LEE HOMECOMING 2003
ONLY A WEEK AWAY!!!
INDEX TO FOLLOWING INFO:
TAILGATE PARTY
FOOD CHALLENGE
MEDIA
BREAKFAST
FAMILEE
PICTURES
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL WEB SITE INFORMATION http://www.hsv.k12.al..us/schools/high/lhs/
AFTER GAME GET TOGETHER (ADDITIONAL LOCATIONS)
The first order of business must be an acknowledgement to all of our Lee Grads currently in service. Several of the email responses have been from grads that are on active duty overseas. These replies have covered several years of the graduating classes. When you receive this email, please respond back with a picture and current location and year of graduation, if possible. Remember…. no matter where you are you are not forgotten. There are over 3,000 Lee High graduates wishing you Godspeed and safe passage home.
TAILGATE PARTY UPDATE
Several classmates have indicated they will travel to Huntsville in their Travel Homes. Arrangements have been made for the gates of Milton Frank Stadium parking lot to be opened at noon. If you want to drive in to set up to park for the Tailgate Party and game it will be open. No overnight parking is allowed on City School property.
If anyone needs information on any overnight parking site, please let me know and I will help to identify locations.
Many questions have come in concerning food and preparation. This event is being conducted in the fashion of any other Tail Gate Party with the exception of alcohol which is prohibited on School property. Milton Frank is under the jurisdiction of the City of Huntsville Schools. If it were just the City of Huntsville property an ‘Event’ liquor permit could be requested through the City Council, but it is School property.
THE CHALLENGE HAS BEEN MADE!! Food …..there have been responses of burgers, hot dogs, a bucket of chicken and we might see some serious Bar B Q. One of the classmates laid out a challenge. Seems like he regularly attends Tail Gate functions (won’t name the university and NFL teams he supports, that could be a war in itself)! Believes he has it down to a fine art!! Thinks everyone should make the High School Homecoming the new turf. Be the first to show the current students ‘how it is done’. Kind of a college prep for Tail Gating. Of course we must take into account he is from one of the ‘younger’ classes and is concerned that the ‘old fogies’ might not be able to ‘cut the mustard’! Somebody needs to take him up on his challenge!!
Media?? To document this challenge Channel 19 and 31 will be there. Mike Easterling, a Lee High Grad, is with the Sports Department of the Huntsville Times, he will be there to ‘review’ the fixings. Channel 31 is making this their ‘Game of the Week’. Want to strut your stuff?? This is the first year and the class that comes out on top will be the one to beat next year!! Could it be your class? (As a note the Media is curious about attendance. They say High School games have such low attendance, could we make a difference? Yes. As Tommy’s clip from the Times last week indicated a lot has changed, but some things never change. The ‘turf’ wars still exist with the other High Schools. Lee High can have the most active Alumni Homecoming and could make it an ‘Over the Top’ event with your attendance!)
BREAKFAST SATURDAY MORNING. Still on for 8 AM. ALL GRADUATING CLASSES ARE WELCOME. It will be a light breakfast of donuts, muffins and coffee. Sodas, bottled water and juice are available out of the vending machines. Dr. Harry Smith, Principal and Staff & Faculty are planning a warm welcome. Not a ‘formal’ agenda, but a chance to catch up on Current Events of the School and to visit the changes to the building (if you are from some of the first graduating classes, there are many changes, the School has really grown). THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR THE BREAKFAST. Just come, mingle and visit.
FAMILEE!!! The Breakfast should be interesting. We have Lee graduate class members attending with their children that graduated from Lee! We have Lee grads attending with their children that are currently attending Lee! The tradition of attendance carries on. This is what makes these events so special. It re-enforces the need for an organized Alumni Association. A part of each and every one of us is a thread that has woven the fabric of Lee. Some of our children and soon to be grand children will attend and graduate from Lee. It is up to us to document the history of Lee.
PICTURES Many of you have offered pictures to share. If you bring the pictures to the Breakfast on Saturday we will scan them to a computer. This will be the perfect way to share them with the School plus have them in a format that can be emailed to anyone for the asking. Please bring in any pictures or memorabilia you have that can be scanned.
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION It is official. The School has set up an account for the Lee High Alumni Association. This eliminates the need to set up a non profit for the organization but still maintains the Tax Deductible status for any donations. It also makes it simpler to funnel all donations through the School, earmarked as an Alumni donation. The Association needs officers. Please volunteer to become a part of the organizational Team. Volunteer to be an Officer or Advisor.
