The Association has welcomed four new members to our Board of Directors this fiscal year.

Keith Wilson, Class of 1981. Keith will be a member at-large and a representative of the 1980s. He came recommended by several alumni for his business experience as well as his experience in other non-profits. Keith is still experiencing and engaging with our varied work, we look forward to him finding a project/committee he would like to dedicate time to.

Michelle Hall, Class of 1991. Michelle is now serving as our Picnic Committee Chair as well as a general representative of the 1990s. She volunteered with the Centennial Committee for the entire duration of the project, and was recommended by all board members who served there as well. As our new Picnic Chair she is helping formalize the event’s procedures.

Dick & Debbie Lovegren, Classes of 1973 & 1974. Dick & Debbie are taking on the duty of working with the school Social Work Team on behalf of the RHSAA. They are also helping close out the final projects of the Centennial Committee, which they volunteered with. They were recommended by all board members who served with them on the Centennial.

The board is working to establish a student representative role starting next school year to allow us to better serve the students we are looking to support. We also intend to continue to expand our representation of board members to best reflect the alumni base we represent.

After our May 2023 board meeting, there was still a whole second half to our Centennial year. Here is a basic breakdown of the events we hosted in celebration:

• June - Band Night: The auditorium was completely sold out with people standing in the wings for the concert. The admission was a suggested $5 donation (with no obligation) and we collected over $1,000 for the band. It was a professional quality performance.
• July - All-Class Picnic: A larger turnout than normal, with many talking about the Centennial. Estimated 400 in attendance.
• August - Annual Golf Tournament: We joined our friends at the Roosevelt Boosters for their annual golf tournament fundraiser. We tabled at their dinner and connected with many alumni who support this tournament every year.
• September - Homecoming: This day was a big partnership with the Roosevelt Supporter Club (parent group) and student leadership. We hosted several tables during the pre-game events, as did other community groups, and sold souvenirs, showed school history, and promoted the RHSAA. We provided most of the food and supplies for the BBQ which fed hundreds, primarily students. Roosevelt then went on to win the football game.
• October - Food & Clothing Drive: Rather than another “event” we decided to give back to the school. We collected snack foods to fill the student food pantry and undergarments to fill the student clothing closet, as well as accepted cash donations. These collection dates took place over the course of three nights. We collected over 350 sets of underwear/socks, and over 600 snacks, plus $1,000 to go towards the Social Work Team.
• November - Veterans Memorial: A small but moving ceremony, we had just about 20 people join. Several veterans spoke about their experiences and the importance of community. The names of the Roosevelt men who were killed in action were read aloud.
• December - Choir Concert: Despite being a small program, they gave a beautiful performance, and the George Middle School choir also joined for a few songs. We collected gift cards to donate to the holiday gift drive the Social Work Team administers. Before the concert we were able to give a welcome speech to thank all who have attended the Centennial events, and also presented a donation to the Choir as a thank you for hosting our final event.

History Books: Jeanine Sinnot, with the help of several others, wrote a 60 page history book filled with Roosevelt history dating back to our origins in 1906 with St. Johns High School. It is a spiral bound book broken up by decade with info on important RHS events, clubs, princesses & presidents, and more. It includes information up to just weeks before the printing with some of our Centennial events that had happened in 2023.

We have been selling Centennial souvenirs as a fundraiser, including t-shirts, stickers, and the history books. We still have some stock and we are working on establishing an online store so we can sell the rest off, ideally to those who weren’t able to attend events in-person to purchase.

With the funds raised we plan to place commemorative benches on campus. The number of benches will depend upon our final account balance and the individual cost. At a minimum we would like to place two on the entry path in front of the main entrance. Ideally we are able to raise enough money to place 11 benches, one to signify each decade of RHS graduates.

We had a very dedicated team of about 15 serving on this committee over the course of about 20 months. We are very grateful for their efforts and dedication.

Early March there were 6 new flowering cherry trees planted on campus along the main walkway. The trees bloomed in early April and are now filled out with leaves. This project was funded by donations from the Class of 1965, the Golf Tournament, the Peninsula Optimists, and several retired teachers.

There is some further work to be done to ensure proper ground irrigation and work is being coordinated with Principal KD. Meg Walter, a retired teacher, has offered to help care for these trees in the future.

As of December I have taken on the role of Communications Committee Chair. As the only member of this Committee there isn’t a significant change besides taking action for more long-term planning.

Website

I update information on our website roughly once a month, primarily around events. Recently several new volunteer positions were listed to help support current committees. Large updates to the website are on hold right now as it will take a lot of time to re-do the code behind it since it is a bit difficult to work with at the moment. Once the Communications Committee has more members to help spread the workload, I plan to dedicate time to this task.

