Next steps for MCHS 2015 website – May 17, 2015 update

What do I get for $150?

Left to right: Scott Munro, Lynn (Hennebury) Legge, and Gina (Davis) Cayer at the May 13, 2015 organizing meeting in Kitchener. Lynn is looking a the 1962-63 MCHS yearbook. Jaan Pill photo

This is a great question. We are developing the conversation, related to the question, at the FAQ at the MCHS 2015 website.

What do I get for $150? The question has come up many times.

Many answers come to mind. By way of example:

“Why should I spend $150 to register for the ’60s reunion, when I could buy so many cups of coffee for that money? I mean, let’s say I pay $2.35 for a cup of coffee; that means that I could buy 64 cups of coffee for $150. Let’s say I buy three cups of coffee per day. That means that, for $150, I could go for 21 days at three cups of coffee a day. How can a high school reunion possibly compete with that kind of experience?”

Then again, other people will not approach the question on such terms. They may say, instead, “Okay, let’s say that I do pay $150 for a reunion. What do I get for that? Tell me about what great food I will get to eat, tell me about what I will get for entertainment. Tell me who else from my graduating class will be at the reunion. Convince me of your value-for-money proposition.”

Next steps regarding the $150 question

First, I will have a separate post highlighting responses, at an April 1, 2015 reunion planning meeting in Kitchener, to this question.

Secondly, I will upload a video interview, once it’s been edited, featuring two or three members of the organizing team, that I recorded at our May 13, 2015 meeting in Kitchener. The video features answers to the $150 question. We will post the video to Vimeo and to You Tube, with links available at the MCHS 2015 website.

Why is the reunion in Toronto, not Montreal?

This is a separate question, which has also given rise to many conversations between potential attendees and members of the organizing team. The short answer has two parts.

First, among the 1960s alumni, many moved out of Montreal to pursue career and personal interests, and quite a few have ended up in southern Ontario. Secondly, the human resources required to organize a reunion are concentrated, in the case of the particular 1960s reunion that we are organizing, in the Greater Toronto Area. Without a core group of people to do the organizing, there is no reunion. If a group of Montreal-based organizers had been ready to organize such a reunion in Montreal, it would have been organized in Montreal.

So, I will begin by creating a text based on the responses, to this question, that were shared at the April 1, 2015 Kitchener meeting. The text will be posted as a separate blog post, with a link to the FAQ at the MCHS 2015 website. The next step, after that, will involve the posting of a video that we recorded at the May 13, 2015 Kitchener meeting of the MCHS 2015 organizing committee.

Donations

We invite MCHS graduates, who have achieved outstanding financial success in life, and anybody else, to make a small donation to enable us to cover Incidental Expenses. If this idea appeals to you, you can get more information – including how to access financial details about the Reunion Budget – at the Registration page at the MCHS 2015 website.

Click here to access the MCHS 2015 Registration Page >

Playlist

Gina (Davis) Cayer has taken responsibility for finding the ideal D.J. for our reunion. We will have an update on this topic on the next while. We are also developing a playlist of music for the reunion, based on a list of links that Gina has been working on. Other sources for the playlist are songs that people remember being as being the favourite songs of MCHS alumni who have passed away. As well, people send us suggestions, which we will be pleased to add to our list. For example, Bob Carswell sent me the following message on May 16, 2015:

Hey Jaan,

In the summer of 1960 I was almost 16 and the song Only the Lonely by Roy Orbinson came out.

I remember hearing it for the first time in Jeff Habberfield’s driveway at home where they were storing a car belonging to his uncle. The radio in the car was turned up as loud as Jeff dare put it. Roy Orbinson’s voice was so unique as a new voice, one could not help but recalling it and where they were at the time.

Cheers

Bob

Students and teachers who have passed away

Our list is now at 45 people who have passed away. We much appreciate the help, from many sources, in enabling us to compile the data that is involved in getting this list into place.

Budget

In recent weeks, members of the organizing team have stepped forward to underline the fact that, as a reunion planning team, we need a clear sense of our budget. It’s also been pointed out that we need a clear plan. That is, we need to know what we’re getting into, and where we’re going.

These are important matters. We have the good fortune that Lynn (Hennebury) Legge has taken on the responsibility of ensuring that we have a clear sense of our budget figures.

The concept of having a plan is of much relevance. Speaking for myself, as an organizer I like to have a clear sense of what the next steps are. I like to ensure that there is input, from as many sources as possible, in the planning process.

That being said, some of my best work, as a community organizer, has been under conditions where I didn’t have a clue about what I was getting into. Had I know what I was getting into, in volunteer projects over the past thirty years, and realized how much work was involved, I may have thought twice.

Over many years, people have spoken about a 1960s reunion. Over a year ago, a number of us said, “Okay, it’s time to make this a reality.”  As the planning proceeds, your comments and suggestions are the key elements in moving the project forward.