McKinley Class of 1979 Homecoming Meeting
September 23, 2009
6:30pm – 8:00pm
Attendees:
Sheila Lyles
Damita Garner
Towaunna Rush
Juanita Thompson
Robin Reis
Lisa Watkins
Donnella Briscoe Rucker
James Grayton
Tonya Thompson
Sherri Joyner
Gina Barbour
Denise Powers-Thomas
Bonita Drake
Shaune Allen
Tywanda Purnell
The meeting was called to order by James Grayton and the prayer was delivered by
Robin Reis.
James thanked everyone for coming and giving of there time. Everyone went around the
room for brief introductions.
The last event for the Class of 1979 will be to host the McKinley Tech 2009
Homecoming. After, this event we will handing it over to the class of 1980.
The list of homecoming events will be as follows:
Basketball Game – Alumni vs Students
Tentative date: 10/27/09
Cost: $2
Tailgate Party:
@ McKinley
Tentative: 10/31 @ 3pm
Hotdogs & Burgers will be sold
School Tours
Tentative: during the Tailgate party
Homecoming Game
@ McKinley
Tentative: 10/31/09 @ 730pm
Homecoming Halloween Dance
Tentative: 10/31/09 @10pm
Venue: TBD
The Class of 1980 currently has 6 members on their committee. They will be invited to
attend our next meeting. At this meeting, they will present their ideas and give input into
the planning of the homecoming events. At this time, if we as a committee don’t agree
with them, then we will plan all events by ourselves. Currently the plan is Class of 79 is
hosting it with the class of 1980. Expenses will be paid out first then the profits will be
split between the class of 1979 and 1980. All of the money raised by the Class of 1979
will be donated to the McKinley SGA (Student Government Association). The Class of
1980 will use there money for their class reunion.
Communication:
The issue of determining how many people would be interested in attending the
homecoming events. The class of 79 already has a network of people and the word is out
about the events. We will use the Website and Facebook. The Class of 1980 will have to
handle their own communications. ACTION: An email blast will be sent out asking
people to go to the website and complete the homecoming survey. We will give
classmates 1 week to respond.
ACTION: Notice needs to be sent to the MTAA (McKinley Tech Alumni Association)
regarding our homecoming activities.
HOMECOMING HALLOWEEN DANCE:
The venue is the biggest issue. The Class of 1980 has a place and we will discuss it at the
next meeting. ACTION: All committee members are asked to call different places for
availability and costs, and forward that information to Donnella. James will contact
Honka and Donnella will call Willy K’s to check availability. The venue should be able
to hold between 200-250 people and we need to be able to sell tickets.
The dance will be a Burgundy and Gray Halloween Dance. People will be asked to wear
our school colors of burgundy and gray. They can wear costumes or just come dressed in
the colors.
Ideas for the dance:
Mr. & Mrs. Burgundy and Gray
The winners will be chosen by everyone who attends the dance. The committee will
walk thru the crowd and choose people to be in the contest. The winners will be voted on
by the sound of clapping. The winners will receive a crown.
Dance Contest
50/50 Raffle with money being donated to the McKinley SGA
Giveaways via raffle tickets
Food will be provided at the dance. Drinks will be on a cash bar.
TAILGATE PARTY:
The tailgate party will be held in the parking lot with a tentative start of 3pm. Ron and
Willie will bring the big grills. Hotdogs, sausages, burgers (turkey, veggie & beef) will
be sold. There will not be a lot of cooking going on.
We’re thinking about having a school tour during the tailgate party. But the last one took
2 hrs so we will really have to think about this idea.
ALUMNI ROOM:
The Alumni Room at Tech will be open and a reception for the Class of 1979.
Refreshments will be served.
GAME:
The game is tentatively scheduled for 10/31/09 @ 730pm. They have been having issues
with having a doctor/trainer on site for the games. We may have to try and get someone
from our class to do this function.
Alumni Football Players, Alumni Cheerleaders and Alumni Pom Pom girls will be in
attendance. And will representing the class of 1979. The cheerleaders and pom pom
girls will perform at halftime or during the game.
A suggestion was made to sell pom poms during the game.
The cost of the game is $5 but we are asking the Alumni for an additional $5 to go
directly to the SGA. We have to do it this way because the first $5 goes directly to the
school dcps (DC Public School); therefore; we want to be able to give our money directly
to the SGA and not have it go the school. It was suggested that we sell an all inclusive
ticket for the entire reunion.
The students don’t have a lot of school spirit and they don’t know the McKinley chant.
Therefore, at the game we will have to show lots of spirit and get them involved.
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Apologies go out to all that tried to call into the meeting. We were in the basement of the
library and couldn’t get signal. We will try to find an alternate location for the next
meeting. If you have any suggestions, please notify Donnella or James.
NEXT HOMECOMING MEETING:
DATE: SEPTEMBER 30, 2009
TIME: 6:30PM – 8:00PM
LOCATION: TBD