Need For High School Alumni Association-This Day in Norwood History-July 3, 1892

“Now that there is so much interest in our High School and its graduates why do not the alumni and alumnae get together and organize an “Alumni Association of the Norwood High School”? Such an association could meet one of the several evenings of commencement week of each year, and have an oration and a poem by one of the older graduates, and spend the rest of the evening in renewing old and forming new friendships, and a light refreshment of ice cream and cake would make it more enjoyable. Other high schools do it, with an annual fee of 25 cents per member, and very successful organizations they are, too. It would be a feather in the cap of the class of ’92 to call such a gathering and start the organization by electing officers and preparing a meeting for June, 1893.:

(Article Originally published in the Norwood Advertiser, July 3, 1892)

Editors note: There was talk over the next few years of forming an Alumni Association, and in 1905, the Class of 1901 formed a committee to work on the idea, but we have no record of the group ever being formed at that time.

In 1945, the Student Council voted to form an alumni association “to retain interest in the High School after graduation.”. The following year, the Class of ’46 reported in the TIOT: “The Alumni Association, which at the end of last year was still in the mythical stage, was put into the hands of a hard-working committee. Immediately great plans were made, which were almost as quickly voted down by the more practical of the group. What did emerge from the chaos was an alumni assembly, the first of its kind, and a real live organization.” So far we’ve been unable to find any further information about the alumni assembly, so the idea may not have gone anywhere.

An alumni association was formed during the 1960s but we can’t find any record of activity by the group after 1971.

In 2011, when the new High School was being constructed, Norwood High School Spanish teacher Paula Pelaggi suggested a farewell party should be held at the school before it was demolished. Her husband Jerry Miller soon recruited a group that included Linda Rau, Ernie Paciorkowski, Vic Babel, Colleen Reynolds, Dolly Parker, and the Norwood School Committee, among others, to come up with a plan. It was dubbed “The Last Hurrah”, Memorabilia gathered by Dolly Parker was put on display and former students wandered the halls to take photos of the “School on the Hill” before it was gone. Funding for the party came from donations and from the sale of merchandise created for the event, which included t-shirts, a commemorative book, and bricks from the old school. The event was incredibly successful, as thousands of former alumni visited the school one last time to see old classmates and former teachers and staff. With these alumni in mind, Paula Pelaggi started the current Norwood High School Alumni Association. The NHS Alumni Association keeps a list of former students and helps these alumni connect through social events, including fundraisers, with the proceeds helping to fund an annual scholarship. The Alumni Association is also very active on social media where news submitted to the Alumni Association about Norwood High School alumni is shared on a daily basis.

– George Curtis (NHS ’93, President, Norwood Historical Society)