A Partial History of the Troy High School Alumni Association
The public school in Troy was founded in 1868. The Graduates Association when organized in 1877 numbered sixty-nine members. “The success of our graduates is a matter for congratulation, and we point with pride to many who now hold honorable positions in teaching, in business and in the professions……Their annual reunions, both public and private have served to keep alive the pleasant associations formed in their schooldays.” (taken from the 1882 Graded High School bulletin)
Through the years the yearbooks have been a source of information about the Alumni Association history. For example, the 1917-1918 yearbook lists an Alumni Reception on the school calendar. In 1920 the Alumni Association raised $10,000 for a memorial annex to the school building. The 1940 yearbook carries a message from Board of Education President William Beaman to the Class of 1940 and to the Alumni Association which said in part, “As a graduate of the Troy High school you are now becoming a member of the Alumni Association of this school. Of this you should be very proud…May the members of the class of 1940 be no less active and no less sincere than their most energetic predecessors in their devotion to this, their beloved Alma Mater, the Troy High School”.
Another source of information about the Alumni Association is its books of minutes spanning 1929-1978. Minutes tell us that a committee met each year to plan the Alumni Reception which occurred around graduation time. At that meeting officers were appointed for the next year. At the Reception itself graduating seniors were welcomed into the Alumni Association, there was a roll call of returning classes, retiring teachers received special recognition and a financial gift, and the senior who had done the best work in English received a prize of $10. There was a dance after the program.
During the renovation of the school in the 1970’s the gymnasium where the festivities took place was eliminated which may or may not have been a reason why interest waned. The last Alumni Reception following the above model was held in 1978 at the American Legion and was listed as the 108th Alumni Reception.
In 2005 a small group of alumni met with the goal of resurrecting the Alumni Association. A master list of over 7000 names and addresses of graduates was created and is updated as reunion classes provide information. An Alumni Room located off the High School Library houses a complete collection of year books and is a place where the Planning Committee can meet and work.
The Alumni Association supports the Homecoming Game activities each fall and once again plans and hosts the Alumni Reception which is held the Friday night of Memorial Day weekend. It has a nonvoting representative on the Troy Area School District Foundation Board and helps publicize the Foundation’s nomination process for the Distinguished Alumni Award each year.
There are no dues. At each event Alumni are given the opportunity to donate as they are able.