Did you know?? Toyota donated $10,000 to Johnson High? It is reported Hampton Cove had a donation drive and started this school year with $13,000 in their coffers. Grissom and Huntsville would not share their totals. Didn’t even get a response back from Butler.
Think about it. There are over 3,000 grads from Lee. If each grad donated just $20 it would be phenomenal! What are donations for?? School supplies and hopefully school instructional equipment (class Responders are a high priority). Did you know a projector ‘bulb’ costs over $400 and at least 4 of the classes’ use them for daily instruction? The toner cartridges for their copiers cost $158 a piece. The copier requires 4 cartridges at a time. We are approaching the end of the year. Put Lee on the list of ‘end of the year’ donations for your next year’s taxes.
Don’t want to dip into your pocket? How about your old computer or digital camera (must be in working condition)? The bulk of the schools computers are 386/Pentium II’s upgraded to the hilt. These are ‘old, old’ machines. Huntsville City system is using XP. The bulk of Lee’s computers do not even have enough memory to load XP on! Is your computer 3 or 4 years old and you are considering upgrading? How about donating it. We will even pick it up and get it to the school! The school is the only outlet for many of Lee’s students to access any instructional info off the net. Their classes are limited in time, so it proves to be prohibitive to download anything within a class period.
Lee has a magnet program in Photography that needs cameras. Have you recently upgraded your digital camera and have your old one in the closet? How about donating it?
But most of all Lee needs your presence. Your visibility. Lee has had 40 years of graduating classes without representation through an Alumni Association. Be a part of the change. Load up the truck for the Tail Gate Party; bring a jacket for the game. Come and visit the School on Saturday morning. Out of town and can’t come? Share a small donation to the school in your name and Class Year. Lee High School 606 Forrest Circle Huntsville, AL 35811 marking it as an Alumni donation
Let’s see what class has the best response.
SCHOOL WEBSITE The official School website (link) http://www.hsv.k12.al..us/schools/high/lhs/ has made some changes. The ‘Alumni’ link now has an opening page for ALL classes to post information concerning any events or reunions that are planned. The School will also ‘link’ its site to any class that wants to include their Class Website. Hopefully this will encourage more classes to share their memories with all of the other graduating classes. An excellent example of this has been set by Tommy Towery, creator/administrator of the 64-65-66 site. The most frequent comment in all the responses to the homecoming emails has been ‘where do we post information about our classes?’ Dr. Smith and Mrs. McAmis have made this available to all classes for this exposure through the School website.
Dr. Smith has recently contracted with an organization that compiles Alumni information into booklet form, covering all graduating classes. Its creation is of no cost to the school, but will be sold individually to any graduate that wants to purchase one. More information about the completion and sale of the booklet will be on the Alumni Website in the future. Dr. Smith has been told it will take about six months to compile this information by the company.
AFTER GAME GET TOGETHER There has been a big response by class mates wanting to find somewhere to get together after the game. Zesto’s has limited seating (50) and by all accounts will be jam packed. I started looking for other places. The key was it had to be open AFTER 10 pm for after the game. Most restaurants close at 11 and stop seating at 10. And I called everywhere.
There are two solutions. TGI Friday’s stays open the latest (2 AM) but will not take days in advance reservations. But if on the night of the event a group will call AN HOUR IN ADVANCE and tell them this is the Lee High AFTER GAME group, they will make arrangements to get you seated ASAP. The Manager said he could handle a group of up to 30, no more.
O’Charley’s on University Drive has really come through. But I will HAVE TO GET a response in to make these arrangements. O’Charley’s on University Drive closes at 11 and stops seating at 10:30. If we make arrangements now, the Manager has said she will keep the restaurant open AFTER THE GAME, full service from the menu/bar services available, cost of food or bar to be paid by each individual, if we have enough responses. She can seat up to 250, MUST HAVE NEAR CAPACITY BUT MUST KNOW IN ADVANCE TO KEEP HER STAFF ON AFTER HOURS. Do any of the Classes want to use this offer? If so please email me with the details ASAP. I will call to confirm or cancel by Tuesday of this week.
Linda Johnson
Class of 65
leehomecoming@bellsouth.net
