shoes of your guests and think of all of the things you would like to know before arriving if you were attending.

❏ Invitations - set the date you will distribute the invitation

❏ Set a firm RSVP date

❏ Create the design of the invitation - In the text make sure you address all of the essential information such as date/time, location with address and zip, parking, which doors to enter, appropriate dress, highlights of the event, costs

❏ Registration process - Are volunteers needed for check in assistance? Will that be done using paper lists or electronic online check in? Will there be name tags?

❏ Program or speakers? - Once your program content has been determined, consider creating a program order or script that all participants will follow. This will keep things moving smoothly.

❏ Set the menu, if providing food or refreshments, and place the preliminary order

❏ Physical set up - Reserve AV equipment, table set up and other items needed

❏ Nostalgia - Will you be creating a video or slideshow? Will you have a display table for memorabilia -- Get this going!

❏ Order momentos or favors. Check with the Alumni Network office to see if alumni-related items might be available

❏ Determine if decorations are needed and get those secured

❏ Photography - Will a volunteer take photos or is a professional photographer needed? Consider creating a # for your event to be used on social media and publicize it

The Home Stretch - within the final month

❏ Confirm everything - all reservations, services and arrangements

❏ Big promotion push - Keep reminding people of the RSVP date

❏ The committee should go over all of the details once again

❏ Make a list of items to be taken to the event and to check on once you have arrived

❏ “Walk through” the reunion in your minds to determine if there is something that you forgot or still needs to be firmed up

❏ After RSVP deadline

❏ Turn in final food numbers

❏ Finalize room set up

❏ Make name tags

Have a great reunion!!

Follow- up

❏ Make sure you have cleaned up and picked up all items that you took

❏ Send thank yous

❏ To attendees - letting them know how to get photos, etc.

❏ To sponsors, if applicable

❏ To volunteers and others that may have helped you out

❏ Be sure to share photos and stories with attendees. Also share it with the Alumni Network office and via social media so that others might be inspired to create their own reunions

❏ Check in with the Alumni Network office to share updated contact information that the committee might have collected

❏ After payment of bills, close out bank account, if there was one

❏ Thank yourselves for a job well done!!