Kanty Alumni Website

Conrad Czaplicki has been working hard scanning the 1959 yearbook as some other resources. THANK YOU! You can find these in the new "Kanty Yearbooks" section on the left sidebar.

He's done a few other contributions, and I'll be sorting them into their own departments sometime this week.

Again, Thanks Conrad!

Dan Kij G48I just got off the phone and had a great conversation with Dan Kij, president of the Kanty Alumni Association. It was great hearing that he likes the site, and it led to some great new ideas and discussion. We'll be moving a huge alumni directory that Dan created years ago, and with the help of his friend David Newman, we'll make it a private part of the site so that every member can eventually get a printed directory.

Also it's obvious Dan has volumes of information about Kanty and Alumni. So, again, any tech-savvy volunteers out there are much needed to get things online.

There are some more great images from Bill in the Nostalgia and Sports gallery. The Class of '53 definitely is getting the best representation on the site these days! I'll have to start pestering my '75 classmates to do the same.

Also, here's a trick: If you use the recent posts link in the left-hand menu you can see all the new posts and images which have gone on the site since you last visited. That makes it easy to quickly visit and see if anything is new.

I added the first section to the "Kanty Prep History" collection (left) called "How It All Began". It's a paraphrased version of an article I found in the May 1976 Prepster that Mike Trott was kind enough to upload. The article was really informative to me and so I thought it was a worthy start to the history section.

Kanty Station Map DetailOne interesting thing mentioned in the article is that, with the backing of the Mayor, "a Railroad siding was constructed and the station-stop 'Kanty' came into being". I remember the railroad tracks but not the station. I guess the class of 1975 was too late for the train. But, it prompted me to dig up some historical maps, and sure enough I found one with both the school and the train stop. You can see the the full map by clicking here.

Bob Ciok and Bill Humienny horsing aroundNew photos are always appearing on the site lately thanks to some great contributors! While I was up in Brisbane, Bill Humienny sent me some photos and I created a new "Nostalgia" album. Looks like it was a good idea, because I just noticed Bill has added another dozen or so photos. These are great memories of Kanty, especially for those in the class of '53. In fact, I realize that there are lots of things about Kanty I didn't even know when I attended.

One major goal I have for the site is to get people involved in contributing their own content, stories, and history of Kanty.

How can I make this easier? Add some comments to this post if you have any ideas.

Some of the areas where involvement is needed:

• Spreading the word to other alumni, especially day students and those from more recent years who may not even be aware of the yearly reunions.
• Contributing to the "Kanty Prep History" collection on the left.
• Scanning in yearbook and Prepster images and adding them to the site.
  
  

Windows - St. PaulThanks to Arthur Oleszkowski for his contribution of the wonderful Chapel window photos. I created a special gallery for them that you can view by clicking here on the Chapel Windows gallery or by browsing them in the regular photo gallery.

Also, please note!! If you are a registered user look for the "add new comment" link below all the images when you look at them at full-size. If you know anything about these images, or details of the photo that may be interesting, please tell us in a comment!.

The OrganLooking through Bill's reunion photos is quite remarkable. Of all of them, the one that surprised me most was the organ, still sitting there installed where it always was with the pipes in place. Many times I remember standing singing in the choir with Father Joe sneering back at the out-of-tune cacophony. Considering the disrepair of the rest of the school, I didn't expect to see it looking so intact.

Organ PipesWhat's going to happen to that old organ? It's very rare to find a pipe organ that is small enough to put in somebody's house. Are there any plans to relocate it? Refurbish it? Find a buyer?

I made some updates to the website today that are worth noting:

First, I rearranged the photo galleries, added the "Sports" gallery and put all the Prepster and news clip scans into a new gallery.

Next, I created a new department in the left column called "Collections". This is a place where I'll put related information so it's easy to see it all in one location. These collections can eventually turn into real "books", so I created a placeholder "Kanty Prep History" in the hopes that someone will be tempated to write a little.

I might also from time to time change the captions of certain images to make them fit in the collection better, if that's ok with everybody.

Prepster March 1977Gosh, I have to say that for every one thing I remember about Kanty there must be 10 I've forgotten. The scan of the Prepster that Mike (thanks!) uploaded made me yearn for more. I've gone through so many moves and shuffles in life that I don't have a single bit of memorabilia myself, so this is defintely cool!

I wonder what the chances of us finding every prepster and getting them scanned in. Not even sure we'd want to! But there have to be a few of them that would bring back some memories.