• Embed Doc
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
To:Wantagh Board of EducationFrom:Glenn StrachanMindye Kahn-Brunner Joe DonahueCharles BlattDate:7 October 2009RE:Wantagh Multi-Year Reunion August 7
th
, 2010This correspondence is intended to present the overall plan for the WHS Multi-Year Reunion 2010. I will break it into two pieces – concept and logistics.
C
ONCEPT
The one thing which binds an estimated 17,000 graduates of Wantagh High School is the building itself. We could, as a group, meet somewhere else, but the inherent value of using the high school as a venue for this event is that it works on so many differentlevels, and any other venue would provide little value to the shared vision which Mindyeand I have for this event. What we saw nine years ago was quite unique – people walkingthrough the hallways recalling memories of what they did “back in the day” in a particular location within the building, gymnasium and back fields.The power of a multi-year reunion which brings back not only students, but teachers,from the opening of the school through graduates of 2010 should not be underestimated.As an example, we saw graduates from the class of 1960 able to talk to people from years before and after – people who they knew back in school but also people who would not be invited to the Class of 1960 reunion. We saw people from neighborhoods throughoutWantagh finding each other again and swapping memories. The Multi-Year Reunion in2000 also marked the beginning of the Virtual Memorial with people adding names of deceased classmates which was then translated into a very powerful web presentationmanaged today by Mindye Kahn-Brunner.We started the planning process for this event nearly 9 months ago when we sought, andseemingly received, approval to reprise our event. This time we have access to a far greater array of social media tools, managed by me, to raise the awareness of people tothis event. Thus far a website dedicated to this event has been created; a Facebook pagesimilarly dedicated to the event; Facebook pages for each class; and the reunion event hasalready been announced on Classmates.com where over 7,000 Wantagh High Schoolgraduates are registered. In short, I am responsible for using the power of social media tomake people aware of this event, while Mindye is the heart of the operation and thus far over 50 people have offered to volunteer their services to help make the event a success.
L
OGISTICS
To date we have over 250 people who have committed to coming from all points in theUSA to attend this event. Statistically I believe that our event would hold some appeal toapproximately 68% of the people I can access via social media. Within that group I
 
 believe that no more than 68% will attend the event. So let’s estimate that I have accessto 10,000 people which means 6,800 people would find this event interesting. Of thatnumber 4,600 would likely decide to attend the event which means we may attract asmany as 6,118 people if we include a spouse and some family members for 33% of theattendees. The event will last for 6 hours and there will never be a moment in time whenall 6,118 people are present.There is another way to view who will be attending this event. In 2000 we had very fewattendees who graduated in the 1990’s – only a handful to be exact. The actual peak year for attendees was the Class of 1975 who happened to be celebrating their 25
th
anniversaryevent. We had people attend from the very first graduating class trailing off at about1986. I think we will attract the same demographic, however fewer people from the1950’s & 60’s will be able to attend, so an educated guess is that we will attract the years between 1968 and 1999. The Class of 1985 will be celebrating its 25
th
anniversary andthey have been working with me to coordinate their event with the Multi-Year Reunion.Their class size is not nearly as large as the Class of 1975 but they do tend to be moreconnected to social media which means a greater percentage of their class will attendtheir own reunion as well as the Multi-Year Reunion if we do coordinate our dates.I know that this is anecdotal information, at best, but I submit it because I have managedvarious events, and also have a background in statistical analysis. It is important for us tohave a clear concept of the audience we might attract for such an event. The goodnessabout holding this event is that the people making a decision to attend this event do so because they wish to reconnect with people from their childhood. This event will permitthose people to do just that – reconnect.Finally, it is important to note that it is unlikely that all the people will ever be onsite atone time. People will begin to show up for the event at around noon may stay for acouple of hours and then leave. As people leave others will come. I cannot estimate anabsolute number of people who will be onsite at any given time but I imagine the peak attendance will come between 3:00 and 4:00pm when we plan to have our entertainmentand “give aways.”
S
ECURITY
Security was not an issue at the last event and I do not expect it to be this time despite the possibility of a larger crowd. We will deploy hall monitors as we did last time and restrictthe hallways which can be accessed within the school itself. We can also hire additionalsecurity to move throughout the crowd, but since there will be no alcohol or smoking, Ido not believe that we will require much security at all. We must remember that we aredealing with people who are coming to an event out of a sense of community and a desireto see people they used to know when they went to Wantagh High School, Junior HighSchool or any of the primary schools in Wantagh.
 
P
ORTABLE
S
ANITATION
U
NITS
Because of the size of this event we will rent the requisite number of “Port-o-potties” tosupplement the rest rooms which will be available to us within the school itself.
P
ARKING
We agree that parking was an issue 10 years ago; however we did hire Auxiliary Police tomanage the school parking lot and the intersection of Wantagh and Beltagh Avenues. It istrue that people parked in the Forest Lake neighborhoods and walked over the footbridgeto attend the event. It is apparently true that people parked on Wantagh Avenue andwithin the adjacent streets. This time we can do a number of things differently.1.Sunrise Highway Parking Shuttlea.We can inform people that they can park in the LIRR parking on Saturdayand then be shuttled to and from the event on a bus which will be rentedfor the event. b.We can work with Forest Lake School and ask permission to allowattendees to park in their parking lot during the event.c.We can work with the Wantagh School as well to use some of their  parking on Saturday well.We clearly recognize that parking will be an issue for this event and we will inform allattendees about the need to park on Sunrise Highway and the other issues associated withminimizing the parking issues. I am certain that there will be a positive economic effectfor Wantagh that weekend given the number of people who will be visiting the town. Wecan work together with some of the business and civic associations to make them awareof the event and ask for their support.
F
OOD
 
AND
C
ONCESSIONS
We plan to bring in portable food vendors who will serve a variety of foods. Last time wehad free drinks and a number of groups providing food, including the parents whosupport the school football team who sold hot dogs and hamburgers. Logistically we canlocate food concessions throughout the paved area of the back side of the school facility.I foresee asking food vendors to give back 5% of their take as a donation to a scholarshipfund.
E
NTERTAINMENT
We would like to have access to the gymnasium as a place where we can haveentertainment and out give away event which will include airline tickets, hotel stays,consumer items, and coupons for Long Island based businesses. Since approximately50% of those who will likely attend this event still live on or near Long Island, this wouldserve as a kind of economic stimulus for Wantagh and Long Island based businesses.
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...