Social Media

Our Facebook and Instagram accounts are where day-to-day news is shared as they are the easiest location to share updates frequently. Posts include RHSAA news, volunteer needs, donation requests, upcoming events, interesting history, student accomplishments, alumni spotlights, etc. - wide range! Our Facebook audience and Instagram followers are both at about 1,400 people each. Our Facebook audience is primarily alumni over 35yo and will receive more “action”, like donations or interest in attending events. Our Instagram followers are primarily under 35yo and include both alumni and current students, these posts get the most visibility and interactions but don’t typically lead anywhere. Considering younger alumni aren’t as interested in being involved this isn’t too surprising, but at least they are still following and keeping up to date with us which is still beneficial. One interesting note: a video I took from the Boys Basketball quarterfinals buzzer shot got over 45,000 likes on Instagram!

Email Newsletters

We currently have about 1,700 subscribers. Over the course of the Centennial year I sent more frequent email newsletters with updates on events and projects. These were decently successful at getting attendees at events, and as more emails were sent, had a higher open rate. At the beginning of 2024 I started sending a newsletter roughly once per month with various updates, and the open rate continues to increase. Assuming I have the content to share, I’d like to keep this cadence going. In order to not overload anyone’s inbox, I do not plan to send more than one email per month.

Future Plans

Two main plans for this Committee: recruit additional committee members and grow our audience. With additional volunteers we can take on the task of properly growing our audience by doing more communications work. Our audience currently has been gathered entirely organically, but we are missing many we could be connecting with. I’d like to get more email subscribers, more social media followers, work with the local newspapers, and establish more consistent outreach to our alumni base.

The committee meets bi-monthly and responds to all issues that are raised and must be addressed before the next Board meeting. Topics include financial decisions, support for committee projects, association planning, and a variety of other small items. Please see Executive Committee Minutes for specifics. Board members are always welcome to attend. We typically meet the 3rd Thursday of even-numbered months at 6 PM. Members can attend via video or in-person.

This table describes the donations made to students and student projects/organizations either through direct funding from the RHSAA or through partnerships made with the RHSAA. This does not encompass the full fiscal year which will conclude on June 30th, 2024.

Item	Award
RHS Cheer/Rally Team	$1,000.00
RHS Dance Team	$1,000.00
Fall Sports Sponsorship (Franz)	$1,000.00
RHS Leadership Class (Homecoming)	$1,000.00
Homecoming BBQ	$1,100.00
RHS Thespians #7289	$1,000.00
RHS Speech & Debate Team	$1,000.00
Football Trophy	$331.00
All American Cheerleader (Isabela)	$2,200.00
Records Board/ HofF Board install	$700.00
Teacher Support (November)	$750.00
RHS Choir	$1,000.00
Girls Wrestling Sponsorship (Franz)	$1,000.00
RHS Girls Wrestling Sponsorship	$1,000.00
RHS Food Pantry	$1,000.00
Underwear/Sock Drive	[Physical Items]
Food Box Donations	[Physical Items]
Gift Card Drive	$250.00
Scholarships	$5,000.00
Total (5/2023 thru 5/2024)	$20,331.00

Accomplishments:

• Created traveling easel display for the 2023 RHS All-Class Alumni Picnic & for any other event where it would be useful in the future, explaining what the RHSAA does & encouraging people to join.
• Library TV has been fixed and we now have a running reel of about one hour and ten minutes going on it. This reel has all the student body presidents, rose festival princesses, PIL hall of fame members, and other important information from our Alumni Association.
• PIL Sports Hall of Fame has been completed and is up on display in the school by the gym. This will be continually updated yearly as alumni become members of the hall of fame. This took much work and donations to complete. We were close to breaking even on costs versus donations for the project.
• Track & Field records board was purchased for the team to display school records. It now hangs inside the main gym, high enough it can’t be reached without a ladder. Coach Jonquil updates this board as new records are set (multiple have been set so far this season). Oldest record still on the board is from 1955.
• Yearbook archive continues to be filled, with multiple books acquired recently. Only ones missing now are: 1931 June, 1934 June, 1937 January, 1938 June, 1939 January, 1940 January & June, 1942 January & June, 1943 June, 1994-1995, 1996-1997.
• Display case in the main entry was filled with Rose Festival history, including photos of our Queens, an article about 1923’s Lucy Lee, and an article about 2023’s MaryMer.
• Took ownership of an additional display case in the gym lobby. Moved the 1949-1954 state trophies there to make room in their original case for the current basketball trophies and awards.

Future Projects:

• Plaque for “Coaches Of The Year”. Athletic Director Willie is gathering names for us as we have had many in the past 4 years. This plaque can be made so that we can add names as they occur. We’ll have to do some research on this for past coaches that have gotten this award. $250 cost of this project plus $200 in Plexiglas.
• We need to transition the south wall of the gym lobby into trophy cases. To do this we will need to move the electrical. We can close most of the electrical and put outlets in the top two corners for TV’s as per KD. We will need to buy three- six-foot-high glass cases that front load. Cases will cost anywhere between $4K and $7K depending on if we build them or buy them outright. Funding and donations are needed for this project. Total for the project could be close to $10K.
• We have had three award winners from the basketball team this past year that we would like to give recognition to. PIL “Player of the Year”, PIL “Defensive Player of the Year”, and “Coach of the Year”. This is something special as we have never had all three of these awards in the same year. We can do these by buying picture plaques from Bardy Trophy and displaying them in the trophy case next to the PIL Trophy and the 2nd Place in the State Trophy. The cost of this should be around $500.
• Plexiglas to cover mosaics by gym wrestling and weightlifting classrooms. Cost could be about $3K for this project.

