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Georgetown Prep's Class of 1967 uncovered, by accident, a valuable secret about itself and about Prep that it wants to share with other graduating classes.

First the story of their discovery:

Several classmates from the Class of 1967 were frustrated that less than one-fifth of their class was showing up at the regular Prep-sponsored 5-year reunions. Some would travel several thousand miles only to discover that more than a dozen of their classmates who lived within 50 miles of Prep were no-shows. At their 45th reunion, there was again a low turnout, causing many to worry that the 50th reunion would be a bust. A few had called Prep ahead of the 45th to see how many classmates were signed up to attend, and upon learning only a few had, canceled. How could this be turned around in time for the 50th reunion? Why were turnouts for these reunions so low when so many graduates lived fairly close to the campus?

So, two and one-half years before their 50th reunion, eight classmates from the 60-member Class of 1967 decided to meet together over a four-day April weekend, in the little mountain town of Ojai, California. They gathered from New York, San Francisco, Albuquerque, Houston, Delaware and Tulsa. They took a risk. Most of these 8 had not seen the others since graduation day on June 4, 1967, forty-seven long years before. They all wondered if they would still have much in common with their former pals, especially those they had not been that close to back in their school days.

What these 8 discovered was magic. There was an instant brotherhood - everyone got along famously, no one seemed to have fundamentally changed, and they had 47 years' worth of great stories to share. They smoked cigars, shot baskets on the basketball court, drank wine, traveled to the Santa Barbara beaches, hit some baseballs off of a pitching machine, made breakfasts together, sat around the fireplace... and talked. They had a lot in common, a unity of spirit. They picked up right where they had left off 47 years before.

One topic toward the end of their 4-day weekend was "How do we get a better turnout at the 50th reunion?"

That is when they discovered several of them had contacted Prep ahead of prior reunions to see who was coming, and when they found out not many were, opted for that reason not to come. The major reason for poor turnouts was the expectation that not many others would show. They thought maybe the way to solve that problem was to send out a monthly newsletter listing who among them would "commit" to going to the 50th reunion. The first newsletter had 6 commitments. One of their problems was that, at the time, Prep's database was out of date and only about 25 of the names on Prep's lists had the correct email or mailing address. Prep's records also failed to recognize who among them had passed. They had two challenges: find as many of these 60 classmates as they could, and through their monthly newsletter and phone calls, convince them to attend their 50th reunion.

They divided the class into 6 lists of names and assigned a number to each classmate. The number 4 next to your name meant it would be really hard to find you or convince you to come to the reunion. The number 1 meant you would not be hard to find and you would most likely attend. Six classmates were assigned a list of names and they started a competition to see who could win the most points by finding and then persuading those on their list to the reunion.

They combed through Facebook, LinkedIn, social security records, even old newspaper stories. Sometimes the results were sad: they found that 13 of their classmates had passed, a few only months before. They tracked down all of the rest except for two, whom they never found.

Now they had to convince these 45 classmates to attend the 50th reunion. They sent their newsletter out on the 15th day of every month. The newsletter advised the class how their searches were coming, what was going on at the school, and it always had a list of classmates who had "committed" to attend the 50th, or who had, sadly, passed. Almost every month the list grew. It went from 6 to 18 commitments in the first year. Every month you could see who among the class had promised to attend - so numbers kept growing. Classmates lost for decades were found. If you were not on the committed list, then you were reminded every month that you and fewer and fewer others were still absent from that shrinking list. The list grew to 28 after two years, then up to 40, then up to 43. In the months leading to the reunion, the list grew and grew until we got "commitments" from all but two of our 1967 graduates!

We continued meeting for one long weekend every April in Ojai, California. Different classmates would come, and we would have from 8-13 classmates (crowded into a classmate's house) hanging out together over the long weekend. Every one of these "mini-reunions" would have new classmates whom many of the others had not seen or talked to since graduation day, 1967. We all marveled at how much fun these get-togethers were and how much we had in common. We recognized that we all grew up together from kids to young men at the same time in the same place with shared experiences and a shared set of principles. A lot happens to you in those four years, a lot is discovered, a lot changes. In Ojai we did not need to become reacquainted; we knew the essence of who we were, and we could just relax with each other and move forward as good friends. An unexpected oddity: some of us who were not particularly close at Prep, hit it off the best and are now great friends and correspondents. The monthly newsletter, listing all of our email addresses at the top, kept us all connected. We started to visit each other on trips, take vacations together, go to sporting events with each other, share experiences and information over the internet. One of our boarding classmates mentioned that in the 47 years before this process started, he would get a letter or a phone call from a classmate, on average, once or twice every 5 years; now it's fairly typical for him to get emails or phone calls or visits from classmates 9-10 times a month. The newsletter has kept us connected, kept us together. We know that if one of us needs cheering up or any kind of assistance or help, there is this happy group of friends just waiting to come to the rescue, to lend support or encouragement. We know how to get in contact, quickly, with each and every classmate.

We did not know or recognize this most valuable secret when this began: that we had 45 great friends who still cared about us and who we could rely on for help or genuine friendship. We never knew or would have known, what a treasure we had. This attempt to increase attendance at the 50th had the wonderful and lasting side effect of binding us together as a class and keeping us together after the 50th.

It strikes us that we are not an especially unique class. That each and every class at Prep could learn from what we stumbled onto - there is a very strong brotherhood out there consisting of your former classmates, with whom you have a strong bond of shared experiences that time has not eroded. These four years at Prep were four of the most important years in our lives. They were difficult, they were dramatic, they were at a time when we were transforming into who we have become today, and there is this group of guys - of good friends, who are still a source of wonderful camaraderie out there waiting to be reconnected with us. Our old classmates are no longer distant memories for us - we are in fairly constant touch with each other, sharing information, thoughts, triumphs, and tragedies, a real community of brothers we did not realize we had. Other classes at Prep can do what we did - reconnect, stay reconnected, and then let the class dynamics take over.

After the 50th reunion concluded our class kept the monthly newsletter alive - it is now in its 6th year and it's sent every month. Each month we are reminded that we have this group of wonderful friends out there, spread across the country and beyond, with whom we have this wonderful connection of trust and friendship. There at the top of the page are their email addresses. We have also continued our mini-reunions once a year (except for this year due to COVID).

We wanted to share this experience with other classes because we expect that they do not know what we did not know until we discovered it by accident - you all have 40-70 great friends, spread across the country, with whom you have much in common and who still care for you and about you. This discovery is a real treasure. Practically all of your classmates, you will find, want to be in touch with you and they will stay in touch with you if one of you, or some of you, do as we did and start a monthly newsletter to reconnect and keep connected, forever, with all of your class. And remember this too - there were some classmates you did not really get along with well 10, 20, or 40 years ago, right? Well, when you get reconnected you will be surprised, as we were, that those guys, who have so much in common with you, are now your good friends, and this friendship will grow.

We have two caveats: Forbid any discussion of politics or political views in these newsletters (the point is to bring your class together, not divide it), and do not involve any fundraising for Prep, as that will deter from the intention of the newsletter, which is to stay connected with your classmates.

You probably do not know what we did not know - or how valuable it is - you have a group of good friends just waiting to be reconnected, real good friends.