Reunion coordinators Diane Maness and Alicia Ciesielski show the raffle quilts.
Come back home and share fellowship with classmates and others.
By Rich Wicks | Guthrie Center Times
A famous line from the 1985 movie “The Breakfast Club” refers to five high school students as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. These and other stereotypes have flourished in high schools for decades, but, as with all stereotypes, they fail to truly describe any one individual. People are far more complex than a simple label.
Another universal truth about high school is that people are still evolving during those turbulent high school years, and the post-high school years often reveal skills and interests that were unknown before graduation.
The ACGC All-School Reunion provides a chance for former students to come back and share fellowship with classmates and others. With a wide variety of events scheduled, there’s sure to be something to appeal to everyone.
Diane (Van Cleave) Maness and Alicia (Nickel) Ciesielski are heading up the efforts to make the 2024 version of the All-School Reunion a success. They shared information on the origin and history of the event, as well as this year’s plans.
“It started back in 1986,” Maness said. “Gif Covault was one that helped get it going, and, back in 2000, he was the Grand Marshal in the parade.”
Covault not only was instrumental in starting the all-school reunions, but he also began the tradition of giving money to each graduating senior student on senior awards night.
“For some of the graduates, it’s the only time their name is called that evening and the only scholarship they may get,” Ciesielski said.
The All-School Reunion traditionally gives at least $50 to each graduate. To further this cause, the reunion is selling T-shirts, can koozies and raffle tickets to help cover the cost of the reunion and to replenish the scholarship funds.
The raffle tickets are $5 each and offer a chance to win a unique Iowa State or University of Iowa lap quilt. GCHS graduates Laura Sheeder and Cindy Steensen each created one of the quilts. The winners will be drawn at dinner on Saturday night.
The past several all-school reunions have occurred each sixth year, which may seem arbitrary, but Ciesielski explained a logical reason for that. It related to the common timing of individual graduating classes holding a reunion every five years.
“So, if we do our all-school reunion every five, you’d get the same two graduating classes to have their big shindig,” Ciesielski said.
Maness and Ciesielski showed records and clippings from previous all-school reunions. The records from the 1996 event showed that, at the time, there had been roughly 3,700 graduates from the schools/communities that are now part of the ACGC district. That number has obviously grown in the nearly 30 years since the tabulation. Those graduates are now scattered across all 50 states and many foreign countries, so the event planners strive to make the reunion attractive enough to bring former students back hundreds, or even thousands, of miles. As such, this year’s event includes an impressive array of options for socializing, dining and reliving the good old days.
The schedule
Registration for the reunion is available on both days (Friday, 8:30 a.m. to noon and 3:30-7 p.m.; Saturday, 7-9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) at the fairgrounds event center.
Friday events:
• The golf tournament tees off at 9 a.m. at Guthrie Center Golf Course
• Class pictures and displays are viewable at Mary J Barnett Library 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Al Bell presentation at Mary J Barnett Library 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Business tours 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in downtown Guthrie Center.
• Cribbage tournament 9:30 a.m. at event center
• Bingo 4 p.m. at event center
• Fire Department dinner 5-7 p.m. at event center
• Band 8-11 p.m. at the fairgrounds little amphitheater
• Beer tent at fairgrounds event center 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Saturday events:
• Dad’s Belgian Waffle breakfast, 7-9:30 a.m. at fairgrounds event center
• Fun Run, 8 a.m. at fairgrounds event center
• Class pictures and displays are viewable at Mary J Barnett Library, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Al Bell presentation at Mary J Barnett Library, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Parade, 10 a.m. Vintage, classic and not-so-classic vehicles welcomed. No charge.
• Artist Spotlight, 11 a.m. at Art on State (320 State St.)
• Don Todd presentation, 11 a.m. at MJB Library
• Petting Zoo, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at fairgrounds
• Bags Tournament, noon at fairgrounds
• Artist Spotlight, 1 p.m. at Art on State (320 State St.)
• Alumni swim meet, 2:30 p.m. at swimming pool
• 2001 graduate Wyatt Sheeder Jiminez concert, 2 p.m. at Methodist Church
• Dinner, 5-7 p.m. at fairgrounds event center. Catered by Cabbage Rose.
• Dale Menning & Stardusters, 7-9 p.m. at fairgrounds event center
• DJ, 9-11:30 p.m. at fairgrounds little amphitheater
• Beer tent at fairgrounds event center, 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Sunday events:
• Methodist Church 10-10:30 a.m. coffee and rolls (church service at 10:45 a.m.)
• Other local church services
Additional information about scheduled events
• The golf tournament will be a two-person scramble format with a maximum of 18 teams. Fee is $50 per person, which includes a cart.
• Class displays at the public library can be set up at specific times July 1-5. Contact the library for details.
• As part of the business tours, each applicable business owner will provide some history of the building, with pictures as available.
• The Fire Department dinner will be a BBQ dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, cookie and a drink. This event will help raise funds to support the fire department.
• Friday’s band will be Richard Arndt and the Brew, playing a range of rock and roll to blues.
• Saturday’s parade will begin at the courthouse, traveling down State Street and ending at the fire station. All classes, groups, teams and anyone with a classic car or truck are welcome. Former band members are invited to bring their instrument and join a band float playing the school song in the parade.
Regarding the beer tent, Maness offered a piece of advice.
“If you’re coming to the beer tent, make sure you bring your driver’s license because you will be ID’d,” she said.
Many of the events at this year’s reunion are similar to those in previous years, but there’s one notable exception.
“The only thing that’s different is the golf tournament,” Ciesielski said. “We’d like to have at least one member on each team to be a graduate because there is a maximum number that can play, so we aren’t inviting the public to play unless it’s with an alumnus. Everything else is fine for anybody and everybody.”
So, whether you were the princess, the brain, or the basket case, the ACGC All-School Reunion invites you to come show your true colors. And if you’re not a former student of these schools, you’re invited to be part of the fun anyway. One main theme that Ciesielski and Maness repeated was that the all-school reunion welcomes everyone.
“We’re just trying to get everybody,” Maness said. “It doesn’t matter if you graduated out of Guthrie. It doesn’t matter if you graduated at Adair-Casey. It’s wide open for everyone.”