Owensboro Alumni Association

The Owensboro Public Schools Foundation for Excellence announced a new alumni association Tuesday aimed at reconnecting with district graduates.

Chris Gaddis, the executive director/alumni relations for the foundation, said the organization has “always” discussed how to get alumni more involved.

“We want to figure out how we can reach our alumni,” he said. “A couple of years ago we sent out a survey, and there were a lot of people who wanted to know where our alumni are.”

Gaddis said the alumni association would also be a benefit for current OPS students, especially those enrolled in high school.

“It is a huge asset for our students now to see where the alumni are as inspiration,” he said.

The announcement, along with a short video on where some of OPS’ alumni are now, was made during the district’s Opening Day ceremony.

“We purposefully selected those who graduated and are working in their field or in higher education,” Gaddis said. “We put in about six hours of manpower to select those 31 alumni, but think of how many we could find in two years.”

Gaddis said he and the foundation are putting in a two-year commitment to reach as many alumni as possible.

“We have alumni everywhere,” he said. “It’s our goal that in about a year we are able to establish quarterly communication with them using social media and email for a newsletter, so they are able to see what we’re doing and we can see what they’re doing.”

Gaddis said private schools, colleges and universities have been able keep track of alumni well.

“Public schools have had a harder time doing that,” he said. “It’s rare that public school districts are able to track alumni.”

The creation of the association has less to do about donations former graduates might provide, though that would play a part eventually, Gaddis said.

“We want to involve them in campaigns in the future, but that’s not our main goal,” he said.

In the near future, Gaddis said the foundation would like to adopt an online platform that allows alumni to enroll themselves in the association.

“Facebook and Instagram will be a big help for us,” he said. “We know that mathematically we have a little over 10,000 alumni in the world, and we want to try to find them all.”

Gaddis said alumni interested in connecting with the association can email alumni@owensboro.kyschools.us.