Ridgewood High School Alumni Association Hosted its Second-ever Homecoming Weekend

photos courtesy of Ridgewood High School Alumni Association

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, this past weekend, the Ridgewood High School Alumni Association (RHSAA) hosted its second-ever Homecoming weekend, a three-day event featuring a Friday night lights football game and pub crawl, a Saturday afternoon front lawn party with live band and school tours, a Saturday afternoon ‘Chalk Talk’ hosted by Willie Geist (RHS ’93) with his former teammates and coaches from the 1991 State Championship football team, and finally, a Sunday morning inspirational talk and yoga session with Jim Stroker (RHS ’70).

Five different classes — ‘81, ‘90, ‘91, ‘96, and ‘00 — celebrated their own Saturday night reunion parties in the Ridgewood area. It was great to welcome back so many alumni on campus this past weekend.

With all this new excitement around Homecoming Weekend and RHS, I’d like to take a minute to remind our alumni how we got here. In 2014, Dr. Thomas Gorman (RHS ‘87) and a small group of RHS alumni endeavored to take a prep school or college-like approach to our alumni – both local and far away – creating an official 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, The Ridgewood High School Alumni Association, with the following mission:

To celebrate and promote the collective experiences unique to the Ridgewood High School community and to strengthen a Tradition of Excellence

This group of dedicated alumni recognized an incredible affinity fellow alumni have for their alma mater. Building on this early vision, the RHSAA has evolved and expanded in multiple ways, but always guided by four strategic priorities:

Enhancing the overall student experience
Encouraging participation in alumni sponsored programs
Strengthening the connection between alumni and the Ridgewood High School community
Facilitating an active and dynamic alumni network

We are proud of what we’ve accomplished in seven short years.  In addition to Homecoming Weekend, the RHSAA:

Honors Distinguished Alumni at a biennial celebration
Connects RHS students with alumni for career mentoring and networking opportunities through our RAX Program (Alumni eXternship Program) and our Alumni Career Speaker Series
Provides Financial Gifts to RHS including last year’s historic $635,000 donation from Dave Duffield (RHS ’58) under the Duffield STEAM Initiative to provide refurbishment and new equipment for the Makerspace Lab, the TV Studio, and the Culinary Lab.

The RHSAA is a 100% volunteer, non-profit organization.  As we turn our sights to bringing RHSAA to greater heights, fundraising has become our primary focus.  Our main goal is to get RHSAA on very solid financial footing so we can operate indefinitely and invest in programs and infrastructure which help our current and future alumni.  Unrestricted gifts of any size will help us do just that.

If you’d like to make an unrestricted gift of any size, I invite you to visit our Giving page:

https://www.rhsalumniassociation.org/donate.php

If you are interested in learning more about the large and small capital project needs of RHS, I invite you to contact me directly.

As we enter this Fall season, I want to wish you and your family health and happiness.  Go Maroons!

Sincerely,

Bill McCabe (RHS ’89)
President, RHSAA

Contact: williammccabe@hotmail.com