One of the unanswered questions from the class reunion was in regards to the scoreboard in the old school gymnasium. It was a memorial gift in memory of Van Page, a member of our class who died back around 7th grade. The old memorial scoreboard was still in the old gymnasium, as we were told, and had received some damage during games when it was hit by stray basketballs. The new gym already has a scoreboard, so moving it over would be redundant.
But the question of items like that memorial for Van Page, and the signature blocks in the old gymnasium (each graduating class signed their names on a block inside the old gymnasium – a historical continuity of all the classes and graduates), leave a question of how the school and its alumni will handle continuity of past and present, and the connection of the alumni to the school itself.
The question of the signature blocks has been resolved by some high quality pictures of the blocks being taken at the old school, which will be mounted as pictures displayed in a prominent spot in the new building. I hope that those will be followed by a continuing tradition of senior classes leaving their signatures somewhere in the new building (has the class of 2014 done so? If not, I hope that they soon will).
A bigger issue, perhaps, is what connection the school and the alumni have had with each other over the years. I think of my college alma mater, Houghton College, which like other colleges, has an alumni office, and interacts with an alumni association, run by the alumni, that uses the alumni as a recruiting tool for new students, as well as an encouragement of memorial gifts and endowments to help the continuing of the school and its mission, while the school on its part helps foster the continuing connections between its graduates.
But Twin Tiers doesn’t have an alumni association that I am aware of. My imperfect memory seems to recall that there was an attempt by the alumni at an alumni association early after the first classes graduated, but it wasn’t looked on favorably by the school board – a question of whether representatives of the alumni board would properly represent the supporting churches. That quickly nixed any attempts by the alumni to work with the school board, and an official association never materialized. If one has since materialized, I am unaware, and surprised I am unaware, since the efforts of our class to arrange our reunion, and our contacts with the school, should certainly have made such an organization obvious to us.
Twin Tiers has had 38 graduating classes. Class sizes have varied. My class had 28. The current student body is 92 spread among 6 grades. Using a low number, let us assume 10-15 graduates per class – that would be 400-600 graduates so far. That is a small number, compared to schools that graduate that many a year, but it is also the number Twin Tiers has, its representatives, its influence in the world. An effort by school and alumni classes to encourage and form an alumni association, to support the school, and encourage reunions and contact among graduates, could be a benefit both to the school, and to graduates.
Perhaps the class of 1984 should discuss among itself what effort we want to take in regard to Van’s memorial. Work with the school, certainly, but we are adults now, 30 years from graduation, and can take responsibility, if we feel a cause like this is important.
On the larger issue, we need to contact other graduating classes, and see about banding together to encourage our efforts for reunions and the school, and perhaps some of us should discuss with the school its cooperation in the formation and support of an alumni association – one properly and legally organized with principles that support the school and its mission.
At The Rainbow 