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| Wonderment in May by Ed Loenen VCSS Art Teacher - (passed away 2012) |
Spring is in the air and everyone is starting to talk about reunions. After all, this is a high school blog. The first Reunion I planned went very well. It wasn't greatly attended but the people who went said they had a great time and would definitely like to go to another one. There have been several people since who said "I would have loved to have been there but I didn't know about it". I remember that at the time Facebook was upgrading their "groups" section, so the "EVENT" might have been lost in the shuffle. But mostly
there just weren't that many people at our FB Group and not many people spread the word. I didn't attend for one very good reason: I PLANNED IT FROM 1000 KM AWAY!
Yes. I live in Edmonton now, but I still managed to pull it all together including the location, time, and Event Invitations (and then spent the afternoon of the reunion pacing in my living room chewing on the inside of my cheek).
If I can pull it off from a Province away, then what can YOU accomplish? It's kind of a daunting task but let's start with some ground work and see if we don't have to put this all on one person's shoulders.
Over the years, I have told tons of people stories about my five years at Vancouver Christian Secondary School (or as it came to be 'legendarily' known "Laura-Lee's little Christian school"). Besides many stories about our unique adventures and quotes from some of our more interesting students (that means YOU!) I have also stressed how each class seemed to take on a life of it's own. That we were definitely MORE than the sum of our parts. My own class (1985) demonstrated that a thousand ways over the 5 years we were together.
Now we're in the big, bad world and we must burst from our classes and be a single unit of "ALUMNI". Yes. Our school does not exist anymore, but somehow we have found each other on the Internet. Let's make sure that we continue to "find" each other. I don't mean we should be like a TV sitcom and be forever 17 and unable to move past our high school days OR (like Romy & Michelle) seek to show "the other kids" that "I'm not a nobody anymore".
We are adults. We have a lot on our plates. Thus is life. So let's join together in a new way. In those cramped, dark hallways of that tiny school we were merely children trying to find our way through faith, family, responsibility and a million hormones ("HIS-mones" if you're a boy). But we did grow up. Together. And that makes us a "family". So let's act like one. *Encourage each other. *Remember that words last longer when they are used to build up rather than tear down. *Forgive and let go of the past. *See people for what they could be not for the mess they may now be. *Be ready to invest yourself in someone else. *Prepare for the worst but always hope and pray for the BEST! *And constantly be speaking the truth in love. Love.( Love, love, love). All those things were the real lessons we were learning there. I know because I'm still getting questions about "when is the next reunion?" We need time to reconnect and remember. And you may just find that the good was very good and the bad was so ridiculous you can laugh about it now. And how many wounds has laughter been the bandage for? What a wonderful purpose and a great reason to get together again.
So for the "ground work" let's start by making sure that every single person that you're in contact with who attended, taught or worked at that school knows about our groups.(SEE THE LINKS BELOW) Post these web addresses anywhere you think an alumni might go. College websites. Church websites. Christian forums and magazines (especially if they are Canadian or Vancouver based). And don't forget to join them yourself. Then, with everyone "here" or "present", we can plan a reunion. And next time we can make sure that everyone who wants to be there, will - be - there! Because we all know what it feels like to be "ignored" or "left out" ( after all, we did attend high school).
Sincerely, Laura-Lee Rahn (class of 1985) - putting the MENTAL in "fundaMENTAList"
FACEBOOK: Vancouver Christian Secondary Alumni
BLOG: VCSS Alumni (Google)
TWITTER: VCSS Alumni
REUNION PHOTOS
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| September 2010 (25th Reunion - Class of 1985) |
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| June 2010 (L-L planned from Edmonton) (Central Park Burnaby) |
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| Summer 1995 |
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| 1993 (10th Reunion - Class of 1983)
P.S. Don't forget that if you have a "Google" Account (IE. an email that has "GMail.com" at the end) then you can click on the "FOLLOW" button on this BLOG and get notified of new posts and add posts to the Blog yourself . (Remember: a Google Account is free).
And no matter what email you have, you can always add a comment to any blog OR share it with other sites with the links at the bottom of each entry. (llr)
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