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sdelmonteSo I've been thinking about this...
This month is 20 years since I graduated from high school. Let's ignore the usual comments that time has passed and so forth. Obviously it has.
What I've been pondering is that there is not be any reunion, AFAIK, of the class of 1986 of Yeshiva University High Scool for Boys. Indeed, a perusal of the websites associated with YU and its high school show no evidence that there is even such thing as an alumni association for the high school. Now, I know there is one because once a year, I get a mailing inviting me to a fundraising dinner. But otherwise, nothing. Nothing to link me with the school as it is now or as it was.
I get the sense that in most of this nation, the high school reunion is common. That once you reach your tenth anniversary of graduating, there will be some kind of event. That it's also common to revel in high school years. That you are supposed to feel a link with the school years later. And yet my high school aids in none of the above.
No, I am not desperate to see my classmates. And I don't revere my high school days very much at all. I just find it so odd my school has no office for such things, no desire to stay linked to me.
For the record, YU's college, which I also attended, is not much better. I asks for money often, but it doesn't hold reunions prior to the 25th anniversary. I think that YU sees me only a way to make money, and not as an actual former student.
The funny thing is that I have no contact at all with anyone I went to school with. Not even causally. It doesn't bother me much, but given how small the modern Orthodox Jewish community is, it seems weird that I never see anyone from that part of my life even in a kosher restaurant or at a wedding. So there is a part of me that wonders what happened to these people (most of whom where not friends), and wonders why I don't get offered the chance by the school or an alunmi committee to find out.
That said, I am not sure how much I'd enjoy a reunion with people I didn't like with whom I have even less in common now than then. I just find the whole thing weird.
So I ask you out there...if you are old enough, have your high schools had reunions? If so, did you attend? And do you still have friends from that age?
This month is 20 years since I graduated from high school. Let's ignore the usual comments that time has passed and so forth. Obviously it has.
What I've been pondering is that there is not be any reunion, AFAIK, of the class of 1986 of Yeshiva University High Scool for Boys. Indeed, a perusal of the websites associated with YU and its high school show no evidence that there is even such thing as an alumni association for the high school. Now, I know there is one because once a year, I get a mailing inviting me to a fundraising dinner. But otherwise, nothing. Nothing to link me with the school as it is now or as it was.
I get the sense that in most of this nation, the high school reunion is common. That once you reach your tenth anniversary of graduating, there will be some kind of event. That it's also common to revel in high school years. That you are supposed to feel a link with the school years later. And yet my high school aids in none of the above.
No, I am not desperate to see my classmates. And I don't revere my high school days very much at all. I just find it so odd my school has no office for such things, no desire to stay linked to me.
For the record, YU's college, which I also attended, is not much better. I asks for money often, but it doesn't hold reunions prior to the 25th anniversary. I think that YU sees me only a way to make money, and not as an actual former student.
The funny thing is that I have no contact at all with anyone I went to school with. Not even causally. It doesn't bother me much, but given how small the modern Orthodox Jewish community is, it seems weird that I never see anyone from that part of my life even in a kosher restaurant or at a wedding. So there is a part of me that wonders what happened to these people (most of whom where not friends), and wonders why I don't get offered the chance by the school or an alunmi committee to find out.
That said, I am not sure how much I'd enjoy a reunion with people I didn't like with whom I have even less in common now than then. I just find the whole thing weird.
So I ask you out there...if you are old enough, have your high schools had reunions? If so, did you attend? And do you still have friends from that age?
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Date: Jun. 9th, 2006 02:34 am (UTC)5th (1991, when I was in grad school at U. Michigan): There was one. I had a lovely Thanksgiving with then-girlfriend and friends in Chicago, instead of bothering with the reunion.
10th (1996, when I was still in Ann Arbor): There was one. I would've gone. I'd asked my mom to call up the school and find out fi there was one, but she falsely told me there wasn't, so I missed it.
15th (2001, by which time I lived in Boston again): There wasn't one.
20th: Would be this year. I haven't heard anything. Presumably it'll be over Thanksgiving weekend if it happens.
I have fallen out of touch with all but one of my high school friends, but there are a bunch of folks I'd love to see again, even though my life sucks right now.
U. Chicago (class of 1990):
5th (1995, when I lived in Ann Arbor): Went. It was OK.
10th and 15th (2000 and 2005, when I lived in Boston): Skipped.
I keep in good touch with quite a lot of friends from Chicago, both actual classmates and others. Some live in Boston.