FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT JAMAICA HIGH SCHOOL REUNIONS

Questions 1 - 2 have pretty much the same answer for JHS alumni:

1. It's been nn years since I graduated, shouldn't there be a reunion for us?

2. Shouldn't the school be having a reunion for my class soon?

Reunion arrangements vary from high school to high school, depending partly on the size and age of the high school. JHS currently follows a model that I am sure is widely duplicated throughout the world (though I have no statistics to support my view). We could call it the laissez faire model, or the do it yourself model. JHS will let you have as many reunions as you wish...but you must do it yourself. If you want to have a reunion, you or someone or some group of someones must step up and make it happen. Actually, JHS doesn't "let" or "not let" you do anything. JHS has no legal authority or practical control over reunions at all...but we can help you organize one.

3. Who organizes reunions for my class? Shouldn't the class president do that?

So, reunions are basically organized by you, the alumni. You decide to do it. Don't wait for your class president or valedictorian to step forward and lead. They may be very busy with work or family issues. You must find a few classmates who are interested and have the time to help you do it. As you develop your group and plans you might eventually engage a commercial reunion planner (caveat emptor!), but even then there will be a lot of work that can only be done by the person or persons who step up and make it happen. There have been many successful reunions which have engaged reunion planners and many that were organized independently. There have been some of both kinds which were disappointing. The key to any successful reunion, I suppose, is the amount of work and attention and care that goes into the planning of it. The more work that is actually done by the alumni themselves, the better the result and the more satisfaction they will get out of the celebration when it finally happens. A commercial organization will want your reunion to be successful too, but remember, any business must have as its first goal making a profit. There's nothing wrong with making a profit as long as you understand the basis of any business arrangement clearly.

4. How many people do I need to have a reunion?

Two. OK, that's an oversimplification, but it's a fact. There are many reunions out there that are very small. A group of forty high school friends meets at a diner in Manhattan once a year. A group of 15 high school friends meets at a restaurant once a month in Boynton Beach. A JHS grad invites a group of classmates to his Manhattan loft for a party. These are actual gatherings that I have learned of, and they are reunions. I'm sure JHS reunions like these are repeated each year across the country. A reunion doesn't have to be large to be fun. In fact you could have a small reunion to plan a large reunion.

5. How can I identify companies that organize reunions?

Commercial reunion planners can be identified with a simple web search or in the "yellow pages" telephone directory. JHS or the JHSAA does not endorse or recommend any commercial reunion planners, so we won't be listing any on our site.

6. OK! I want to organize a reunion! How can I get names and addresses for my classmates? Do you have a list?

The JHSAA, with the assistance of JHS, maintains an address list of alumni who have paid $10.00 dues and have indicated that they want their name and address information to be shared with other alumni. Everyone who is a paid up member gets a copy of that list when their dues payment is received. The addresses on that list, about 1300, range in age: some are from as far back as 1992, when the current JHSAA was first organized. Some have been recently updated. A bulk mailing done in June 2001 to the 1300 addresses on the paid list and to a selection of 1200 addresses from the unpaid list (12,000? names) resulted in only two non-deliverables that were returned to us. That may mean that the list is very good or that non-deliverable bulk mail doesn't ordinarily get returned by the Post Office.

Once you have become a member and have indicated that you are serious about planning a reunion, we will share with you the list of names and addresses that we have for your class. 40th and 50th Reunion groups may also wish to have the lists for "shoulder" classes, i.e. the classes of the preceding and following years, to improve the possibility of finding enough interested classmates.

7. Aren't names and addresses listed in the yearbooks?

They were once but after 1972? only names were listed and not addresses.

8. Doesn't the school have addresses on record or in the archives?

Yes, of course, but those records are confidential and may not by law be shared with anyone without the permission of each student...not even for alumni reunions. Keep in mind that even if you could get such records, the addresses in most of them would not be current because people move every seven years on the average.

9. So then, how do I identify and communicate with the people I need to run a successful reunion?

There are a number of ways but, unfortunately, no magic solution to this problem. One commercial organizer told me that they rely on searching the web for alumni not identified by the initiating group.

Here's a checklist of ways to find people:

• a) Register yourself on the commercial and non-commercial alumni sites and post an announcement about your reunion with an email address for feedback. All but one of these sites, last time I looked, are free. See our list of links to these sites, which, of course, include this site.
• b) Get everyone you contact to give you a list of alumni they know of. Keep bugging them to follow up all leads.
• c) Post notices in community papers and other publications which might be read by JHS alumni. In June 2001 the Queens Ledger group of papers, which claims circulation of 140,000, posted our complete list of planned reunions, presumably with good results. The '51 group posted a notice in the UFT paper. Announcements in such papers are freqently printed without charge.
• d) Wear a JAMAICA HIGH SCHOOL t-shirt as often as you can. You'll be surprised at how many people come up to you and introduce themselves. Get everyone in your group to wear a JHS t-shirt to magnify the process. Order one here.
• e) Create a list of "lost sheep:" classmates yet to be found, and circulate it among the group already identified.
• f) Communicate by phone or email with other reunion organizers in which you share your successful methods and frustrations. Their email links or phone numbers are listed on this site. Send your comments and ideas to me also and I will list them here for all to share.
• g) Mail a letter or postcard to everyone on your list. Keep track of which addresses fail and any address changes you learn of.
• h) Display a bumper sticker that says: "JAMAICA HIGH SCHOOL - ON THE WEB." That's short enough to be easily read from other cars on the highway and also by passersby in parking lots. Those who can will follow up on their computers. JHS is easily found with any search engine. (This is a raw idea. I don't know whether this has been done yet. I don't have any bumber stickers. But, JHS is easy to find on any search engine.)
• i) Keep in mind that JHS alumni have distributed themselves all over the country and in other countries all over the world. If you consider that JHS acted as a kind of filter, collector and refiner as you passed through it, you shouldn't be surprised to find fellow alumni right in your own neighborhood. Look there.

10. Will Jamaica High School help me?

We want your reunion to be as successful as possible, so we will do what we can. Our resources and time are limited, unfortunately, so we can not organize your reunion for you. You must remember that our main mission is teaching the current class of JHS alumni-to-be. So far all the work done for the JHSAA has been on a volunteer basis. No one has received any compensation of any kind for what has been done.

11. Can I get a notice in the Queens community newspapers?

The Queens Ledger group of community newspapers can be reached at:

Queens Ledger
69-60 Grand Ave.
Maspeth, NY 11378

Tel: 718-426-7200
Fax: 718-429-1234
Email: www.queensledger.com

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FEEDBACK: D. Jensen, Librarian : : : : : : : : 06/27/01 - 12/12/03