Reunions part 2 - My Stuy, Your Stuy

About a month ago, I was at my 30 year high school reunion. Yesterday I was at the class of 2009's 5 year one. Stuy 2004 also had their 10 year reunion last night.

It's always nice to be invited to reunions - I know it's largely dependent on who's on the organizing committee but it's nice to be remembered.

Last time I wrote about Stuy reunions I noted how similar they all are. It's something I've noticed over the years. The kids are all unique but the vibe is the same. I tell people that the biggest difference between my class reunion and the ones I attend as a teacher is that I know more people when I'm there as a teacher. That's probably more of a statement about me than the reunions or classes though.

Interesting to me was that I didn't really feel like I was at a Stuy event. The people I chatted with were by and large part of our CS family. We've got our own mailing list, have our own meetups and are already a community that spans the years. It was nice to actually see people, particularly the out of towners in person and it was nice to speak to some of the people who are more comfortable lurking on our list but it's not like we've been out of touch for the past five years.

It really cemented my feelings that my Stuy really doesn't have much to do with the actual school any more. It's the kids and teachers I work with right now and the many graduates that I now consider friends. It's also the CSTUY kids from the summer and the kids that I hope to work with in the future. There are more than a few non-Stuy people that are part of the community as well.

That's my Stuy. On the one hand, it's pretty cool. We've got a community that's around 700 people and spans almost four decades and StuyCS is a known quantity in the tech world.

On the other hand it's kind of sad that I no longer feel passionate about the institution that I attended as a kid and have worked at for over 20 years.