Laurinburg Institute (1904) is world-renowned for athletes and musicians. Our school also produced hundreds of graduates from colleges and universities — some completed graduate school, others completed professional schools of dentistry, engineering, law, or medicine. Many of us simply began our adult lives.
Our alumni survived recessions, social movements, and wars. We endured the uncertainties of the eras we attended Laurinburg Institute. The best of our experiences connect us. These are reasons we anticipate reunions each year.
REUNION 2019 is in Laurinburg on the last weekend in August. This is only the eighth official reunion. Hurricane Florence forced cancellation of the last, which was scheduled to be in Newport News, Virginia.
Our school and National Alumni of Laurinburg Institute also made this a 50th anniversary celebration for the Class of 1967.
Ironically, there’s a group known as Laurinburg Institute Alumni & Friends. They distinguish themselves as the original chapter. Since 1994 they’ve held reunions in Laurinburg. These alumni attended Laurinburg Institute under the leadership of Frank McDuffie Sr. Some attended while founder Emmanuel McDuffie lead the school. This group predates the official alumni association and Laurinburg Institute does not recognize them. There’s no mention of this group on our monthly conference call agendas or school website.
Thousands of our alumni are in the Caribbean, Europe, the United States and Puerto Rico. Our alumni groups exclude multitudes of us because they have no idea who we are. They don’t know where we are. Our school doesn’t either. Laurinburg Institute lost touch with its graduates because of primitive recordkeeping. To date, no updated contacts or records exist for thousands of graduates. Average prep schools moved this information to encrypted data bases by early 2000s. Laurinburg Institute did not. We have over 200 Facebook group members on Laurinburg Alumni (public group) and Laurinburg Institute Alumni (closed group).
There are 475 alumni registered to Classmates.com. Hundreds of our alumni also share information on LinkedIn. Social media data merges easily with alumni data base software. This software can be used to manage Laurinburg Institute directories and grow participation in reunions. Our school must consolidate alumni groups into one association. One unified alumni association can reach the breadth of alumni around the world. There are thousands of us.
Our alumni consist of more than just graduates. Attendees, coaches, staff, and teachers are also included. Our history is oral and largely unrecorded. We remember corporal punishment. We remember fines imposed for use of profanity. We remember mile long walks to do laundry. We remember salmon cakes and steep tea – unsweetened. Our senior orations are a constant memory. We remember Dizzy Gillespie leading band practice. We remember Sam Jones visiting campus. The music of our eras is fondly remembered. We remember the founding McDuffie family. All 115 years of Laurinburg Institute history are catalogued in the memories of thousands of alumni.
Among us are people who declined better opportunities to instead work at Laurinburg Institute. They lived our school motto: Deeds Not Words. They lived it in the context of the times. These men and women worked there through the 1920s. They were there through 10 years of the Great Depression. They were there through Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Era. All through the Smack Era ’60s and ’70s they were there. They were there during the ’80s Crack Era and Gangsta Rap Era ’90s.
Some worked at Laurinburg Institute for decades – Paul Baldwin, Peter Gomez, Vernon Johnson, Cynthia McDuffie, etc. Some were multi-subject teachers. They all gave multi-level instruction in terms of student comprehension. Our coaches, staff, and teachers quietly endured low pay without increases. There were no employment incentives, i.e. dental, educational differential, longevity pay, medical, tuition reimbursement. Reunions are small consolations to these men and women.
Reunions are consolations to attendees and graduates, too. We are the manifestation of the sacrifices of coaches, staff, and teachers. Those of us at Laurinburg Institute after 1990 endured challenging conditions. Robert Dozier, ‘05 surprisingly discussed some with Fayetteville Observer staff writer Michael N. Graff in his 2008 article, “4 In The Final Four.”
“We didn’t live so great. We stayed in condemned dorms. We slept with the roaches and ants every night,” Dozier said.
Still, we endured.
Attendees and graduates managed social challenges of the decades we attended. We quietly endured conditions at the school that were normalized. None of these were imposed by other prep schools. We endured – quietly. Reunions let us revisit the best of our Laurinburg Institute experiences.
These events are emblematic of our school and its stewards – the McDuffie Family. NALI consists of eight regional chapters. Each has two leaders. There’s a president, too. These men and women have decades of experience in various industries and professions. Many are educated beyond college. They’re capable of coordinating reunions that celebrate our robust history. Alumni basketball games are a must. We also expect activities that affirm school values – character, integrity, leadership.
Our eyes should tire from viewing banners that line our campus. Our bodies should ache from handshakes and hugs from newly met alumni. We are Laurinburg Institute! All our alumni association ever needs is held in abundance by thousands of alumni – starting with me.
Andre Mack was born and raised in the Bronx, N.Y., and is a 1991 graduate of Laurinburg Institute. He went on to graduate from the University of North Carolina at Asheville and attended graduate school at Southern Connecticut State University. 1991 graduate of Laurinburg Institute.