Remember that teammate who always had your back during championship games? Or the lab partner who made chemistry class actually fun? These relations have contributed to who we are today, but somewhere between caps flying and adult responsibilities prevailing, the people who were most important to us in our formative years became strangers.
The idea of revisiting old acquaintances and recalling invaluable memories is always good news. It is possible to reestablish ties with old classmates now via the technological medium. While you are trying to find out where to meet with your freshman year study group or it is maybe a reunion that you wish to arrange, the tools now are quite a luxury.
Why Reconnecting with School Friends Matters
A certain sweetness characterizes people that knew when you had it good. They saw you through the odd phase, likewise saw you through the rosy period, and always consoled you at your downfalls. Reconnecting with people you have not seen in years can lead to opportunities not otherwise imaginable, healthy friendships worth consolidating, or growth through well-being. Plus reminiscing on "remember when" moments entails some good fun!
Start with Your School's Digital Archives
A lot of schools maintained their history with a new touch. Instead of dusty rooms filled with discarded items, the forward-thinking institutions are now resorting to interactive, digital means to make decades of incomplete memories stand right before you.
Tapping into school digital archives or interactive displays can be an enlightening experience towards reconnecting with the past. Such platforms would have various types of information: team rosters, club memberships, pictures from events, and maybe past alumni yearbooks where you can put a face to a half-forgotten name. Who knows? You might find out that your debate team captain has since gone on to argue cases in the Supreme Court or that your prom date is now teaching in your old school.
What's so great about modern digital legacy systems is that they can be accessed from virtually anywhere. You don't need to plan a trip back to the campus or wait for the homecoming weekend. You can now explore it from your living room on a Tuesday evening. That really eases the fear around your first contact.
Leverage Social Media Strategically
Social media serves as one of the most potent tools for finding their old buddies. On Facebook, groups of graduating classes at schools are going virtual—way avid socialization zones that are a regular ticket for alumni: updates, photographs, and not to mention the memory lane banter. Then prayerfully Antarctic LinkedIn does bring the person's career path parallels within his/her ever-tiny space, from where even the fresh newest connection peaks awkwardly out.
Do more than lurk—find a way to participate genuinely. Comment with care on posts, share personal stories, and generally feign kind sentiments rather than upbeat friend requests! Channel in a few shared memories with specifics. Hey, benefits more memories; the story of our less-than-enamoring science fair project and aggravation, really.
Tap into Your High School Yearbook
That dusty book sitting on your shelf or at your parents' house? It's not just a collection of awkward photos and inspirational quotes. Your high school yearbook is nothing but a dead-tree version of a social network for the pre-social network era. If you flip through the yearbook pages today, you'll just find names of people whom you have completely forgotten, inside jokes that never crossed your mind, and connections waiting to be reignited.
If you have misplaced your physical copy of the yearbook, many educational organizations have some digital capabilities, with searches for the yearbooks available online. Various educational institutions worldwide have put their yearbook collections in interactive touchscreen displays with a view to creating a bridge between past and present.
Attend School Events and Create Your Own Opportunities
Now, alumni will be more attracted to their former schools if schools host various events. These programs would include, but not be limited to, Homecoming games, anniversary class reunions, and gratitude functions. These occasions are where the setting in itself takes the stressed part of the conversation beyond the context of "I stalked you on Facebook."
When you gather some group of mates from your grade, sports team, or clubs for any casual event, and it doesn't have to be grand, viz., coffee, video call, or some meeting at a local game, it often happens that while everyone is down, nobody as such really sprouts up for it.
The ROI of Reconnection Goes Beyond Measure
The college experience is so unique that there is no relived past but rather the creation of one's own identity for the present and future. It has the very peculiar perversion of friendships, potential collaborations, and, perhaps most importantly, of being with people who know you from a stretched perspective.
Schools with a strong history understand that the search for stories does not end with graduation. The paths to one's discretion on campus will point toward balancing traditions with the embrace of new ways to stay in touch. With their digital archives or through social media or good old telling class reunions, going back to school days with their best friends has never been so clear!
What are you waiting for? Don't you think it is time you rewrote those memories with a phone call to someone to whom you have been dedicating your thoughts and renewed the connection that helped you become who you are? Your old friends are wondering about you also—and you can be certain that your outreach will please them.
