About Us
May, 2007
To our fellow York High School Alumni:
On behalf of the York High School (YHS) Alumni Association committee members, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you about your Alumni Association and its beginnings.
Certainly there have been other YHS graduates who have thought about an alumni association for our high school, maybe even wondered why we didn’t already have one or even considered trying to start one. But this did not happen until the late summer of 2002 when Taylor Hogge ’67 reminded a group of us (all YHS friends) that the 50th anniversary of the opening of York High School would be in 2004-05 and asked what were we going to do about it. I, for one, certainly had not thought about it. But I can tell you that many alumni have worked diligently for their alma mater ever since February of 2003 when it all began. From that time until the end of June, 2004, many YHS alumni, past and present faculty and parents, school board officers, and employees dedicated their time and hard work to the goal of making York High’s 50th Anniversary a spectacular three day event. York High opened its doors in the fall of 1954 to students in grades 6 through 12, and 39 seniors graduated in June of 1955. Today York County has four high schools, but York High is still the BEST!
If you were one of the fortunate ones who attended the YHS Golden Jubilee (GJ), I do not need to tell you how much planning, work, and logistics went into this event. The celebration was very successful and a total of 2,100 alumni, faculty and guests were in attendance. The GJ Committee members did not set a goal of making money on this event and for a cost of $25 you were able to attend the event, were provided memorabilia items, food, entertainment and a splendid Sunday afternoon picnic. If I remember correctly the $25 covered our actual costs except for maybe 50 cents. We certainly were not expecting the incredible profits made and were amazed and exhilarated with the outcome. We made about $30,000 and all of this occurred because we had a group of dedicated people determined to make this event succeed. So how did we do it? During the 15 months prior to the Golden Jubilee, we held fundraising events such as yard sales, memorabilia sales, and a fantastic golf tournament, to mention a few. We pounded the streets for contributions from our local businesses (some owned by former YHS alumni), including donations of food, newspaper ads, merchandise, sponsorships, and so many other things I cannot mention all of them here.
After the Golden Jubilee, there were questions regarding what we would do with the money we raised and many discussions ensued. It was decided we would establish a YHS scholarship fund for graduating seniors. After several more months of work, “The York High School Golden Jubilee Scholarship Fund” was formed, which, in partnership with Christopher Newport University (and taking advantage of available matching funds), established a $50,000 perpetual scholarship awarded yearly to a qualifying YHS graduate attending CNU. After all of these accomplishments, the remaining GJ committee members knew we had a great thing going and had the initiative and desire to stay together to do even greater things for YHS and its future.
In January of 2005, we became “The York High School Alumni Association, Inc.” and continue to raise money within our community for additional scholarships. In the past few years we have held yard sales as well as hosted alumni mixers. The alumni mixers have become such a success that we now hold a spring and fall mixer. The money raised from these fun get-togethers fund a yearly $1,000 scholarship to a graduating YHS senior and presented to the college of their choice.
We have very dedicated committee members and we ask you, as a member of the Alumni Association, to help us in any way you can to further our goals and efforts. You can volunteer to help us by giving donations of time, talent, money, food for our mixers, sponsorships (where you will be acknowledge at our mixers and on our web site) and in other ways. Those are just some suggestions and possible ideas. We are still growing and feel we already have had a strong and positive influence on our future YHS alumni. We encourage you to stay involved with your alumni association and join in the many memories we share and the camaraderie that we experience when we are together.
Best regards,
President, YHS Alumni Association
Committee Members:
Chris Williams Adams '65
Linda Boyce Banks '65
Nancy Hogge Barrick '59
Sunny Mundell Deming '79
Ralph Edlow '67
Eunice Taylor Fenwick '59
Bobby Green '60
Anita Dreier Harris '65
Mike Hedge '65
Mike Henry '70
Taylor Hogge '67
Jan Lane '73
Debbie Russell Miller '73
Sean O'Neill '81
Danny Peters '67
Brenda Wilson Sinclair '73
Evelyn Crow Smith '75
Nathan Smith '70
Vivian Hogg Smoot '55
Joyce Hopkins Wilburn '82
The YHS Alumni Assocation, Inc., as of December, 2006, is now a Non-Profit organization! We will continue to accept your generous donations to support YHS seniors as they continue toward higher education at the college, or school of their choice. If you would like to donate to this scholarship, please contact us by visiting our Contact Us link. And we thank you for your past and future support!
Read the Bylaws here.
Alumni Board
|
2008 Officers
|
| President: |
Sean O'Neil ('81) |
| Vice President: |
Nathan Smith ('70) |
| Secretary: |
Evelyn Crow Smith ('75) |
| Treasurer: |
Debbie Russell Miller ('73) |
Parlimentarian: |
Brenda Wilson Sinclair ('73) |
| Secretary: |
Evelyn Crow Smith ('75) |
| Secretary: |
Evelyn Crow Smith ('75) |
|
2008 Board of Directors
|
| Nancy Barrick ('59) |
Jan Lane ('73) |
| Linda Boyce Banks ('65) |
Debbie Russell Miller ('73) |
| Eunice Taylor Fenwick ('59) |
Vivian Hogg Smoot ('55) |
| Mary Ann Fisher Foell ('67) |
Evelyn Crow Smith ('75) |
| Nathan Smith ('70) |
Debbie Russell Miller ('73) |
| Taylor Hogge ('67) |
Joyce Hopkins Wilburn ('82) |
| |
Brenda Wilson Sinclair ('73) |
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Appointments by the President
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| Sergeant-at-arms: |
Danny Peters ('67) |
| Post Master: |
Nathan Smith ('70) |
Committee Membership
Fundraising Committee -
Yard Sale & Mixer: co-chairs: Taylor Hogge ('67) and Jan Lane ('73)
Members: Vivian Hogg Smoot, Joyce Hopkins Wilburn, Debbie Russell Miller, Brenda Wilson Sinclair, Evelyn Crow Smith
Membership Committee
Chair: Mary Ann Fisher Foell ('67)
Members: Sean O’Neill, Nathan Smith, Linda Boyce Banks
Nominating Committee
Chair: Brenda Wilson Sinclair ('73)
Members: Jan Lane, Taylor Hogge, Debbie Russell Miller, Evelyn Crow Smith
Scholarship Committee
Chair: Eunice Taylor Fenwick ('59)
Members: Joyce Hopkins Wilburn, Debbie Russell Miller, Brenda Wilson Sinclair
Webmaster
Bill Willoughby ('73)
Members: Mary Ann Fisher Foell, Jim Bowman
