To Go or not to Go

For Those of you who have chosen not to come to the reunion tonight, I write to you… I know many of you have prior commitments, or can’t get to Idaho Falls. But there are many of you who just don’t want to attend for one reason or another.
High School is an interesting time in one’s life. For many of us it defined our own value and self esteem. We created perceptions of who we thought we were according to how our peers viewed us. Think back 25 years ago. Was High School a negative or positive experience? As I have spoken to individuals of their high school experience, I find it interesting that those people who I considered “in, or popular” didn’t always feel that way themselves. Many times we hold perceptions on certain individuals that they themselves do not see. Through my line of work, I have the opportunity to process individuals through emotional healing. The years through Junior High and High School are a profound time that can hold life time impressions of feeling connected or disconnected with peers and friends.
Perhaps you felt a sense of belonging to a particular group or not belonging anywhere. Maybe you felt judged and inadequate in front of your peers. I myself struggled with feelings of inadequacy, not smart enough, cute enough, wondered if I was well liked and the list goes on. Luckily for me I had enough positive experiences that High School became an overall good experience. However, my heart goes out to those who did not enjoy your years of Junior High and High School. This may be a reason you don’t want to be connected to High School at all now that it is long gone.
Regrets from high school can dominate your thinking, we all have regrets. But let’s create new experiences of fun and friendship and let the old go. Reframe a positive experience with our reunions to create new friendships that can be life-long.
In April there was a group of us who decided to cruise together for the reunion. Although we each represented different click groups from High School , we blended well together and created new life-ling friendships. It was awesome!
Another reason may be where you are in your current situation. If you are embarrassed of your job or of not having a job for many, gaining weight, losing hair, etc. The fear of judgment from others is a really valid reason not to go out in front of High School Peers. But, hey if Brian Minner, jobless and homeless, can not only come to the reunion, but head it up, you can come too.. (thanks Brian for being such a great example)
I address all of these concerns because WE WANT TO SEE YOU AND RECONNECT. The planning committee puts in countless hours to make this a positive experience for all of us to reconnect and have a great time with each other. These committee members gain nothing but the satisfaction of enjoying each other’s company and seeing you have a good time. That’s it… What do you think? The least we can do is honor that for them… Come and show up, have a great time, re-connect and transform those painful moments in your teens to bliss. Okay, maybe not bliss, but guaranteed fun and frolic. We have plenty of activities scheduled to provide new life-long friendships. I promise it will be worth it!
See you this weekend!
Sandra Baker,
Aka Sandy Weller

Reunion helpers

Hey thanks for the efforts to date. We need to accelerate and launch: hard deadline is Feb 28. Big time crunch time - each of us needs to step up and give our classmates a chance to learn about reunion activities and to participate/reconnect. If you are not able to step up, raise your hand and say you need help. I haven’t done justice to this, and I am committed to standing taller. Hoping you can too. Please call or write me by Feb 21 to confirm you got this, are on board, and you can commit to the deadline goal. I'll start ringing you if I haven't heard from you by Feb 22. It'd be better to spend time trying to find classmates.

Please check out the notes from the Feb 17 call - some important developments there. Regarding the tracking efforts, here’s what the meeting attendees decided in the last call :
Each one of us needs to reach everyone from our list we can possibly reach by Feb 28 (Sunday night).

a) This means exhausting several means, with a few attempts each...FB searches, email attempts, reaching out to friends of people, calling permanent and prior phone numbers, and posting for help on your FB wall as well as on the Bonneville 85 page
b) Success would be attempts through all these means by Feb 28, producing the desired info (see below) from >90% of your list. Note that if I do my emailing and phoning on Feb 28, I will likely fail to get good info by the end of that day, since people may take time to get back to me.
c) Answer the questions for each classmate on your list:
1. Heard about the reunion activities/dates?
2. Reunion cruise Apr 23-26 possible for them?
3. Reunion activities July 23/24 - going to attend?
4. Email and FB reliable communication methods (check out FB 85 Class page)?
5. Updated email/phone/address.
d) Send your updated info to Wayne by Sun Feb 28
e) Absolutely by Sunday night Feb 28 send the following to Jana:
1. How many are on my list
2. How many I answered all the above questions with: __________
3. How many I am certain I have good info for: ___________
4. How many more I can increase the answer to ii. above within 1 week.
5. How many I am lost on and really need help: ___________

Asking for your big time help here. Many of our classmates are interested even in the cruise but don't know about it. Hopefully we won’t need to all any of you to gather the info in e. If so we'll ring you Mon and Tue.

If you have capacity and can help with other classmate tracking, please let Jana know.
Please join us on the call at 8p Mountain time Wed Feb 24.

Notes from Jan 27th conference call

NEXT MEETING Feb

3- 8p Mountain time. Come one come all. Be square or there.

605-475-4825 code 276349#

I don't know how to attach a spread sheet to this blog. However we have the contact base if anyone would like to see it email wayneaustad@cableone.net .

A short meeting. Thanks to everyone who is working to make a difference. Thanks to those who would like to make a difference too but their busy lives have them challenged (if you aren’t at the meetings we miss ya!). Even wanting to make a difference is appreciated! Thanks to Jana for joining us.

