Fourty years ago, 435 young men walked the halls of Elder High School as seniors at the greatest school in America. Now, in 2012, the class of 1972 is getting ready to celebrate its 40 th anniversary on September 29 th . Not only are they going to celebrate by doing many fun events, but they also have started their very own class of ’72 scholarship endowment. I spoke with Gary Hudepohl, one of the guys who came up with the idea of starting the scholarship fund and he told me,“I was blessed to help out with a scholarship fund for Grove City College, a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, in honor of a friend of mine who had passed away.” He said that gave him the idea to start one for the class of ’72 to give back to the school that gave him so much. Hudepohl said, “Our goal for the scholarship is to be the largest, single name scholarship for Elder.” To encourage the guys to donate, he suggested “give $100 for every year you attended Elder” and that would make a world of difference. As a student, I have benefited from the financial aid program and really appreciate what the class of ’72 is doing to allow kids to continue to attend Elder. To celebrate the 40 th , the class has many events planned. I spoke with one of the main organizers of the celebration, Ron Coffaro, to see what he had to say. He said, “Instead of planning an evening to celebrate our anniversary, we decided to do a whole weekend”. On Thursday September 27, the class is going to the Reds day game against the Brewers, with a staggering 55 people from the class signed up. A fellow classmate said if their class bought up all the tickets in the block he would shave his head and that’s exactly what he did! The following Friday there is a golf outing and lunch at Aston Oaks Golf Course, followed by the Elder St. X game and tail gate that evening. On Saturday morning there is a brunch at Price Hill Chili. To closeout the weekend Sunday night, there is a dinner and dance at, none other than the place where most Elder events are held, The Farm. Coffaro said it should be a great turn out. When asking him if just local guys will come he said, “No, there are guys from Connecticut to Florida and other states.” Also you don’t have to go to all events. Some guys are just coming for certain ones and others will be getting the full experience. Along with all these events for the 40 th , the class of ’72 stays in touch via its class website. It was great to hear that they are going as far as to make their own website, and I had to ask Ron whose great idea this was. He said it came up in a conversation and he talked to Greg Gruenwald, a fellow classmate who now lives in Chicago. Coffaro called Gruenwald the “webmaster”. Ron said without Greg the website would not have been possible. Mr. Bill from the Alumni Development Office said, “The class of ’72 is one of the most involved classes to graduate from Elder, and it’s great to see how much pride they still have in Elder.” Altiora! For more information, visit www.elderhigh1972.com