‘Time is short and people want to reconnect’
Class reunions are experiencing post-pandemic surge in popularity
Nick Bax, dean of students at Alan B. Shepard High School, has a theory about the large turnout this year for the all-class alumni picnic, which debuted in its new location this year — the school grounds in Palos Heights.
“I do believe after talking to several of the alums this summer that people do want to reconnect face-to-face and miss those interactions,” he said. “Though I don’t have any data to back it up, I think the pandemic’s effect has added to the increased participation in reunions and therefore the need for people to gather.”
Between 200 and 300 people came out to the two-day event, which featured the picnic on a Saturday and a meet and greet and tour led by Bax, a former football and track coach, the previous day.
Edmond Chapman, class of 1999 and one of the event’s organizers, was thrilled to be there.
“It was a great moment for me to see all the people coming out of the building and hearing all the chitter chatter about all of the upgrades,” he said. “We had people from the class of 1979 to class of 2022. … A couple of ladies were from the classes of 1979 and ’80.”
Chapman, who lives in South Carolina, said he believes he’s one of the few people to travel for the event. “But there were a lot of people who were upset that they didn’t hear about it,” he said. “Next year it’s probably going to be twice as many because all of the people reaching out to us asking when we were going to do the next one. I designed the shirts, and they’ve already contacted me about buying a shirt for next year.”
At Victor J. Andrew High School’s combined reunion for the classes of 1980 to 1985, the homecoming party sold out all 250 tickets. “We invited the classes of 1980 to 1985, the original Thunderbolts. We were the first freshman class that went four years,” said Bob Ciesla, senior class president for the class of 1983.
Co-organizer Vicki Fundator Crawford, also of the class of 1983, said classmates who gathered to sing during a memorial service for their former choir director wanted to have a larger get-together because they didn’t have a reunion during the pandemic.
They began by inviting 1983 graduates to the party, giving them a “running start” to join because it was their 40th reunion for the school in Tinley Park. “We had sold out in a matter of weeks and then had to wait-list people,” Crawford said. “It was a good problem to have.”
Alumni came from as far away as Honolulu, Alaska, Tennessee, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
“I got the sense … maybe there was a pent-up energy wanting to reconnect following the pandemic,” Crawford speculated. “We’re getting older. We’ve heard some sad stories. I think between our five classes we’ve lost 130 people. That’s struck people hard.
We had a memorial service for someone from the class of ‘83 on the day of the reunion. You start realizing time is short and people want to reconnect.”
“We lost someone that same weekend from the class of 1985,” Ciesla added. “I’m not saying that pumped up attendance, but it gets people to think and value friendships because time is short.”
For this year’s event, the organizers splashed the news on social media and Ciesla used a search service to find people who were