Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Hometown High School

I do the website for my hometown high school alumni. It was the first website I ever did. Late in 2001, not long after 9/11, my spirits were sagging.
I needed something to occupy my time so I decided to do a website. I learned enough to register the domain name www.dorahighschool.com and I bought some web software that I really didn't know how to use.
The site was up for a few weeks and I tried to get all my friends to visit the site, but no one came.
Not to be deterred, I kept writing stories about my memories of Dora High and I posted them on the site.
A month or so into the project, I began to question the wisdom of my decision but then out of no where, people started coming. Word spread, and the number of visitors grew dramatically.
The stories I wrote on the website, became my first blog entries in 2005. These blog entries became my first columns in the newspaper. And these columns in the newspaper became my first book.
I have sponsors who pay a small fees to put ads on the website, but I've never really made any money. The thing is, that doesn't matter because it's a labor of love.
Back several years ago when Jilda's mom got sick and she spent a tremendous amount of time caring for her, I was left to my own devices. So I started scanning yearbooks. I found someone who had a 1939 yearbook so I scanned it and put it online.
I put the word out and found people who had yearbooks for other years....I scanned them too. To date, I have every known yearbook online from 1939 to the current date.
I just got the ok from the school librarian to put last years annual online, which I started scanning today.
Even if your not from Dora High School, it's kind of fun flipping through these yearbooks. I'm betting the pictures you see won't be that different from the pictures from the same time period at your high school.
Maybe I'm wrong.
Anyhow, a few years ago, I did a slideshow put to the music of Sting "Field of Gold" (The high school colors are blue and gold.)
I think it's kid of fun. Let me know what you think. The link below takes you to the Dora High School site.
http://www.dorahighschool.com/SlideShows/SlideShow2.html

5 comments:

  1. I think you did a great thing for your high school. Good for you.

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  2. That's cool. My high school class has a Facebook page for its 35th anniversary, coming up later this year. I look at it occasionally and a few names seem familiar, but I remember very few of the people -- except the deceased. I think most of the students I knew the best have died. I wish I knew what happened to them. Car accidents? Cancer? Alcoholism? I know one boy who was a great friend died from a brain tumor when he was still in his 20s. Don't know about anyone else. Don't even know about me. What ever happened to that girl with the hot bod who was such a smart ass?

    Love,
    Janie Junebug

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Belle.
    Janie, our class has lost some folk too but you'd expect that after 44 years.
    Jilda's class lost a ton of people, many of which were just a year or so after graduation.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You did awesome and I like the way you have your life in pictures at the top! sandie

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's awesome Sir Rick!

    Dora High is lucky to have you...

    JJRod'z

    ReplyDelete

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