To: Wantagh Board of Education

From: Glenn Strachan

Mindye Kahn-Brunner
Joe Donahue
Charles Blatt
Date: 7 October 2009
RE: Wantagh Multi-Year Reunion August 7th, 2010

This correspondence is intended to present the overall plan for the WHS Multi-Year
Reunion 2010. I will break it into two pieces – concept and logistics.

CONCEPT

The one thing which binds an estimated 17,000 graduates of Wantagh High School is the
building itself. We could, as a group, meet somewhere else, but the inherent value of
using the high school as a venue for this event is that it works on so many different
levels, and any other venue would provide little value to the shared vision which Mindye
and I have for this event. What we saw nine years ago was quite unique – people walking
through the hallways recalling memories of what they did “back in the day” in a
particular location within the building, gymnasium and back fields.

The power of a multi-year reunion which brings back not only students, but teachers,
from the opening of the school through graduates of 2010 should not be underestimated.
As an example, we saw graduates from the class of 1960 able to talk to people from years
before and after – people who they knew back in school but also people who would not
be invited to the Class of 1960 reunion. We saw people from neighborhoods throughout
Wantagh finding each other again and swapping memories. The Multi-Year Reunion in
2000 also marked the beginning of the Virtual Memorial with people adding names of
deceased classmates which was then translated into a very powerful web presentation
managed today by Mindye Kahn-Brunner.

We started the planning process for this event nearly 9 months ago when we sought, and
seemingly received, approval to reprise our event. This time we have access to a far
greater array of social media tools, managed by me, to raise the awareness of people to
this event. Thus far a website dedicated to this event has been created; a Facebook page
similarly dedicated to the event; Facebook pages for each class; and the reunion event has
already been announced on Classmates.com where over 7,000 Wantagh High School
graduates are registered. In short, I am responsible for using the power of social media to
make people aware of this event, while Mindye is the heart of the operation and thus far
over 50 people have offered to volunteer their services to help make the event a success.

LOGISTICS

To date we have over 250 people who have committed to coming from all points in the
USA to attend this event. Statistically I believe that our event would hold some appeal to
approximately 68% of the people I can access via social media. Within that group I
believe that no more than 68% will attend the event. So let’s estimate that I have access
to 10,000 people which means 6,800 people would find this event interesting. Of that
number 4,600 would likely decide to attend the event which means we may attract as
many as 6,118 people if we include a spouse and some family members for 33% of the
attendees. The event will last for 6 hours and there will never be a moment in time when
all 6,118 people are present.

There is another way to view who will be attending this event. In 2000 we had very few
attendees who graduated in the 1990’s – only a handful to be exact. The actual peak year
for attendees was the Class of 1975 who happened to be celebrating their 25th anniversary
event. We had people attend from the very first graduating class trailing off at about
1986. I think we will attract the same demographic, however fewer people from the
1950’s & 60’s will be able to attend, so an educated guess is that we will attract the years
between 1968 and 1999. The Class of 1985 will be celebrating its 25th anniversary and
they have been working with me to coordinate their event with the Multi-Year Reunion.
Their class size is not nearly as large as the Class of 1975 but they do tend to be more
connected to social media which means a greater percentage of their class will attend
their own reunion as well as the Multi-Year Reunion if we do coordinate our dates.

I know that this is anecdotal information, at best, but I submit it because I have managed
various events, and also have a background in statistical analysis. It is important for us to
have a clear concept of the audience we might attract for such an event. The goodness
about holding this event is that the people making a decision to attend this event do so
because they wish to reconnect with people from their childhood. This event will permit
those people to do just that – reconnect.

Finally, it is important to note that it is unlikely that all the people will ever be onsite at
one time. People will begin to show up for the event at around noon may stay for a
couple of hours and then leave. As people leave others will come. I cannot estimate an
absolute number of people who will be onsite at any given time but I imagine the peak
attendance will come between 3:00 and 4:00pm when we plan to have our entertainment
and “give aways.”

SECURITY

Security was not an issue at the last event and I do not expect it to be this time despite the
possibility of a larger crowd. We will deploy hall monitors as we did last time and restrict
the hallways which can be accessed within the school itself. We can also hire additional
security to move throughout the crowd, but since there will be no alcohol or smoking, I
do not believe that we will require much security at all. We must remember that we are
dealing with people who are coming to an event out of a sense of community and a desire
to see people they used to know when they went to Wantagh High School, Junior High
School or any of the primary schools in Wantagh.
PORTABLE SANITATION UNITS

Because of the size of this event we will rent the requisite number of “Port-o-potties” to
supplement the rest rooms which will be available to us within the school itself.