• Need to follow-up with tracker committee (finding classmates) for updates ; Jana will call each and identify status
• Need to identify trackers who feel they cannot locate/contact their whole list. No guilt trip, let’s just help.
• Jana may re-assign unfounds and coordinate with Wayne
• Spreadsheet not the last best contact list
• Verifying if Access database is more recent than spreadsheet ; Wayne to contact Shauna to check … UPDATE: Shauna and Wayne were champs and came up with a more current export. That file is attached.
• Country Club – no classmate / members found yet. Ken Park may know some potential sponsors.
• Saturday dinner considerations continued: Jana suggested many might have had enough of the school - with kids, etc. The sentiment was echoed. David will explore options. $30/plate target.
• May do both the ice breaker (Blake’s purview) AND the dinner at CC
• Need to move on cost picture, availability, and sponsor for Cntry Club both nights. David will follow up with Vickie/Blake re. the Country Club
• Contact goal for everyone inside 2 weeks.
• Forward flyer to everyone you can

Brian Minner Conf. call notes

Jan 20 con call. Sandy, Will Patterson, Blake Murri (very late because of birthday party), Brian Minner, David Chamberlain.

NEXT MEETING Jan 27 8p. Call in #: 605.475.4825 then code 276349.

Assignment: send updated classmate info to Wayne by night before: Jan 26.

Wayne to review status.

Event coordinators to give brief updates. Details of events don’t need to be all resolved in meetings. Event coordinators present plan and options, take input.

A lively and spirited discussion was had by all, and will be again.

Current cruise registration listed below (thanks David). We believe that many others would consider if we could get the info out. Only 3 days, $300/prsn, great time and opportunity.

7 cabins signed up for the Apr 23 cruise out of LA. Breck, David, Morgan, Kneebone, Sandy, Dana Letendre & Heather, Minner

High priority: finding and informing. Need to ensure we are getting the right message points to those with whom we speak.

Script or bullet points for conversations? Use Facebook details in front or printed out

Find out: Is Facebook a good way to communicate with you? Email? What preferred.

EVERYONE on contact cmte should try very hard to reach people ASAP (see Wayne’s List)!

Need to address both reunion events, communication methods, and possibly preparing pics for use in a continuously scrolling video

Make sure everyone knows to start calling people

Some people don’t read the notes.

List people who are lost on FB, multiple walls. Protect privacy – don’t post contact info on FB, but seek private messages as answers.

Some people don’t attend meetings.

Dinner event follow-ups:

Hotels will require a lock-in fee.

200 ppl room, prepared, $1000, menu about $23/prsn…. Ttl of $40-50/prsn.

Issue is Classier approach or highschool / less expensive with fun

VERDICT: Classier looks to be higher cost than many would find palatable. Current view is we’ll pursue catered dinner at the school, and a nice ice breaker for Fri night, where people can imbibe and get re-connected.

Chamberlain as Sat eve coordinator

If we need a sizable deposit, we’ll ask a few of our class to pitch in, recognizing that contributions may or may not be fully remunerated.

Blake Murri will seek out Country Club members.to identify insider opps for facility perks. Wayne and a couple others were doing this as well.

Ice breaker - name tags, greeting table, place where people can drink. Blake will nail that down.

Blake and others will check out Country Club possibilities. Vickie has done some work on this.

Golf as event (Friday afternoon or Sat morn) – coordinators: Morgan/ Adams / Kenny / Berry?

Blake: Tyler Brooks is available, has everything, can do music, etc., AV equip for Sat night…

80’s music, games, trivia for Fri night? Picture show continually running.

Lunch, sport, games, highschool tours (scavenger hunt?)

Minner to contact / confirm with Adams.

Priority is to get people contacted. Use info on blog while contacting people.

Disclaimer: the unpaid keeper of the notes types this very quickly with very little review. All typos or errors should be accredited to someone else.

Upcoming conference call

Hi Classmates,
In order to serve you better we have created a conference call to plan the July 23rd, 24th 2010 25 yr. reunion and get input from you. We will be discussing dinner reservations, contacting classmates and possibilities of a bus commute to L.A. for the April cruise. Please plan on attending. This call is scheduled for next Wed. Jan. 20th at 8 pm MTSD. The number to call is 605-475-4825 code 276349#. See you on the call. Please let others know.

July 23rd and 24th Idaho Falls

Join us for a weekend of fun and connection in Idaho Falls.
Friday July 23rd, golf , Friday evening Ice Breaker
Saturday July 24th at the High School. Reconnect with your favorite teachers, picnic, meet families, dinner that evening at the country club or local restaurants.

Details forthcoming!
In the meantime, contact all the classmates you know. Let's get everyone there! We will be making phone calls to class mates based on the data base we had from 5 years ago so please update those you know and let us know if you would like to help!
THANKS

Cruising April 23rd -26th

Hurry!! This price won't last.
Come Join us with Carnival to have a fun, bonding, re-uniting weekend.
Fri. April 23rd leave from LA (Long Beach) 3:30 pm (boarding time)
Sat. April 24th - Mexico day excursion
Sun. April 25th - Out to Sea
Mon. April 26th - Return 8:00am

Only $300.00 per person 866-721-3225 Group #discount 37NZ47

Get the word out and let's PARTY- great way to connect with friends in a relaxed environment