The 2023 picnic was a huge success with an estimated 400 attending. The majority stayed from 12 - 3pm, then most dispersed due to heat, though some stayed well into the night. Many hands helped clean up at the end and the area was left clean, with people already discussing the next summer.

This year a committee was formed to take on the task of putting the 2024 All Class Picnic together rather than saddle one individual with all this work. We currently have a committee of 5-7 people (and looking for more) who meet once a month to discuss different tasks that need to happen before, during and after the picnic. We asked the Executive board to approve a budget of $3120, and they did so unanimously. We have a good feeling the amount needed for next year will be lower due to some of the changes that have been made. Due to the large attendance last year, we will be adding an extra site this year to help accommodate everyone. We’re hoping for a big turnout from the class of 1974, celebrating their 50th reunion. We met at the picnic site in April to visualize how the setup should work. We will continue to meet over the next two months to nail down what is still needed and be sure we have all supplies and help needed. We will be asking for ‘day of’ volunteers to help make all the parts move smoothly.

The 2024 All-Class Picnic will be held on July 20th at Columbia Park from 12 - 4pm.

Four Roosevelt alumni were inducted into the PIL Hall of Fame with the 2023 class:

• Bill Turner, Class of 1952
• Harvey Hewett Jr., Class of 1967
• Nike (Love) Greene, Class of 1992
• Eugene Toman, Class of 1997

The 2024 induction will be held in October and the class will have three Roosevelt alumni: Semise Tonga Kofe, Cameron Jackson, and Paul Schmitt.

Going forward we would like to establish a Roosevelt High School Athletic Hall of Fame that is separate from the PIL Hall of Fame. We need to establish how athletes will be inducted, set criteria, guidelines, etc. We will still submit candidates to the PIL, but also have our own program. Other schools in our league such as Wilson (Wells), Cleveland, and Grant have excellent HOF's, perhaps they can help with the "blueprint" for us. RHS staff, students, or alumni would be able to nominate by filling out an application similar to the PIL HOF application. We would like a committee under the RHSAA composed of 3-5 people who would go over candidates. Many details to be worked out, but this is a big goal to work towards.

The Scholarship Committee is awarding five $1,000 awards for the Class of 2024. The Committee opened applications in late February and closed them on April 1st. 38 students applied in total. The five voting members of the Committee spent time reviewing individually and upon their first review session together found that they all had the same top ten applicants. After a lot of discussion and comparing of applications the winners were unanimously chosen by the voting members.

The five winners will be given their award at the Senior Awards Ceremony on May 30th, and public announcement with photos and bios will be shared in early June.

The Committee will have a retrospective over email in June to document how this year’s process went and make plans for the 2025 award.

Memorial Video

We were able to successfully update our Roosevelt High Veterans Video Memorial in 2023, with names added. As of this date, (2) additional names will be added at a later time. It can be viewed on Youtube or via the Roosevelt High Alumni Website. Thank you to all that made the video possible to honor all of our Alumni that have served and their families.

Veterans Book

This book has been used as a resource and reference. It is still the intention to update the book for all to view. We can make copies for the Library, Alumni Assn, etc. The book has photos and facts about the Alumni that gave the ultimate sacrifice, associated with their Military service.

Additional Stones With Names Engraved

I made contact today with Tony Goiburn of O M Stone in Hillsboro. He will confirm what stones he currently has available and will get back to me on the week of May 13, 2024. The last quote he gave me was for $1,875.00.

I also made contact with Rebecca Reich of Vancouver Granite Works in Vancouver WA.. I am expecting an email from Rebecca to advise me as to what they currently have available for us. Rebecca indicated that she would estimate the cost to be approximately $2,000.00.

On March 31, 2023, Wade Nelson indicated via email that the Veteran's Memorial fund had $1,375.00 remaining in account. This places us approximately $500.00 short for the project. We could start asking for donations from those that have contributed in the past and from Veteran's groups such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars etc.

Memorial Garden Maintenance

The stones were deep cleaned, including the engraved letters, ahead of the Centennial Veterans event in November. Fresh flowers were placed for this event as well. At least quarterly the site is checked for any potential damage, graffiti was removed only once (just pencil on the bench). Seasonally flowers and decorations are placed, primarily plastic items that can take the weather and be disposed of once worn. On the military holidays and 4th of July additional flowers were placed, also ahead of Homecoming.

Class of 1971 Bench

The Class of 1971 donated a bench to the Memorial Garden that has a back and is more accessible for those with mobility needs. The bench is currently in storage at the school and has been for almost a year. In order to be installed it requires work be done by the District per their groundskeeping rules. The quote the District got for installing a concrete pad and bolting the bench down came to $4,880. It was agreed by the Executive Committee and staff at the school that this was very high and not realistic. Further action is still needed to install this bench, but must continue to work with the District.