Message from the President
After 6 months, I feel like I'm just getting comfortable with the role as Board President. The Board and the Association are in a transition state, as we naturally rotate Board members and build out some organizational and infrastructure pieces that will allow us to continue and improve on the significant accomplishments you have become accustomed to by previous leadership (Thanks, Lori!).
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Dave ('78)
Sally (Toutant) ('79)
Campbell
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The School continues to forge ahead, improving the delivery of academic excellence, each and every term, as you'll read ahead. Despite the numerous challenges of public education, Waggener is recognized nationally as a Leader - with innovative leadership supported by committed and dedicated staff.
In my opinion, the future is bright for Waggener and your Alumni Association.
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Association Website - the quick story
Admittedly, this is kinda my baby. I originally got involved with WHSAA for the tech stuff, and primarily to 'update' the website. I soon learned the 'website' is also a member management system, a donation system, and calendaring system, So I did my homework and made sure I chose a system that could do flexible and modern publishing and also handle those other functions. For those that care, I went with hosted Wordpress and a member management plug-in.
Thanks to everyone who helped transition their account to the new system when asked.
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Newest Website Feature - 65 Graduating Classes Senior Picture flipbooks and Class Lists!
Part of the effort to build out some useful infrastructure was to scan the Senior pictures from all 65 years of Waggener Lairs and use some OCR+ChatGPT-magic to create class lists for every class. Definitely fun to scroll through, but will also be a useful resource for Class Coordinators.
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What's a Class Coordinator?
In an effort to extend the WHSAA outreach to every single Waggener Alumni, it is critical that we have current contact information for every single alumnus. Simple math puts that number at well over 12,000 persons.
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A Class Coordinator (CC) is one or two people from every class that helps with the coordination of contact info for each of their classmates. We'll provide the complete Class List, the senior pictures, and even some previous contact info from a 2002 Alumni Directory (also scanned and OCRed), and the CCs start connecting with everyone in their graduating class, through any means at their disposal. A managed spreadsheet will be shared with each CC and together we will connect with every single WHS graduate.
If you would like to be a Class Coordinator, or know someone who could or should be, please let us know!
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Classes of '64/'65 raise $10K for scholarships
BIG shout-out to the classes of 1964/65 who raised over $10,000 for WHSAA Scholarships at their combined class reunion held this past November. WHSAA offers several scholarships each year to graduating seniors. Here are last year's recipients.
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Alumni Night at Homecoming 2024
Around 25 Alumni enjoyed a tailgate meal in the courtyard before the 2024 Homecoming Game. Pictured are Sally Campbell (Toutant) '79, Lucie Mohr (Toutant) '77, Lyn Lage (Briggs) '76, Scott Terry '76, Russell Forseth '72, Nina Yussman '75, Terry Dillard '73, Mike Mansfield '72.
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Retiring Members - After many years of dedicated service to WHSAA, especially during difficult years, several members are retiring. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts.
Lori Cooper-Brown ('90)
Butch Riley ('64)
Wally Oyler ('65)
Lisa Marcellino ('76)
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New Members - We've added 2 new Board members in recent months, and very excited to have them. Please help welcome...
Tom Frentz (Class of 1969)
Rob King (Class of 1968)
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New Emeritus Members - WHSAA Emeritus Board is made up of esteemed former Board members whose dedication and contributions are recognized, and whose wisdom and guidance is sought in an advisory capacity. The following have been elected to the WHSAA Emeritus Board:
Lori Cooper Brown ('90)
Butch Riley ('64)
Wally Oyler ('65)
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We Need Board Members!
Serving on the WHSAA Board is a great way to honor a beloved institution, serve your fellow classmates, and ensure Waggener students have resources they need to succeed.
We are in an active recruiting period, and are particularly interested in hearing from alumni that represent more recent decades and those from diverse backgrounds.
There are many roles to be filled on a working Board, your skills and energy won't be put to waste!
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TOP Recognition for Waggener Academies
There are 3 Model Academies (as evaluated by the NCAC) in the state of Kentucky - they are all 3 at 330 S. Hubbards Lane. More details...
Waggener Staff receives Exemplary Award
At the national NCAC conference in November, Waggener staff received the Exemplary High School Leadership Team Award.
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State Of The School - Dr. Sarah Hitchings
Principal Hitchings kindly presented the State Of The School to the WHSAA Board in November and it is inspiring to see so much progress, organization, and commitment to purpose. All measured outcomes and engagement indicators are increasing, and the academic programs continue to deliver on their mission to make all Waggener students 'College and Career Ready'. Use the button to the left to review the details.
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Waggener Hall Of Fame 2025
Nominations for the Waggener Hall Of Fame will begin in January - stay tuned for the details on the nomination process.
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So many great things going on at Waggener High School - I encourage you to re-familiarize yourself with old Red & Gray. Many resources available on our About Waggener page.
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Hand-drawn inside a 1968 Lair we have in the Alumni Room. | |
Who this newsletter was sent to | |
The membership of 'the Alumni Association' (WHSAA, Inc.) is separate from the subscribed emails to this newsletter. There were 112 email addresses of current WHSAA Members that were not subscribed to this newsletter, so liberty was taken to add those email addresses to this newsletter list, under the assumption that if you are a WHSAA member, you'd like to receive this newsletter.
On that note, receiving this newsletter does not necessarily mean that you are a WHSAA member. To check your WHSAA membership, or to join, click below.
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