It was a jovial morning for Hyde Park High School‘s class of 1968 who gathered at the school to celebrate their 50th anniversary.
The reunion, held on on 26 January, was the first time in the school’s 61-year history that a veteran group of alumni commemorated the anniversary of their matriculation at the school itself.
Hyde Park principal Manolis Vogiatzis was delighted when the organisers contacted him and agreed to hold an assembly at the school for this occasion. He gathered to greet the group of alumni to give them a tour around the school, which has gone through a great deal of change in the past 50 years.
Steve Segall, who organised the reunion said, “I hadn’t been in touch with anyone since leaving school and, several years ago, I began to have these sort of nostalgic pangs.”
About seven years ago, he managed to have a small reunion with some of his former classmates. The original class had 110 schoolchildren and Segall, with the help of some other classmates, managed to track down about 65 people.
Many people had since moved to different countries, however, Segall, who lives overseas as well, was delighted to have former classmates visiting from Australia, the US and Sweden.
To celebrate the reunion there was a tree planting ceremony and assembly. An informal get-together was held on 27 January and the official reunion get together was hosted on 28 January, with some former teachers present as well.
The tree planting ceremony was a symbol of the growth of the school’s alumni as well as to commemorate those who had passed away before they could celebrate their 50th anniversary.
