About this site Page for WHS

Introduction
This page provides background information about this site to describe what it's all about. Where did it come from? Who's behind it? What's its purpose?

Since I'm the guy behind this noble experiment, I suppose it would be a good idea to start by telling you who I am. Like you didn't already know my name, address, and phone number emblazoned across the bottom of each page. Hello Class of 1951, I'm Ed Crowley and I plead guilty as charged. You might recognize me as the young, good-looking guy on the left, which is how I looked in 1951. In the past fifty years I've matured into your average 67-year-old senior citizen and look like the guy on the right, a lot heavier, mostly gray, thinning on top, and looking for someone to listen to me.

"Johnnie Paycheck"

       It all started when I received the 50th Reunion announcement from Phyllis O'Neil and thought about the problems the committee has in locating former students. It's not an easy task. That's when I got the idea of a web site for the Class of 1951 to serve as a home base that can be reached anytime, from anywhere, by anyone.
       It just so happens that I am a computer hacker who is involved with freelance web page design and publishing. I also teach a web page design course in the Adult Continuing Education program out here in Marlboro, MA. To keep my skills sharp I look for opportunities to practice my trade. After retiring, many seniors look for new things to do that offer them a challenge and, at the same time keep their minds sharp. Many seniors fulfill these needs by investing in a PC and head out into cyberspace to expand their horizons. They often enlist the help of their grandchildren to get them started surfing the web. I wonder how many members of the class of 1951, have PCs and surf the web looking to fill their free time by learning new things. I know several already that I've been in touch with via Email. One has even designed and published her web site.
       If this is true, then I wondered, if there was a web site that they could call their own, would my classmates be interested in visiting and interacting with one another via this web site? One way to find out was to get one started, and see what happens. That's just what I did. Now for some more details of the purpose of this web site.
Purpose of the Web Site
       The web site provides a tool that permits any member of the Class of 1951 to communicate and interact with the rest of the class. All that's required is a modest PC (or Mac) system and a connection to an internet service provider (ISP -- AOL for example). The Class of 1951 web site (let's call it WHS1951 from here on) harnesses the power of the internet to allow us all to collaborate in any way we desire. Once we get established and class members begin to participate in discussions, the site's content will bloom and flourish. Once this happens the number of participants will multiply as will the amount of interactions. This means more stuff for people to view and comment on, which in turn means even more visitors.
       These interactive (not real time) discussions will introduce ideas for new topics, which generate the need for additional pages to be added to the site. It's anticipated also that some of these discussions will include graphic images and sounds This means the site grows with the addition of image and sound files. My job as site author, designer, and publisher is to capture, store, and classify the information in the form of web pages as well as design a navigation scheme to make it simple for visitors to move about the site to locate and view all these snippets of information for their enjoyment.
       Obviously, the success of such a venture depends on the cooperative effort of all members of the class to contribute. I can only get you started. It's up to all you WHS1951ers out there to lend a hand. I'll give it a while. If it prospers, I'll continue. If it dies a silent death, I'll just clean up my ISP disk files, close shop, and go elsewhere.
       Now I'd like to chat a bit about structure and organization.
Structure and Organization

Home Page
      The site employs a hierarchical tree structure that begins with a HOME page at the top of the tree. In addition to the HOME page there are four other pages named to identify their subject matter content, they are:

About this site

Roster

Reunions

Memories

Each major page has a link "Button" on the home page, including the Home page itself. Clicking on any one of the five buttons whisks you to that specific page. Besides the buttons, the Home page contains a brief introductory paragraph that describes the purpose of the site for new comers. It may also contain several "named" links to take you to other interesting spots to visit and view. I expect this list of miscellaneous links to expand as the site evolves.
About this site
      You are reading this page now.
Roster
      The Class Roster page is the entry point for looking for information about all your classmates. It contains a link to a form that provides the mechanism for registering. Complete the form and it automatically gets sent to the site author who will use your personal data information to create your entry in the Class of 1951 Roster. There is also a link here that takes you to the roster itself which alphabetically lists all the students who responded and includes information like; name, address, phone number, Email address, and a WWW address, if you happen to have a personal or business Web Site. Also included may be brief comments that the student wishes to pass along to their old classmates (I hate that word old).
NOTE: When registering, the student may opt to omit phone number and/or address. That's perfectly acceptable. Supply as much or as little as you wish. Some folks are skeptical about putting their personal data out in cyberspace and prefer to refrain from supplying certain information that can be picked up by anyone with access to the Internet. The downside of not including address information is that your classmates have no way to locate or contact you.

Reunions
      The Reunions page is the entry point for getting to information about all class reunions: past, present, and future. It contains links to information like; announcements of reunions, reunion group photos, individual photos from reunions, and any other kind of stuff that relates to what happened at a specific reunion. What ends up here will primarily be a function of what individual students provide. Essentially, it's a collection point for sharing reunion trivia with your classmates.
Memories
      Finally, we have the Memories page, the top-level page to hundreds of memories out there in cyberspace that describe the Class of 1951 - past, present, and future. What these memories are and what form they may take will be defined by information supplied by members of WHS1951 who visit the site.
      We all have memories of our high school days, some happy, some sad, some funny, some bad. Often we recall and discuss these memories with our relatives and friends. Perhaps we may wish to share them with our classmates. Some topics that might be candidates are:

Favorite teacher

Least favorite teacher

Best friends

Sports

Toughest subject

Embarrassing moments

Funny stories

Saddest moments.

Many others will surface as former members of WHS1951 send in their ideas.
       These memories take three major forms: written word, photos, and sound. All three can be stored on the web site and accessed by all visitors. It is also possible that the memories may be stored on an external web site. In those cases only a link to the other site is required here. The site author will collect and classify all these anecdotes, photos, sounds, and external links so that they are easily accessible. Essentially, each snippet of information will be associated with a named link. The links can be easily reached from the Memories page.
      We all have old photos packed away somewhere that we take out now and then to reminisce about the good old days. Along with the photos come stories about people and events. What needs to happen is for the members of WHS1951 to send me these photos and stories to be shared with their classmates. In a nutshell, the Memories page is all about sharing our lives with old friends.
The Future
      Who knows? At my age, I can't say for sure how long I'll be around to oversee the care and feeding of the site. One of the major reasons I even bother with this stuff is to keep the old brain cells alive. A good friend of mine at Digital once remarked that the brain is a muscle and requires exercise or it loses it's ability to function. So if you don't use it, you lose it.

Home | About this site | Roster | Reunions | Memories