Alumni Search: How to Find Old Classmates for Class Reunions

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Alumni Search for Class Reunions

This article explains how to do an alumni search for class reunions. Before beginning, let’s define the word alumni. Alumni are students who have graduated from a particular learning institution such as a high school, community college, university, the military, or training course. Technically, anyone who graduates from a particular learning institution is an alumnus. However, the term implies that the individual has some ongoing connection with the school.

Before the rising popularity of social media, old friends and classmates would keep in touch using reunion websites and alumni website services, such as Classmates.com. Now social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+ are the primary way people do an alumni search for class reunions and stay in touch with each other.

People need to track down old classmates and school buddies for various reasons. The most common cause is to invite them to attend a class reunion. Class reunions are usually held at five-year or ten-year intervals. Five-year reunions are often held during the “early” years after graduation.

Then, as the class ages, ten-year reunions become the norm. Other reasons people need to do an alumni search include reconnecting and catching up with old friends, tracking down that old high school girlfriend or long-lost love, or informing others of the sickness or death of someone they know.

Resources and Websites for Finding Old High School and College Friends

The following websites provide information on high school, collect, and university alumni and classmate search resources. Private investigators may also use these sites for related purposes, such as researching missing person cases, tracking down debtors, and performing a skip trace. You don’t need to be a private detective; anyone can use these sites to find old classmates or college friends.

People Search Tools

If you’re looking for old friends and former classmates, running a quick people search is the fastest way. With a people search, you can sort through billions of records to find your buddies from high school, college, or even the military. Search for someone now.

List of Alumni Search Websites

Alumni search websites aren’t as popular as they used to be. The growth in social networking sites has made many of these sites obsolete. However, they may be of some value due to the historical data available in their database. The following is a list of the most famous alumni search websites.

  • Alumni Archive – This website provides a comprehensive set of alumni features such as a class directory, reunion post, message post, Military/DOD Profiles And Directory, Extensive Photo, Reunion and Movie Galleries, Year Book Archive, In-Memoriam list, Class Statistics, Activity Reporting, Polls, Jokes, Stories, Comics, Horoscopes and more.  Has links to many alumni websites nationwide.
  • Alumni.NET – A global alumni registry that includes millions of registered alumni from over 100,000 organizations worldwide.
  • ClassMates.com – The Classmates.com site is one of the original reunion sites. It lists the United States and Canadian schools, both domestic and international. The website connects millions of members throughout the U.S. and Canada and is dedicated to helping people reconnect with friends and acquaintances from school, work, and the military.
  • Intelius People Search is a quality provider of People Search and Background Check reports. Intelius has an extensive selection of people search reports, background checks, criminal records, court records, real estate, and financial information.
  • Our Class Online – Provides tools that quickly empower you and your classmates to create a reunion website to assist you in reuniting classmates. This is an excellent option if you need to set up a web-based portal to manage reunion communications.
  • Reunion Announcements – A free public announcement service for reunion committees and professional reunion planners to announce upcoming high school reunions.
  • Reunion.com – (No longer available) The site used to have a helpful list of high schools in the U.S. and Canada.

Use Multiple Sites for the Best Results

If you’re searching for an old friend, lost love, or classmate, it may be a good idea to search multiple sites since no single site provides a comprehensive list of all schools, reunions, or alumni. Also, we recommend using messaging features such as discussion groups or message posting. Even if you don’t find the person in the database, posting a message on the site may help them find you later. Sometimes, the best way to find someone is for them to know you’re looking for them.

High School, University, and College Alumni Directories

Suppose you are doing an alumni search for class reunions. In that case, another great is the directory, list, and/or database that the high school, university, or college maintains of their former students. Alumni associations receive the majority of their funding from former students. Therefore, they do an excellent job of keeping their contact information. If one of the above methods doesn’t yield results, visit the university’s main website and search for the alumni association’s information. Visit their page or website to search their database.

Leverage Social Media

In 2018, more than 2.7 billion people used social media. Most of those users are on Facebook, which accounts for more than 1.5 billion members. In addition, people use LinkedIn, Twitter, Whatsapp, Instagram, Google+, and many more. As a result, social media is the main way people stay in touch after they leave high school and college.

If you’re trying to do an alumni search for class reunions, make sure social media is a part of your plan. To begin your search, start with this list of social media sites. Use the list as a starting point for searching for your former flames and long-lost buddies. Visit each site, create an account, and use the network’s search tool to start looking. Also, learn how to do a social media investigation.

Role in Investigations

Private investigators and police detectives may use alumni and reunion websites when investigating missing persons. Such research websites may help determine who had the last contact with a subject. And they may even help you determine their current whereabouts.

Michael Kissiah is the owner of Brandy Lane Publishing, LLC, which owns and operates a small portfolio of websites, including eInvestigator.com. Michael created eInvestigator.com more than 20 years ago after working as a private investigator in the state of Florida. Since that time, he has become an expert at how to find information online and has written over 1000 articles on topics related to the investigation industry. In addition, he is the author of the "Private Investigator Licensing Handbook", available at Amazon.com.

1 COMMENT

  1. Good morning. I am attempting to find a dear friend from HS back in 1968.We lost contact. At 75 I don’t know how much longer I have to find her. Can you help me or direct me to a resource that can? Sincerely Thank You!
    Stafford Dunn. dunnbayside@aol.com

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