Hello FHS-80!
Well, what a terrific first six
months it's been! You've started to respond well to the idea of a virtual
reunion which, hopefully, will lead to a more enjoyable real reunion with
a really nice turn-out. Anyone interested in a 25th reunion? Keep your
eyes open for a 25th Reunion Poll in the coming weeks.
Perhaps not surprisingly, this
past month has been quite slow at the site with the end of school and the
start of vacations, gardening, yard work, picnics, beach visits and, of
course, golf. But in these first six months we've had quite a bit of
traffic from classmates, parents, siblings and former teachers.
At this point, we count 61
former classmates among those who have offered updated biographical and/or
contact information. A total of 153 former classmates, or 28% of
our graduating class, have either contacted the site in some form or have
been "outed" by another classmate.
We've also had some very nice
contacts from former faculty and staff. We've added a
faculty & staff update page and hope to see some participation from
our former teachers and coaches in the months ahead.
Here's a snapshot of what we've
accomplished in the last 180 days:
| |
120 days |
150 days |
180 days |
| Classmate Updates |
55 |
61 |
61 |
| Children accounted for |
88 |
97 |
97 |
| Web site "hits" |
2880 |
3828 |
4416 |
| Classmates Honored |
7 |
7 |
8 |
| Classmates Located |
136 |
146 |
153 |
In the last thirty days,
Here's the email notice that was sent to those who had checked in with
the site as of July 20, 2002:
An Update
on our class website
Fairport1980.com
Saturday,
July 20, 2002
_______________________________________
- the stats
- the stories
- the photos
- the honors
- the news
_______________________________________
Hello FHS-80 ... and friends!
- Happy 6 Month Anniversary!
Monday of this past week,
July 15, marked the
six month anniversary of our
class website and
I wanted to take just a
moment to thank those
of you who've been coming out
to play with the
rest of us and to let you
know what we've
accomplished together.
- The Activity!
If you've visited the site
recently, you've seen
all of the activity, the
news, the updates,
the contacts from former
teachers, the
kindergarten photo (aw, how
cute!), and
even the recent FHS
construction photos.
And perhaps you've
participated in one of
our online polls or taken
part in the
questionnaire. If so, thanks!
If you haven't visited the
site in a while, well,
there's no time like the
present! Put simply,
there quite a bit there you
might find very
interesting. And we'd love to
hear from you
and about you so we're all
hoping you'll
consider sharing your story
with us through
your updated bio.
- The Stats!
Although the last month has
been quite slow
at the site, understandable
at the beginning
of summer and all of the
great outdoor
activities, what we've
accomplished in just
these first six months has
been nothing
short of terrific! The
simplest of metrics
give us the big picture:
-
over 4,400 hits in six
months!
-
61 classmate updates - 11%
of the class
-
153 classmate contacts -
28% of the class
-
Hundreds and hundreds of
photos
-
8 of our classmates honored
... so far!
- The Stories!
The raw statistics are easy
but they don't really
tell much of the story. For
that, you need to read
the updated classmate
profiles ... and what stories
they tell!
From hardship to joy, our
class has learned and
experienced a great deal
these past twenty-two
years. We're parents now,
we're homemakers,
we're running our own
businesses and we're
CEOs. We're professional
musicians and artists,
we work with kids and we work
with computers.
We keep the peace and we
protect our communities.
We're teachers and we're
involved with our churches.
We struggle. We succeed. And
we fail.
We learn to live with our
heartbreaks and we
know how tough it can be
sometimes. We
reach out, sometimes to each
other, for help.
And we turn and offer our
hearts to one another.
We're all of this and more...
If I could tell you what I've
seen behind the
scenes of this website, the
words I've read
and the stories I've heard,
well I think you'd
be pretty proud of the people
we've become.
And what good we've done,
too!
- The Photos!
Did I mention the photos?
Yes, some of our
former classmates have posted
recent photos.
Have you seen the beautiful
children? Wow!
That's something you don't
want to miss ...
it's definitely one of the
most popular parts
of the website. Which also
means that if you
haven't contributed any
photos yet, well
we'd love to see 'em!
- Passwords & Updates!
To access the updated bios of
your former
classmates, to read about who
they've become
since FHS, you need the
website's username and
password. If you don't
already have these keys
to our kingdom you can get
them at the website
by going to the HELP section
and clicking on
Password Request.
Alternatively, you can send
a blank email to ...
password@fairport1980.com
If you're ready to submit
your very own update,
if you're ready to tell the
rest of us all about
you, just click on "Update
Your Page" at the
top of the browser window. If
you'd like to work
on your update offline, you
can request the
form via email by sending a
blank email to ...
updateform@fairport1980.com
And please don't feel that
you have to be
confined to the format of the
form, either.
The form was meant as a guide
only. You
can contribute just about
anything you wish
in just about any format and
we'll find a way
to work with it. If you'd
like to write your
story in just the way you
want to present
it, that's cool. Forget the
form! And if
you've already submitted your
updated info
and would like to add to it,
change it,
whatever ... go ahead! Just
let us know what
you want and we'll find a way
to make it work.
- The Honors!
Eight of our former
classmates are listed in
the website's Honored section
for the recognition
they've received since 1980.
Here we find our
old friends and classmates
who've been recognized
by their colleges, their
communities or their
businesses for their
outstanding contributions.
There are some great stories
here and if you
know of another classmate who
deserves our
recognition, well, let us
know about it!
- The News!
Our website news page appears
to be
pretty popular with our site
visitors, too.
The page is divided ... right
down the middle ...
into two parts. One part is
for class news and
other is for website news.
If our former classmates,
teachers and
coaches make the news, you'll
find out
about it in the class news
section. And if
you see something in the
(real) news
that you'd like to share with
the rest of us,
just let us know and we'll
post a link. You'll
also find news here about
other classes
and other Fairport Alumni.
- Spread the Word!
The next time you visit the
website, take
note of the "missing"
section. You can
get there by clicking on the
"missing"
button in the top menu. This
is a list of
all of the classmates we've
not heard
from yet. If you know how to
get in touch
with anyone on that list,
perhaps you
could do that person and the
rest of us
a favor:
webmaster@fairport1980.com with
that person's name and contact info
send a note to that person
and let them know about the website
Several of our site visitors
have asked
for our help in locating some
of their old
friends and the best way to
do that is to
bring everyone we can to the
website ...
and we'd love your help in
making
that happen!
- The End!
Not the end of the website
... just the
end of this email. Hey, stop
cheering!
<grin>
I hope you've enjoyed
visiting the website
as much as I've enjoyed
hearing from all
of you. This website is a
process not an
event. We're in the process
of creating
something pretty special and
given the
feedback I've received from
some of you,
it's only going to get
better.
Have a great summer!
And if you're in our
cyber-neighborhood,
stop by the site and visit us
once in a while.
Let us know how life's going
for you, huh?
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