Reunion organizers worry social media cutting attendance
Social media has proved to be a double-edged sword for the organizers of Butler High School Class of 1997’s upcoming 25th class reunion.
The planning committee was able to create web and Facebook pages and an Instagram account to get the word out and offer information about the June 25 event.
But the same social media is also making some classmates question the value of even attending a reunion in the flesh when they are already kept updated on classmates through any number of social media platforms.
Jennie Spohn, one of the eight members of the reunion planning committee, said, “So we have been advertising on social media using email addresses for former classmates.
“It’s the third reunion the class has had,” said Spohn. “When we graduated there was not a lot of social media. Email was new and fresh to everybody back then. Myspace was coming to the table at that point.”
Nicole McKenna, another member of the planning committee, said there were 660 members in the graduating class, and the committee had received 60 tickets back for the reunion so far.
Another planning committee member, Tricia Johns, said. “We’re just trying to let people know or let their parents know about it, so they can let their kids know. The class is pretty spread out. They’re in Switzerland and London. ”
Spohn said the class has set up an Instagram account, a Facebook page and a website, www.bhs1997butlerpa.com.
But the very methods that allow people to easily connect with classmates is also killing the urge to connect with them physically, planning committee members fear.
“Oftentimes I hear ‘I keep in contact with the classmates who I choose to, so I don’t need to go to a class reunion.’ Or maybe you didn’t talk to many people in high school and didn’t have many friends,” Spohn said.
“Well I’m here to say that we are all so different from many years ago. Maybe just maybe you may make a new friend or rekindle a friendship which you thought was lost,” she said.
Spohn said updates on social media can give the highlights and lowlights of people’s lives, but what about the everyday life events that have shaped us into the people who we have all become?
Planning committee member Drew Hay and his wife, Gretchen, will be hosting the reunion on their property.
Hay said, “We have a family farm. I’m a professional pond builder. Our family renovated the pond, did a lot of landscaping.”
Spohn said there will be a dinner, a cornhole tournament and music. “It will be like an outdoor wedding reception,” she said.
She said many of the reunion amenities will be provided by locally owned or operated classmates’ businesses.
Hay said he hopes that as the date grows closer more of his classmates will sign up. Still he has doubts about the future of class reunions
"It’s kind of dying, even family reunions are dying. They just seem to be going away because of social media,“ he said.
McKenna said, “We’re hoping to see classmates come out again.In the post-COIVD world, it seems reunions are a dying breed. We want to keep the legacy going on.”
