Everyone is an alumni from somewhere or with something. It could be a link to an organization or a group. Perhaps it is an association with a college or a university. Or the connection could be with the public school from high school all the way down to elementary school. 

The bonds of our past associations can be reinforced by that common connection, maybe one you didn’t even know existed. I became friends with someone in North Platte several years ago and a few years into the friendship, we discovered that we were in the same second grade class in Omaha nearly 40 years ago. Turns out, we were alumni of the same elementary school. 

That is just evidence that it is hard to continue those connections with time and distance taking its toll. Fortunately, McCook is blessed to have a vehicle in place to help maintain those relationships: the Bison Alumni Newsletter, otherwise known as BAN. 

Started in 1991 by Steve Batty and Cheri Becknhauer, the newsletter is published twice a year, providing information about McCook High School, as well as the community. They realized the need to maintain connections once someone graduates, whether they stay in their hometown or they move away.

Many people likely remember the “folding parties” held in the McCook Junior High Cafeteria, where the paper copies were folded, labeled and stamped before being mailed to, at first, hundreds of alumni and then thousands of former McCook High School students. 

But as postage costs increased and volunteers became more scarce, the newsletter became available only via a digital format except for the few oldest McCook classes. No longer was a paper copy of the Bison Alumni Newsletter showing up in your mailbox to flip through from the first to last page. The printed edition was not laying around your parent’s house, waiting to be picked up and casually read when you had time. Instead, like most reading materials these days you had to find the link in your emails or visit the Bison Alumni Newsletter website to read it.

That being said, the Spring 2025 edition was just completed so please find it and catch up.

Which leads to the next matter: 

While the digital newsletter still contains all the same great information like the Heritage Days royalty and recaps of school events, there is now a different issue: the clutter of our email in-boxes and just information overload in general. 

We have so many services and businesses and events vying for our attention that an email twice a year can easily get lost in the shuffle. I know I spend the first few minutes every morning trying to shuffle through all the promotional emails and inspirational posts that fill my email in-box.

So the McCook Community Foundation Fund and the Bison Alumni Newsletter have teamed up to go old school by offering a “subscription” service for the newsletter. For a suggested yearly $20 donation, recipients will receive the fall and spring editions beginning with the Fall 2025 edition. 

Is this a bargain? Perhaps not, but it is a worthwhile project to help the Bison Alumni Newsletter continue. Is this a good investment? Yes, because this will ensure that we will help future alumni stay connected to their hometown. 

Why is that important? Because we want our current graduates to return to their hometown. We want our alumni to remember their former community when making estate plans. And perhaps most importantly, we want former, current and future graduates to stay connected and to be proud of being an alumni. And a simple piece of paper can help with that goal.

I must admit that I have a personal bias toward the printed copy. While I do own a Kindle to read digital books, I still love the feel of a book in my hands, flipping through a real magazine or slowly pursuing a printed newsletter.

And many people agree with this sentiment. So that is why we are hoping many people support a new subscription program with the Bison Alumni Newsletter, which needs at least 200 subscriptions to make it financially viable. 

Several people have already “subscribed” for themselves and have taken it a step further by providing funds to send the printed newsletter to their children. I assume they hope their children will take up the baton to pay for it themselves the next year but it gets the newsletter in front of the younger generation.

If you want more information about the Bison Alumni Newsletter printed edition, please visit the McCook Community Foundation Fund website at mccookfoundation.org, where you can make the $20 donation and get signed up for the launch of the subscription service in Fall 2025. You can also send an email to mcffund@gmail for more info or mail a check to MCFF/BAN, Box 525, McCook NE 69001, including the name and address(es) of the recipients. 

While we are doing this project with the Bison Alumni Newsletter, it can apply to any group, school or organization. Reach out and make those connections on behalf of your group. Or alternatively, reach out to a group you were once associated with and see how you can re-establish or strengthen those connections

This is our opportunity to make or continue those connections that will help our communities grow and thrive for generations to come, whether it is using high-tech or going old school.