Reminder--BAHS 80's/DC Happy Hour:

The Bonn American High School Alumni Association invites you to gather for Happy Hour on Saturday, June 30th at 8pm at the Virgina Beverage Company,
607 King Street, Alexandria VA (in Old Town).

This event is targeted to BAHS classes from the 1980s who live in the Washington DC area, but all family, friends and other BAHS alums are welcome to attend. There's no fee and you don't need to RSVP or register--just show up!

Even though you don't need to rsvp, we've already gotten a good response from a number of folks interested in or planning to attend. If you are thinking of coming, feel free to email me and let me know and I'll send around an email later letting you all know who is planning to be there.

See you then!

Washington D.C. Area Happy Hour: Alums from the 80's classes (and friends, family, and other interested folks) are invited to meet at the Virginia Beverage Company in Old Town, Alexandria on Saturday, June 30th at 8pm for Happy Hour. While this event is targeted towards the '80's classes, all are welcome to stop by and sample a Virginia Native (brewed by our very own Chris Buckley, who provided us with such tasty refreshments last year at Reunion.) Email and further details to follow shortly--mark your calendars and spread the word!

Dear Fellow Alumni, Teachers, Parents and Friends of Bonn American High School:

Greetings from the Board of Directors of the Bonn American High School Alumn i Association! As the cherry blossoms bloom here in Washington DC, we hope yo u are all likewise enjoying the arrival of spring.

With the conclusion last August of our highly successful Bonn Reunion in Washington DC and the subsequent resignations of President Maureen Clyne and founder and former President Linda Wagner, we remaining members of the Board have spent quite a bit of time discussing the future of the Association. Before we get to that, let us tell you where we've been.

Our Current Situation

Non-Profit Status

We have decided for tax and legal purposes to incorporate the Association as a non-profit organization. We have incorporated with the State of Virginia and will shortly complete the process of registering as a non-profit organization.

Contacts

We have current postal or email addresses for well over 1,500 people, including nearly 1,400 current mailing addresses and nearly 800 current emai l addresses. More than half of the Bonn community has access to email, and over 10% of us are in touch only through email. Nearly all of the folks who've surfaced recently - over 45 people in just the last three months - ar e finding us through the Bonn American High School website (www.bahs.org) whic h Norman Barth ('74) began several years ago and has updated ever since. The website has a voluntary online Email database with about 800 email addresses .

Naturally, it is generally the younger of us who are on the web: 90% of the folks from the classes of the 1990's, 70% from the 1980s and about half from the 1960s and 1970s. Only about 10% of our parents, teachers and friends ar e on email at this point.

Finances

Since the Washington crew took over responsibilities of the Association a year and a half ago, we've taken in $7,810. The bulk of this - $5,870 - cam e from membership dues, and we got $1,630 in donations for the reunion and $31 0 from sales of t-shirts. Last calendar year we had a total of 90 people pay dues totaling about $3,200. More than half of that came from twelve people who contributed $100 or more, and over two thirds of it came from twenty two people who kicked in $50 or more. Nearly all of these folks have email.

Where did the money go? We spent $5,383 in total, of which $4,433 went to print and mail the two newsletters we sent out. (We sent one newsletter to roughly 1,400 Bonners for whom we had current addresses and that cost over $3,000 alone.) Another $300 went to a thank-you gift for Norman Barth for the work he had done in his own time and at his own expense putting together the fabulous website and we spent another $880 on miscellaneous expenses relating to the reunion. So at present we have a kitty of $3,804 left.

Resources

At the moment, we have the following human resources to draw on:

> The part-time voluntary services of the Board of Directors;
> Norman Barth's commitment to maintain the website;
> Hunter Marshall and his Reunion Committee's commitment to organize the next reunion in Colorado;
> The 80's Liaison Committee's services in organizing events, engaging i n outreach, and otherwise facilitating Association activities as they relate t o the 80's classes;
> Meri Esham-Stanec's services in assisting with updating contact information and conducting outreach efforts; and
> A handful of individuals who have offered extra financial resources an d assistance in writing newsletters.

