You’ve probably lost touch with many high school or college friends over time, no matter how close you were once. Reunions are fun events to reconnect with people you used to know, reminisce about the past, and find out what they’ve been doing and what’s happened in their lives. Learn how to track down old schoolmates and have the best possible reunion.
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Gather Information
Start by calling your old school or getting an old yearbook to see a list of schoolmates who graduated the same year as you. If you have time, enter the names into a spreadsheet and add columns for email addresses, phone numbers, names after marriage, and mailing addresses. Then, add more columns for people who will attend the reunion and want to help make it happen.
Share the sheet with friends and ask them to fill in the blanks with any details they remember about old schoolmates. Word of mouth can help find lots of contacts.
Ask Relatives For Help
Apart from your friends, your relatives can help you track down an old schoolmate for free. If you and a sibling or cousin went to the same school and had mutual friends, reach out to them to add the missing information. If you were part of a close-knit group of friends, at least some have kept in touch and have current information about each other.
Check Social Media
Whoever you try to contact, make sure they are active on social networks and enjoy getting updates about what their friends are up to. Look at friend lists of friends and relatives on social media to track down old schoolmates this way. Mutual friends might be able to provide the person’s married name, tell you where they work now, or inform you where they live. With these details, the next step will get much easier.
Check LinkedIn, Facebook, and other popular social media. Female schoolmates might have changed their last names after marriage.
Try A People Search Tool
School is a time that’s truly unique in how people are always socializing and on similar schedules to boot. People grow and nurture special bonds and close friendships that can last a lifetime. Consider using a people finder to do a free people search and get in touch with old schoolmates. The ease with which you can find people this way is quite surprising, particularly if you know their location history and full names. You could rely on Google for this, of course, but you’ll be flooded with results, especially if you’re looking up a common name.
To get started with a people search tool, all you need is a name and city or state. Any additional information you have will help.
The platform will pull up and display relevant report results, which you can sort through and filter. To get more specific results for a common name, add their age and a middle name or a middle initial. Then, sign up with the platform so you can get access to full background reports. These reports include everything from mailing addresses and workplace addresses to phone numbers and emails.
Traditional Search Engines
While not as effective as a people finder, traditional search engines can be effective. They are all free, at the very least. Use your old schoolmate’s full name and any aliases to search. To help filter the pages, put the names in quote marks.
Considering how many people with that name will be online, this type of search is hit or miss. To make some progress, add a place associated with them to the search.
You could also join reunion.com, classmates.com, or another relevant premium service. Before you sign up, do a free search to see if they’re on the platform at all. You only need to pay if you want to message someone.
Create An Online Group
Last but not least, you could use Yahoo! Groups or Facebook to create an online group. Members can sign up for free, share ideas, get updates, and reconnect online. You can get people talking about the reunion. You can also contact people outside your social circle to help find missing schoolmates.
These Tips Will Hopefully Be Helpful. Follow The Steps Outlined And Start Planning Your Reunion Today!