Former San Diego Charger Rolf Benirschke and Academy Award-winning actor Cliff Robertson are a few of the 35 distinguished La Jolla High School alumni expected to attend the school’s 85th Anniversary All-Viking Celebration on Saturday, April 28.
The event, which was planned by a committee of 60 former LJHS graduates, will feature campus tours throughout the entire day as well as a continental breakfast for former and current school staff and musical entertainment by student concert, jazz and singing ensembles.
“Groups from each of the classes are setting up tables around the quad, and it should be a fun place to gather and see who else is there,” said Carl Nettleton, planning committee chairman and 1968 alumnus. “People can come to their class table, sign up and give their phone number and catch up with people who they haven’t seen in a while or find someone they may not recognize.”
Distinguished alumni such as Benirschke will give a noontime presentation and a historical tour in the school’s multi-media center, featuring a DVD of old school photos and a display of other LJHS memorabilia.
Nettleton also hopes to organize class teams for a basketball free-throw contest, he said.
The associated student body (ASB) will sell refreshments at the celebration, according to Alicia Snook of LJHS’s alumni association office.
About 150 guests have already reserved seats at the event, and the association expects a turnout of more than 200 alumni, Snook said.
“The committee have been having meetings since February, and they’ve really put a lot of time and effort into this,” Snook said. “It’s alumni from the 1940s right up through 1994 who have been getting together to plan this for some time. We definitely had the desire, passion and manpower to make it happen this year.”
The school’s annual major fund-raiser, dubbed this year the “Black and Scarlet Ball,” will be held in conjunction with the alumni celebration starting at 6 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Aventine La Jolla, 3777 La Jolla Village Drive.
Tickets are $85 per person.
Many alumni will be attending the fund-raiser, according to Nettleton, who said he hopes the day will give former scholars and the community a chance to reconnect with the high school.
“I think it generates a lot of pride, not only in alumni but also in current students, to see the kind of productive lives these alumni live,” he said. “It is important for students and alumni to recognize that it’s a product of good education.”
La Jolla High School was established in 1922 at the corner of Nautilus Street and Fay Avenue and held its very first classes with a 12-person student body. About 9,000 LJHS alumni are estimated to live in the San Diego area, according to statistics gathered by the alumni association.
The continental breakfast for former and present staff starts at 9 a.m., followed by the alumni celebration at 10 a.m.
For more information or to purchase tickets for the fund-raiser, visit www.ljhsalumni.org or call the school office, (858) 551-9871.