What Next?

After much careful thought, we've decided to make several major changes in the structure and organization of the Association. First, we've decided to shift from communicating primarily by newsletters and mailings to communicating primarily via the website and email. Second, we've decided to do away with membership and dues requirements, and to become an organization funded by voluntary contributions and other fundraising activities. To that end, we will focus our efforts on "outreach" rather than membership and hope to increase the level of interest and participation by doing so. Finally, we've loosened the structure of the organization to allow for greater participation and input from various committees.

We've decided to make these changes because it is our perception that the most important function of the Association is to allow members of the Bonn community to maintain contact with each other, help organize occasional reunions, and if possible assist in organizing occasional special activities . Under the circumstances, these goals can be best served by making the above-mentioned changes. We feel there is little incentive to become a paid "member" of the Association, given the availability of the website and email as a means to keep up with other members of the community. Furthermore, keeping track of membership and dues is an administrative burden for which w e don't have the human resources. Finally, hard copy mailings are the primary drain on our financial resources and take many hours of volunteer time that, given our limited human resources, we feel could be better spent.

We face something of a dilemma because we understand that not everyone has web or email access. We don't want to risk losing contact with those member s of our community. Therefore, we intend to continue sending out newsletters and other mailings, but will do so less frequently and probably in most case s only to those individuals who do not have email. However, we urge everyone who isn't already on the web to get access so you can take advantage of the message board, the online database, Association and reunion news, the wonderful photo archives of Bonn and of recent reunions that Norman has assembled, and links to other information about Bonn and the international school network. It's a great resource for everyone!

Help Wanted

As mentioned above, we're moving to a looser system of having a number of volunteer committees, all of which will have self-defined responsibilities. These committees will report generally to the Board but will carry out their activities largely as they see fit. The only requirements for forming a committee will be (1) that the function of the committee reasonably relates to the goals and purposes of the Association; (2) that there is no other existing committee with largely overlapping responsibilities; and (3) that the committee keeps the Board reasonably informed about their activities. S o far, we have a Reunion Committee and an 80's classes Liaison Committee, and are hoping to establish a number of others.

Some ideas we have for other committees are: Group Liaisons (i.e. '90's classes liaison or a parents liaison committee); social committees defined b y geography (i.e. a Bay Area Committee); activities-based committees (i.e. a fundraising committee or newsletter committee). It's up to you! If you hav e an idea and want to get involved (even if you are a committee of one), here' s a way you can participate. If you are interested in forming a committee, contact Sabrina Farrar Nelson at 202-828-2254.

Finally, if you are interested in assuming a greater responsibility for steering and overseeing the activities of the organization and are interested in joining the BAHSAA board, please contact us.

That's all the news for now. Please check out the website at http://www.bahs.org/ for periodic updates and announcements from the Reunion Committee and from the BAHSAA Board.

Thanks and best wishes to all from the BAHSAA Board,

Sabrina Farrar Nelson Bob Shackleton Sean Terry


R E U N I O N . . . I N F O R M A T I O N

Colorado Reunion 2002

Hunter Marshall '76 is heading up the Reunion Committee organizing the next Bonn reunion. As decided at the DC Reunion, the next reunion will be held i n Colorado-stay tuned for details. The Reunion Committee is just getting under way but have some terrific ideas and are bringing a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the project. If you are interested in helping out with Reunion planning, contact Hunter during working hours (704) 588-2340 ext. 1666 or email him at h.marshall@synoptix.com.
Information is also online here:

http://www.bahs.org/reunions/colorado02

as well as on the BAHS Message Board: http://www.bahs.org/bb00/


Bonn Reunion, June 2001

Here's a chance to get together with friends from the past and see the old school plus Plittersdorf community before their planned demolition. The present Bonn residents that remain connected with the old community are planning a weekend reunion in Bonn on June 8, 9, and 10, 2001. There will b e tours, dinners, and day activities.

