December 2013 Alert

December 2013 Alert
December 13, 2013 sphsalumni

SPHS YEARBOOKS MAKE A GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT

Original SPHS Yearbooks make great Christmas presents. If your parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc., went to Southern, you can order their yearbook as a present. If the person whom the yearbook is for is not a Lifetime Member, you will need to purchase a Lifetime Membership in your relative’s name to receive their yearbook for the price of $15. Likewise, if you are interested in having your relative’s yearbook for yourself, you would need to purchase a Lifetime (or Memorial) Membership in your relative’s name. We have yearbooks dating back to the first graduating class of SPHS (Boys’ Class of 1910), but they are going fast. Lifetime Memberships and Yearbooks may be purchased online at www.sphsalumni.com To check if the person you would like to buy a yearbook for is a Lifetime Member (or if you are unsure of your relative’s graduating class), send an email to [email protected] To ensure the yearbook arrives before Christmas, please place your order by December 10, 2013. Once the excess yearbooks (ordered at the time the original books were made) are gone, there is no way to order more. So order now, before they are “Out of Stock”.

Remember, Lifetime (and Memorial) memberships allow the SPHS Alumni Association to continue to award scholarships to graduating SPHS seniors to go to college. The SPHS Alumni Association awards a total of approximately $35,000 each year to graduating seniors of Southern.

 

CLARIFICATION REGARDING THE ONLINE DIRECTORY

We have received numerous emails from Lifetime Members who did not see their name in the Online Directory on our website, www.sphsalumni.com

http://www.sphsalumni.com).The SPHS Alumni Association Online Directory is NOT a list of Lifetime Members. It is a list of SPHS graduates who have put their own information on the site (whether or not they are lifetime members). Southern graduates can click on the “Register” link to add as much or as little information about yourself, which will be publicly available.

We do not put anyone’s information on the website as we have no way to know what information people want to make public.

 

SOUTHERN BEATS NEUMANN (33-6) THANKSGIVING DAY 2013!!

At the annual Southern-Neumann Thanksgiving Day Game this year, our Rams demolished Neumann, 33-6. The score could have easily been at least 39-6, but the Rams (despite fans wanting otherwise) showed mercy with 50 seconds left in the game while they were at the 1-yard line by “taking a knee” on two downs to let the clock run out. Let’s hope this starts a trend for years to come (Neumann won most of the Thanksgiving Day games in the past). GO RAMS!! (A few photos from the game will be posted on our website soon).

 

CONGRATS TO THE CLASS OF 1973 FOR A SUCCESSFUL 40TH REUNION!!

In just four (4) months time, the Class of 1973 pulled off a very successful Reunion. It was so successful, that everyone who wanted a ticket was not able to receive one because they waited too late to request tickets, and the maximum capacity of the facility chosen was reached.

Lesson learned. Do not wait until the last minute to purchase tickets to reunions. Reunion Coordinators do the best they can trying to gauge the amount of interest from classmates. A key component in the decision to choose a particular location is the minimum number of attendees required by the location chosen. If the required minimum number of persons is not met, then someone has to come out of pocket to cover the shortfall, or cancel the reunion and make refunds. Make your ticket purchase early, and if you learn at the last minute you cannot make it, donate it to someone who’d like to attend, but it is not in their budget to do so.

 

REUNIONS

Remember that 2014 is the “5th year” and “10th year” anniversary for graduating classes ending in “4” and “9”. The time to start planning for your Reunion in 2014 is now. If your class ends in “4” or “9”, and you have not already begun to plan for your reunion, the time to start is NOW. Of course, classes are encouraged to have reunions as often as they wish.

The following Graduating Classes have information posted about Reunions on our website:

Classes of January and June 1964 – 50th Reunion – October 10, 2014, 7pm

Class of 1974 – 40th Reunion – Fall 2014 – Planning Underway

Classes of 1981 thru 1987 (hosted by Class of 1984) – Fall 2014 – Planning Underway

Visit our website (www.sphsalumni.com) for details and contact information for these Reunions. PLEASE ADHERE TO THE DEADLINE DATES FOR PAYMENT IN THE REUNION ANNOUNCEMENTS. It is important that you make payment by the deadline date as many event locations require as exact a count as possible, two to three weeks in advance of the event.

If you have a scheduled reunion which is not listed above, please let us know the details of your Class Reunion (include the coordinator’s contact information) by sending an email to [email protected]. We will post your Class Reunion on our website under the “Events and Reunions” link.

If your Class Reunion details are not posted within seven (7) days of your request (or the details posted require correction), please call the office at 215-468-3377 or email [email protected]. Thank you.

 

SAVE THE DATES!!!

Please mark the following dates on your 2014 calendars:

Annual Hall of Fame Banquet – April 27, 2014

South Jersey Annual Brunch – September 14, 2014

Annual Award of Excellence Lunch – November 5, 2014

Additional details for the above events with be forthcoming in the January 2013 email alert.

 

 

SOUTHERN’S ARCHIVES ROOM – A GREAT RESOURCE

Thanks to the hard work of Archives Chair, Marc Adelman, and others, Southern’s Archives Room has been organized. It has proven to be a valuable resource for genealogy projects, an academic thesis, study in photography, and overall nostalgia for those who have visited the Archives Room at Southern.

The Archives Room contains yearbooks going back to the first graduating class for Boys in 1910. Although Southern’s Girls Classes started in 1918, the first Girls’ Class Yearbook was not published until 1940. Commencement booklets from 1910 are also available for viewing and/or copying in the Archives Room.

Archives Chair, Marc Adelman, is usually in the Archives room on Tuesdays, between 2 and 5pm. If you wish to visit the Archives Room, please contact Mr. Adelman at [email protected] to make an appointment to visit the Archives Room. A suggested donation of $10 is requested of visitors to the Archives Room.

 

UPDATE ON THE MERGER OF SOUTHERN AND BOK

For those of you who did not know, Edward J. Bok High School (“Bok”) was closed at the end of the 2012-2013 school year. The students from Bok now attend Southern. Because Bok was a vocational/trade high school, Southern now has a vocational/trade school component.

As of this writing, we are happy to report that things continue to run smoothly with the transition.

No worries, our Alma Mater will keep the name “South Philadelphia High School” (aka “Southern.”). The SPHS Alumni Association will have it no other way.

 

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIPS AS GIFT

Christmas is just around the corner. Lifetime (or Memorial) Memberships make a great gift for the Southern graduate who has not yet become a Lifetime Member. Perhaps your mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, or other relative graduated from Southern. Surprise them for Christmas (or on their birthday or anniversary) with a gift of a lifetime – a Lifetime Membership. Lifetime Memberships may be conveniently purchased online at www.sphsalumni.com for the one-time cost of just $25 (please indicate the name of the SPHS graduate and new Lifetime Member in the box for Lifetime Member’s name. Thank you.). You can also ask your relative to see if he or she has their yearbook, and if not, surprise them by purchasing their yearbook at the price of just $15. A Lifetime (or Memorial) Membership for the person photographed in the yearbook is required to be eligible to receive the yearbook.

 

SPHS Alumni Association

2101 S. Broad Street

Philadelphia, PA 19148

(215) 468-3377

Visit us online at www.sphsalumni.com

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