TJHSST Alumni Association

The Official TJ Alumni Site

Thomas Jefferson High School
for Science & Technology
Alumni Association
Planning an Event

There is no end to the outreach and networking possible among alumni. Several annual gatherings are currently hosted by the association, but other events are welcome. Reunions are traditionally spearheaded by class officers, but often they are not available to do the planning, and even if they are, help is always needed. The Alumni Directory can provide as much, if not more information on alumni than a professional reunion service. Below are notes from classes who have previously held reunions in order to facilitate planning for future classes. If you are planning a reunion for your class, please send us an e-mail.

Informal events, such as happy hours, can be organized in many cities where Jefferson alumni live or at schools alumni attend. A cover charge can usually offset the cost of most events and the Alumni Directory can help you identify potential invitees. Some seed money may be available as a loan to organizers. See the full policy below. If you wish to have information about your event posted on the website, please send us an e-mail.

Five Year
Usually held at a restaurant or bar on Thanksgiving Weekend. Attendees are usually charged a cover at the door and are encouraged to RSVP to the coordinator via email through web site announcements, emails, and/or postal mailings. Suggested locations: Main Street USA, 7131 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, 703-750-0777; Whitlow’s, 2854 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, 703-276-9693.

Ten Year
Usually a weekend of events either in August or November, including a Friday evening happy hour, a Saturday afternoon picnic, tours of the school, and a formal Saturday evening reception. Attendees are usually charged a cover and are encouraged to RSVP to the coordinator via email through web site announcements, emails, and/or postal mailings.

Financial Support for Class Reunions
The Alumni Association is committed to supporting the classes in reunion planning in a variety of ways.

Help identify and form reunion planning committees for each class for major reunion years (5-year, 10-year, 15-year, 20-year, 25-year reunions).

Provide support through organizational and financial infrastructure.

Access to alumni database with alumni contact information.

Access to tjhsstalumni.org website to post information, announcements, etc.

Usage of the TJAA PayPal account for collecting fees for tickets, etc.

Usage of the TJHSST Alumni Association bank account for the purpose of funneling money through temporarily as it relates to reunion planning activities (e.g., ticket purchasers may write checks to the Thomas Jefferson Alumni Association and the Alumni Association will then write checks out of these proceeds to cover reunion expenses).

Financial support. Regrettably, the TJ Alumni Association is not currently able to subsidize reunion events financially, but may be able to assist with the timing of payments for deposits on venues, etc. Should a reunion event require a deposit in advance of collecting money from ticket sales, the TJ Alumni Association is willing to write a check to temporarily cover the deposit for a venue, up to $1500 per event per class per year. This deposit will be made no more than 8 months in advance of the scheduled date of the event.

This is a loan to an individual person on the reunion planning committee. Should there be any sort of problem with the venue, the ticket sales, or the event itself, this individual will be responsible for repaying the loan to the Alumni Association in full by the scheduled date of the event (0% interest).

Proceeds from ticket sales will go first toward repaying this loan before any proceeds are to be used for any other reunion expenses. Should proceeds from ticket sales amount to less than the full loan, the individual borrower will still be responsible for repaying the loan in full by the scheduled date of the reunion.

The Alumni Association charges no fee for these services. However, in consideration we do require the Class to ask for voluntary contributions to the Alumni Association at the time that reunion tickets are sold. In order to maintain financial and organizational infrastructure, the Alumni Association requests that each reunion planning committee make a contribution to the Alumni Association. The amount of such a donation is left up to the discretion of the reunion planning committee. (We suggest $500 for each major event for which the Alumni Association provides support. This is just $2.50 per person for an event with 200 people in attendance.) This contribution will be used to ensure the smooth functioning of the website, database, and financial infrastructure (PayPal, bank account, incorporation fees, etc.) and will ensure the Alumni Association is able to continue to support reunions and all alumni activities in the future.