Dec. 31--Warren Township High School District 121 is trying to build up an alumni network ahead of its 100th anniversary celebrations during the 2016-17 school year.
The Gurnee-based district has never had an alumni association to keep track of the students who graduate each year, said Superintendent John Ahlgrim. District officials are asking alumni to send in contact information so they can keep them up to date on centennial plans.
The school was founded in 1917 and the district plans to celebrate "100 Years of Excellence" throughout the 2016-17 year, Ahlgrim said.
Details on the celebrations likely won't be announced until later this winter and spring, said Kim Lobitz, District 121 activities director and part of a committee of district staff, community members and alumni organizing centennial plans.
One of the main events will be held at homecoming Sept. 30, 2016, she said.
In the meantime, interested alumni can sign up for updates at the district's website, www.d121.org, or submit photos through a link on the same website.
Some photos -- largely drawn from the district's yearbook archives -- are already being posted on the Warren Township High School Centennial Facebook page.
Lobitz said she started with photos showing the school before it was damaged and later demolished following a December 1984 fire set by a troubled student. That building -- parts of which dated back to its founding in 1917, according to news reports at the time -- is the one most alumni would remember attending, she said.
Now she's posting photos from graduating classes celebrating 5- or 10-year reunions, but she eventually plans to post pictures from each class. The committee is also working on tracking down archives of the school newspaper, she said.
Eventually, Ahlgrim said, they hope to use alumni information collected around the centennial to build a network lasting longer than next year.
"We think there's value in building that community," he said.
lzumbach@tribpub.com