PARKING

We agree that parking was an issue 10 years ago; however we did hire Auxiliary Police to
manage the school parking lot and the intersection of Wantagh and Beltagh Avenues. It is
true that people parked in the Forest Lake neighborhoods and walked over the footbridge
to attend the event. It is apparently true that people parked on Wantagh Avenue and
within the adjacent streets. This time we can do a number of things differently.

1. Sunrise Highway Parking Shuttle

a. We can inform people that they can park in the LIRR parking on Saturday
and then be shuttled to and from the event on a bus which will be rented
for the event.
b. We can work with Forest Lake School and ask permission to allow
attendees to park in their parking lot during the event.
c. We can work with the Wantagh School as well to use some of their
parking on Saturday well.

We clearly recognize that parking will be an issue for this event and we will inform all
attendees about the need to park on Sunrise Highway and the other issues associated with
minimizing the parking issues. I am certain that there will be a positive economic effect
for Wantagh that weekend given the number of people who will be visiting the town. We
can work together with some of the business and civic associations to make them aware
of the event and ask for their support.

FOOD AND CONCESSIONS

We plan to bring in portable food vendors who will serve a variety of foods. Last time we
had free drinks and a number of groups providing food, including the parents who
support the school football team who sold hot dogs and hamburgers. Logistically we can
locate food concessions throughout the paved area of the back side of the school facility.
I foresee asking food vendors to give back 5% of their take as a donation to a scholarship
fund.

ENTERTAINMENT

We would like to have access to the gymnasium as a place where we can have
entertainment and out give away event which will include airline tickets, hotel stays,
consumer items, and coupons for Long Island based businesses. Since approximately
50% of those who will likely attend this event still live on or near Long Island, this would
serve as a kind of economic stimulus for Wantagh and Long Island based businesses.
INCLEMENT WEATHER AND PRICING

We will pray for the best weather, hope that it does prevail, but also be prepared, as well
as we can be, for the worst conditions. We can clearly state that if it rains the event may
be canceled, but people making a decision to fly across the country or from overseas
would want to be certain that the event was going to take place before committing
themselves to attend. We can commit to renting a very large tent, in case it did rain,
which is similar to what was done when I attended reunion events last year at Harvard
University. Clearly if we attract a large crowd we may not have the means to house all of
them if it rains. I believe that people will then make a decision to leave the event if the
conditions are such that between the tent, and being inside the school, do not provide a
satisfactory experience.

As for the event pricing, if we charge $15-20 per head and 2,000 people attend the event
that would provide us with $30,000-$40,000 to cover all the expenses. This is minus the
sponsorships we would receive from a select number of companies. We are trying to keep
the cost of attendance much lower than you find when commercial operations run a
reunion event. All tickets will be purchased online. I foresee having two computers at the
front entryway where people who do show up at the last minute are able to pay online
and receive a ticket to enter the event.

I do believe that the simplest approach to a reunion event is one which provides people
with the greatest amount of talking time – one on one – and that is how this event will be
presented online once we have a firm commitment to moving forward with this event..

If you have other issues which concern you, please let me know and I will try to respond
to them as well. I believe that this event will be as successful as the event in 2000.

COMMENTS FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE COMMITTED TO ATTENDING

Frawley, Brian
07/26/2009 (1 guest)
Yes. The last time was such a good time Louise and I wouldn't miss this one.

Kesten, Richard
07/26/2009 (1 guest)
Yes. This will be my first reunion since graduating in 1970, can't wait to see how we all
have changed in 40 years !

Lafrosia, Lori
07/26/2009 (2 guests)
Yes. Was a great last time... can't wait.. Lori

Meyer, William.B
08/03/2009 (0 guests)
Yes. I'm Looking To Attending the Reunion. Thanks, William Meyer
Moon, Linda
07/31/2009 (1 guest)
Yes. Sounds like it will be fun Thank you to Glenn and Mindy for organizing event

Spoel, Lia
07/26/2009 (0 guests)
Yes. Hi Glenn It looks like you have taken on a big one. After having done so much
work on the class of 1962 40th, I can only imagine the magnitude of taking on all of these
classes. See you there. Lia

Thomson, James
07/26/2009 (1 guest)
Yes. Thanks for setting up something, looking forward to it.

Tracey, Steve
07/26/2009 (0 guests)
Yes. I missed the last one but I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone and catching
up.