Alumni association to meet Oct. 18

The fall meeting of the Grand Coulee High School Alumni Association will be held Wednesday, October 18, 2017, at 1 p.m., at Grand Coulee Community Church, 405 Center Street. The meeting is open to anyone who has an interest in the history of the no-longer-existing local school.

Now in its eighteenth year, the Alumni Association was formed the fall of 2000 by graduates from the classes of 1954 and 1958 with three original purposes: awarding scholarships each year, developing a database of addresses of alumni to be used by reunion organizers, and forming a communication link among GCHS alumni, staff and faculty. As of June 2017, the association had awarded $17,500 in scholarships to graduates of Lake Roosevelt High School. This year, for the first time, graduating seniors from other schools were also eligible to apply if they were direct descendents of any person who had attended Grand Coulee Dam School District 55 at any time during its 38 years in existence. Four scholarships totaling $2,000 were awarded to seniors from Davenport, Harrington, Ritzville, and Wilbur. Three $500 scholarship were also awarded for the first time to college students who are continuing their education.

Money for the scholarships is derived from dues of $10 annually for each alumnus and lifetime memberships of $500 per family.The association includes not only those who were fortunate enough to graduate from Grand Coulee High School, but also any person who at any stage of his or her education was enrolled in the Grand Coulee school system or employed by the district.

The Association organizes all-class reunions every fourth summer in the year of the Olympics. The next all-class reunion will take place the second weekend of August 2020.