Ellsworth High School alumni Stacie Schmidt and Tami McGreevy had big plans for fellow alumni during the recent Homecoming weekend. There was the traditional parade Friday afternoon down Douglas Ave. that included a float for the alumni and a tailgate barbecue before the football game against Sacred Heart later that evening.

However, attendance at the barbecue — as well as an alumni brownbag picnic Saturday in Preisker Park — were both far less than anticipated.

Disappointed but undaunted, McGreevy, executive director of the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce and a 1982 EHS grad, and Schmidt, executive director of the Smoky Hill Development Corporation and a 1992 EHS grad, ended the picnic after an hour and 15 minutes of waiting for more alumni to attend.

“We’ll do it again,” Schmidt said. “We’ll reevaluate to see if this is the right time and the right activity.”

“It’s a first-time event and you just never know what’s going to happen. We will survey our alumni and see what works for them,” said McGreevy.

Schmidt said she received feedback that people didn’t know about the alumni-specific events which were planned for Homecoming.

“We made substantial outreach efforts,” Schmidt added, noting that both she and McGreevy went to the school and looked at the senior picture board for each EHS class and made a list of who they felt would be able to get the word out to their classmates.

Schmidt said this lack of attendance at a alumni-specific event is the reason why it is important for all EHS alumni to register at the SHDC website.

“Then we’d have a direct line of communications to them,” she said.

Ann Jones of Ellsworth, a 1954 EHS grad, and her husband, George, were the only two alumni in addition to Schmidt and McGreevy who attended the picnic.

“I’m an alum of Ellsworth High School and I seriously want us to have some sort of an alumni association and activities,” said Ann Jones.

Jones thanked Schmidt and McGreevy for their efforts.

“I always appreciate the alumni activities here in Ellsworth,” said George Jones.“It’s neat for the city and the school, I think.”

“It’s community,” Ann Jones added.“I so miss when all the classes got together because I love my class, but I love the ones that are 20 years younger and those that are older and seeing them all. I yearn for that.”

Even though the turnout was low, the sense of community could be seen at Friday’s tailgate barbecue before the Bearcat football game. One of the Ellsworth specific foods served at the tailgate — and a favorite with EHS alumni — were slices of Italian Breadstick Pizza from the local Gambino’s Pizza.

McGreevy and Schmidt began planning events over a year ago in response to the lack of alumni events in Ellsworth.

“The former alumni committee just hasn’t had any interest to plan an event in the past several years,” McGreevy said. “So we decided to try something different.”

Because of that lack of participation, each EHS class ended up celebrating by themselves as a class rather than going to the traditional banquet that was a staple for Bearcat alumni for many years.

“Then they tried the tailgate approach,” McGreevy said. “But the tailgate maybe didn’t fly so much for the older people who were more likely to come to the whole event.”

Schmidt said there is not an inclusive alumni database that exists which is what sparked her interest to try something new.

“Those alumni are the same people who could potentially be interested in having their families come back (to Ellsworth),” she said.“So it’s an economic development tool to create a database of those people and let them know what opportunities we have.”

To register go to smokyhilldevcorp.com . Under the tab marked programs go to the Bearcat Alumni page and hit the red button to register.

“That creates the database so I can then send them newsletters once a quarter of something,” she said.

“We want to keep them interested in this town,” McGreevy added.

"... I seriously want us to have some sort of an alumni association and activities. I so miss when all the classes got together because I love my class, but I love the ones that are 20 years younger and those that are older and seeing them all. I yearn for that."
Ann Jones
Ellsworth High School alumni and Ellsworth resident