40th Reunion Planning Committee

I thought I would update the blog since it has been several months now since our 40th Reunion activities in June!  Such great memories and my only regret, like many others I have talked to, is that I wish we would have had more time.  There were many classmates I did not get a chance to spend as much time together as I would have liked!

As you know the GPN1970 Planning Committee's work continues and in fact we have added additional volunteers to locate classmates and to plan future events. We are meeting monthly!  I want to personally thank each of the Planning Committee members for all their hard work because without their assistance the 40th Reunion would have never come together nor future activities planned.  If you want to help out and join a great group of individuals please write to me at chairperson@GPN1970.com as we can always use more help.

Thanks to all classmates that filled out our 40th Reunion Survey.  The link to the Survey Monkey survey resultes is at the 40th Survey link on the webpage.  The committee has taken that feedback to move forward with plans for a 60th Birthday Party in 2012, 45th Reunion in 2015, and of course 50th Reunion in 2020.  For each of these events we are working closely with the Grosse Pointe South High School Class of 1970.  Stay tuned to our website, Google Groups Listserv, and Facebook Page for details as they become available.

If you have not viewed all the great photographs that were taken at all the 40th Reunion activities please do so by going to our Facebook Page under the Photos Tab.  You do not have to be a member of Facebook to view the photographs or other information on the page.  Thanks to everyone that submitted photographs!

I am also very pleased to annouce that Ahmed Ismail has put together a great slide show using all the photographs submitted along with music from our high school years.  You can download the slide show here. The file is in QuickTime format so if you are not on a Mac computer or do not have QuickTime installed on your Windows computer you can do so by downloading the free component here.  A big thanks to Ahmed for taking the time to put together this slide show!

Our biggest task is identifying classmates.  Even though we had an excellent turnout for the 40th Reunion activities we still have many classmates we have not found. Please go to the Classmate Finder Tab and if you see a classmate that has not been identified please fill out the easy to fill out form to let our Planning Committee know so we can include them for future events.

Take care.

Ed

Well our 40th Anniversary Weekend of activities has finally arrived!  We are having a number of last minute RSVPs and payments so if you are still thinking about coming it is not too late.  As of today, June 15th it looks like we will have approximately 130 at the reunion on Saturday night, which while we would have liked everyone to be there, we know many could not make it or through all our efforts we have not been able to locate every classmate as yet.  Of course the committee went to great efforts using on-line and off-line methods to do so but given the 20 years since our last reunion a very big task!

I want to thank the entire Planning Committee for all the work that has been done over the last year in getting ready for our 40th.  Without their incredible efforts the events would not have been able to be put together.  Please take the time to individually thank the committee members this weekend.

If you have not replied to the fun Poll that has been put together please do so by Thursday night, June 17th.  You can find the link at www.gpn1970.com/3/poll.htm in the Poll section of the website.

We kept the price per person at $75 due to hearing that some classmates had just now heard about the events and did not realize there had been a deadline.  Thanks to all of you that submitted your payments already as there are several expenses such as the Yacht Club that we had to pay in advance.

We are going to be doing a bit of fundraising Saturday night for the Grosse Pointe Foundation for Public Schools.  This is an incredible opportunity to have each dollar matched by three in support of technology at Grosse Pointe North so even just a few dollars will go a long way.  We will be presenting a check to the foundation after the reunion.  See my blog post from April 21, 2010 for more details.

If you are on Facebook be sure to become a fan of the GPN1970 Charter Class of 1970 Facebook Page as it a great place to send and receive messages.  I also post news and information to the site from the GPN1970 Charter Class of 1970 Twitter Account.  We also have a LinkedIn account and listserv so do stay connected for future activities.

As we look past this weekend our Planning Committee is going to stay together to continue to find missing classmates.  If you would like to help we sure would welcome it.  We are already looking ahead to our 50th Reunion and are planning at this time on doing a joint party with Grosse Pointe South High School.

Please keep your Classmate Profiles up-to-date and if you have not filled out one please do as we are using this as our main database to get a hold of everyone.  In only takes a few minutes and this becomes our living "Program Book" for each of us to catch up on new events and activities of other classmates.

Finally, plan on having a great time this weekend!  Please come to the Friday Night Get Together, the Tour of Grosse Pointe North High School, and the Sunday Class Picnic as well as the Reunion on Saturday night as they will all be great events to have a blast from the past!

Take care and if you are traveling to Grosse Pointe please fly and drive safely!

Ed

Edward Eroe, 40th Reunion Chairperson

As part of our 40th Reunion activities we are going to participate with the Grosse Pointe Foundation for Public Schools and the Boll Foundation in raising funds for Grosse Pointe North High School. For every dollar that is raised through our Charter Class of 1970, the Boll Foundation will match it with two dollars.  We will be presenting a check to the Grosse Pointe Foundation for Public Education with the money earmarked for Grosse Pointe North at our 40th Reunion.

The Grosse Pointe Foundation for Public Education is a foundation that was formed by a dedicated group of residents who were conerned about maintaining excellence in the Grosse Pointe schools.  Its purpose is to raise money to fund initiatives that are not included in state funding. 

The John and Marlene Boll Foundation announced this year the $500,000 Boll Technology Challenge Grant.  The grant will be used to update the technology in all Grosse Pointe schools with items like SmartBoards, which we will see a demo of during our tour of Grosse Pointe North High School on Saturday, June 19, 2010 from 11:00am to 12:30pm.

We appreciate all classmates stepping up and giving back to Grosse Pointe North not only because we all have benefited from this great high school education but because every dollar we donate will be matched with two more!

Thank you.

Edward Eroe, 40th Reunion Chairperson

The following press release was sent out today to several news sources.  Please pass it on so we can get the word out to all of our fellow classmates.  We are off and running!

Class President, Robert Cleary announced today that the Grosse Pointe North High School Charter Class of 1970 will be having their 40th Reunion at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club on Saturday, June 19, 2010. Activities are planned the entire weekend starting with a Friday Night get together, the reunion on Saturday night, and a Class Picnic on Sunday.  The reunion will be the first one since their 20th in 1990 and the Planning Committee, chaired by Edward Eroe and Diana Moghissi Weaver, with a committee of twelve others, expect a huge turnout since they have gone to great efforts, starting in July 2009, to find fellow classmates by using Facebook, Twitter, Classmates.com, postcards, phone, word of mouth, and a new website at http://www.GPN1970.com.  Classmates can enter current Classmate Profile information, view pictures, leave messages, take quizzes and polls, sign up for the class e-mail listserv and social media sites, and register and pay for all reunion events through the easy navigation at the website.

There have been several discussions regarding a joint party with the planners of the Grosse Pointe South High School Class of 1970, who are having their 40th reunion at the Bay View Yacht Club on August 7, 2010, but since both schools were too far along in planning on their respective events they are exploring working together on one large party for their 50th Reunion in 2020.  The class of 1970 was the first class split when Grosse Pointe North opened in 1968.  Many classmates got to know each other in their sophomore year at Grosse Pointe High School in 1967 and want to renew those friendships.  Also many Brownell students had been together all through elementary school only to be split for their Junior and Senior Years.  Grosse Pointe South Class of 1970 also have a website up at http://gpshs1970.info.  In the meantime, the planning committees will be providing invitations for classmates at both schools to attend each of their respective 40th Reunion Events in June and August.

For more information contact: Laurie Smith Dowdeswell, Communications Coordinator at communications@GPN1970.com

Edward Eroe, 40th Reunion Chairperson