The East Longmeadow High School Class of 2007 posed for its yearbook photo.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
EAST LONGMEADOW — The 233 members of East Longmeadow High School’s 2007 graduating class walked the stage to receive their diplomas and close out their high school careers nearly 20 years ago, and one Facebook post while planning the reunion has since turned the 233 alumni into 10,000 followers and honorary alumni after reaching the feeds of people all across the country.
The “ELHS Class of 2007” Facebook page and reunion planning began with old photos and memories from high school years. The page turned a simple “yes or no” RSVP invite into an online forum of inside jokes and roasts, bridging and strengthening friendships nearly two decades after the final school bell rang, while also bringing in people who have never even stepped foot into East Longmeadow.
The page quickly gained attention with 300,000 views after it jokingly posted the roast against a former classmate for being the first “no” on the RSVP. It gained more ground after the second “no” response and roast, receiving nearly 3,000 likes, 600 comments and 1.5 million views.
Followers hail from many different states, such as Ohio, New Jersey, New York, Florida, Indiana, Washington, Minnesota and Missouri, commenting things like “I don’t know how I got here, but can I come?” Others have pleaded for the reunion to be live streamed.
The reunion planning team refers to themselves as the “core four,” and is made up of Susan Commisso, Charles Shenk, Giuliano Basile and Cory Karalekas. Commisso, the account’s voice, said she never expected the account to gain attention outside of the 2007 class, let alone hit 10,000 followers.
“At first, we all kind of cackled about it,” Commisso said. “We thought it was strange, just the concept that people are literally following a reunion page, but then we realized it wasn’t the fact that it’s the reunion, like the party that’s bringing everyone together, it’s the stuff that we’re talking about. We’re lovingly roasting each other and hoping that we change people’s minds to come to this party, so we can see how everybody is and what they’ve accomplished. That has been huge for us, and just seeing a safe space on social media where people are genuinely having a good time.”
She said that the following has had an impact on the party planning, and that a lot of people want to come since it’s become a big thing.
“They have family all over the world that have heard about it and it’s kind of mind boggling,” Commisso said. “We also have some people that are not really about the whole big thing, and we don’t want to deter our classmates away from coming. We are actually trying to integrate a weekend where one day, we could have families … We are trying to find a balance with it, and for the most part, everyone in our class is pretty excited and amped up about it.”
Commisso said most of the comments have something positive to say and that the account followers showcase “everybody being happy to be in one spot.”
“It’s been wonderful and healing,” Commisso said. “This whole thing has been life changing, for myself as well as the ‘core four.’ It literally brought us together and opened a new friendship for us four and in doing all of this and speaking to classmates, and new people that we’re roasting, our old principal and hopefully teachers are able to reconnect and reminisce and talk about the future. It’s seriously been so rewarding and just a great experience overall.”
The current goal is to get every 2007 graduate at the party, and Commisso said there’s about 40 people left to locate.
