The Tower News

What is happening at Withrow? What about the new gym?

These are just two of recent questions asked by Alumni and friends of Withrow. A definitive answer is elusive so we will report what we do know. We know that there will be no changes at Withrow for the year 2000-2001 except for a smaller enrollment in the high schools overall.

After meetings with Dr. Steven Adamowski, Superintendent of the Board of Education, we can report that the proposal to change Withrow to Kindergarten through 12th grade is still a viable, realistic proposal that will most probably happen after next year. This would incorporate the Academy of World Languages (AWL), International Baccalaureate (IB), and Career Path Finance programs. Students would have language classes in grades K through 9 at which point they would decide to continue in IB or Career Path programs. Some people are concerned about students of all ages being in the same building. There would be no areas where they would co-exist - certainly the campus is large enough to segregate classes and age groups. The positive side is role models and mentors readily available.

The Student Activity Center (gym) fund is at $470,000 and current pledges will bring the amount to over $500,000 as agreed when Richard Lindner pledged $1,000,000. The Board of Education and Mr. Lindner are in agreement that the plan will go forward as soon as it can be coordinated into the Facility Committee plan for revamping and refurbishing the schools. We are confident a new structure will appear at Withrow but cannot provide an exact date and time for ground-breaking ceremonies.

We encourage all Alumni and friends of Withrow to contact the Board of Education and/or any people or organizations that may help us to become the first and best high school to be incorporated into the reorganization of the public schools. With your support and help Withrow will maintain the reputation for excellence and dedication which have always been a part of our heritage.

Alumni support is an integral part of the daily life at Withrow. One area is your financial support which works in many ways to improve the life of today's students as well as maintain the functions of the alumni office.

We are most grateful to the 363 alumni who have made cash donations this year (although this amounts to only 3% of the graduates in our database). Some of these dollars went to fund activities or materials for the College and Career Center, landscaping services, support for some athletic programs and a week of painting many walls. Our primary use of funds was to the building fund for the proposed Student Activity Center. We encourage YOU to give a gift of caring to Withrow to continue support for these activities and others when and where needed.

The second area of support is the gift of your time. This can take many forms like being a mentor or giving a helping hand. An example of what we can accomplish occurred this Spring Break when we had over 40 alumni and 30 other volunteers giving about 500 hours of their time to provide a facelift to many areas of the school. Special recognition and a big thanks to Home Depot on Highland Avenue for donated paint and other materials. Big thanks also to alums from the following classes who took responsibility for specific projects: '49 - Attendance hallway, '53 - Boys Gym hallway, '54 - entrance stairwell, '59 - cafeteria, and '63 - tunnel entrance.

One of the alumni volunteers summed it up in a letter: "We discussed why we were doing this and the general consensus was because of our memories of Withrow, the people we remember, and the effect it had on our lives. There are plenty of others with similar memories and feelings out there. Your source of people to help out in the future is almost limitless."

We encourage YOU to organize your class to volunteer time for many other face-lifting projects. Your Support will touch more people than one can imagine in ways none of us may ever know.

AULT PARK PAVILLION BECOMES CONEY ISLAND'S MOONLITE PAVILLION

For the past five years we have celebrated the ALL CLASS REUNION in Ault Park in June. In spite of extreme heat and humidity, rainstorms and other natural disasters it has been well attended and appreciated by alums. Ault Park is a very popular venue for events and consequently has become more expensive each year. Due to increased costs the committee has decided to move the event to Coney Island in Moonlite Pavilion on October 7th, 2000. Dinner will be served and a big band will entertain.

We have always included a raffle with this event in the past and hope to do so again. We welcome ideas and contributions for the raffle. We are running out of generous alums who are able to donate.

Invitations will be mailed in the fall. We encourage all to save this date for a reunion with a bunch of wonderful Tigers!

JUNIOR LEAGUE COLLEGE/CAREER CENTER

Under the expert guidance of Susan Hollister, the Center has received over 800 visits from students to complete college research, fill out applications for SAT and ACT, pick up college applications and/or search for career guidance. Thanks to the volunteers who have given over 900 hours of their time to this project and to the Junior League for their financial and personal support. The center has become a wonderful asset for students and faculty. If you are interested in contributing your time, please call the Alumni office.

A scholarship fund begun by the Junior League to honor Shannon Marks awarded $1500 renewable scholarships to a college of their choice to three Withrow girls this year. The award ceremony was held in the Junior League building with friends, family and teachers present.

RETURN MAIL

Would you believe we spend almost $600.00 for return mail costs each and every time we do a mailing? This could easily be reduced if everyone would remember to notify us when their address changes. Often by the time we get returns the forwarding notice has expired and so we don’t know where you are. This is just another way we can all make a contribution to Withrow by saving money on return mail.