Attention Renton High School graduates! The 100th anniversary of your alma mater is approaching quickly! A team of alumni has much in store for you beginning this fall and extending into next year when a big centennial celebration is planned for May 2011. While all events are taking shape, the Renton History Museum is planning a community-based exhibit based upon the centennial celebration, one of the first like this of many planned. The exhibit will run at the museum September 2010 to June 2011, with the grand opening Sept. 22. Therefore, graduates, you have this summer to organize an exhibit to be included.

What is the museum looking for and how can you be included in this exciting event? Your exhibit can be as personal as you would like to make it and tells a story about how your experience was unique to you or to a group of your peers. An entire class might organize an exhibit (have a team that regularly organizes reunions? That might be a place to start!). Or, a group of band or choir members might organize their exhibit based upon that high school activity. Maybe you were a cheerleader or lettered in sports – tell the community how that group shaped your years attending RHS.

The museum encourages you to include objects and photos that will tell your story — and they will help you to display your exhibit. The objects/photos will be borrowed by the museum for the duration of the exhibit and returned to you after the exhibit is over. And, while you are looking through your RHS artifacts, if you happen to find pictures of the old Roxy Theatre, the museum could use those, too!

In addition to the exhibit, there are a lot of exciting activities planned for the year, including a golf tournament in October, kick-off celebrations, a Homecoming event and parade and an RHS barbecue. Co-chairs of the centennial committee are Terri Briere and Roxanne Hanson and they promise a plethora of fun activities! During the entire centennial celebration, current students and alumni will be working together to link the past and present—joining the bond that makes RHS unique. Dust off that letterman’s jacket or old tuba in your closet and take it to the museum to tell your unique RHS story!

For more information about the museum exhibit and specific guidelines for organizing your exhibit, please call Liz Stewart at the Renton History Museum 425-255-2330 or e-mail her at estewart@rentonwa.gov.

Susan Bressler is an active member of a number of Renton organizations, including Piazza Renton. E-mail her at scbressler@comcast.net.