If you are interested in attending this reunion, please send an email to Bonn_Reunion@excite.com with your name and a number of family members attending.

More information on accomodation and weekend itinerary will be posted on the BAHS Alumni Association Message Board at

http://www.bahs.org/reunions/bonn01/

Spread the word ...we are looking forward to seeing you!

The event is being organized independently by alumni in Bonn with the support of the Bonn American High School Alumni Association.

The BAHSAA Board will be holding an open meeting on Sunday, March 11 at 3pm in the Washington DC Metro area (precise location to be announced at a later date.) In addition to some regular housekeeping matters, items on the agenda will include (1) getting the ball rolling for Reunion 2002 and (2) the future of the board.

We welcome and encourage all who are able to attend to do so. We recognize, however, that many of you do not live in the DC area. If you are interested in participating in some way, please contact me directly to discuss your ideas and suggestions. If there is enough interest to justify the expense, we will set up teleconference capabilities.

At this time, many of you have expressed an interest in helping out with any of a number of projects. Because this meeting will be primarily focused on getting ourselves organized after a lengthy hiatus, we'd be particularly interested in the participation of those who are willing to commit to some clearly defined project or to a leadership role. If you who are willing to lend a hand but can't commit to anything significant at this time, we'd love to hear from you but hope you will remain patient for a bit longer until we can better assess our needs.

Thanks for your comments and input on this board over the past six months. We look forward to seeing you on March 11th.

--Sabrina (Farrar) Nelson '88 Acting President, BAHSAA

A few words of explanation about this "BAHSAA Official Notices" site:

The BAHSAA board has decided that as a matter of policy its members will not directly address or respond to postings on this discussion board. Instead, Norm has at our request set up this "BAHSAA Official Notices" area so that we can provide information and answer your questions.

We have decided to do this for several reasons. First, we believe it will make it easier for everyone, and particularly those who don't visit the discussion board regularly, to locate information regarding our activities. Second, it will make it easier for us to answer similar or repetitive questions without having to address every individual post. Finally, we hope this will encourage people with questions or comments to direct them to the individuals on the board so that we can establish a more personal dialogue with those members of the Bonn community who have a strong interest in our activities.

This is how it'll work. We ask that you direct your questions and comments to us by telephone, email, or in person. If the issue is of general interest, we will post the question/comment and our response on this board. While we will continue to read the discussion boards and will try to address anything that seems to be of general concern, we prefer that you contact us directly.

Of course we will continue to participate in the discussion boards as individuals, but in such cases we will not be speaking on behalf of the board.

As a general disclaimer, we are doing this solely to facilitate communication and we certainly do not seek to interfere in any way with what goes on on the rest of the discussion board. Thanks for your cooperation and understanding, and we hope to be hearing from you!

--Sabrina

We've been asked to post the following information from Jana Jazic '97 and Joneila Wright Henselman (AEA & BAHS Elementary '88-'99). More information will be forthcoming. Please address your questions to them at the address given below:

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Subject: Bonn Reunion, June 2001

Here's a chance to get together with friends from the past and see the old
school plus Plittersdorf community before their demolition. The present
Bonn residents that remain connected with the old community are planning a
weekend reunion in Bonn on June 8, 9, and 10, 2001. There will be tours,
dinners, and day activities. If you are interested in attending this
reunion, please reply to Bonn_Reunion@excite.com with your name and a number
of family members attending. More information on accomodation and a weekend
itinerary will be posted on the BAHS Alumni Association Message Board at
http://www.bahs.org/bb00/ Spread the word...we are looking forward to
seeing you!

This event is being organized independently by alumni in Bonn with the
support of the Bonn American High School Alumni Association.

Reminder--Meeting today at 3pm at Bob Shackleton's place. I don't want to post his address on this site, so if you need directions please call me at 703-798-7714.

Thanks,

Sabrina