by Laurie Spinosi

Have you had a big change during Covid that led to a happy ending? When my office closed in March 2020, we all thought we’d be back in a few months, even though the intent was just two weeks! Little did we know that many coworkers would be off for much longer. As it turned out, the office never did reopen. The building was put on the market and sold within 6 weeks in April 2021. The lemonade? It sold quickly and everyone now works remotely!

The mass office clean-out brought a stroke of good luck…lemonade for Northland this time. Dealing with educational resources for grades K-12, the company had hundreds of books to clear out in warp-speed fashion! Many texts and popular trade books for high school found a new home at Northland. The librarian, Mrs. Jean Trimble, handily divided the books up so that they would service a few different needs at NHS! Finding that new home for over 200 books was a win-win! See Mrs. Trimble’s letter and photo below.

Hello Mrs. Spinosi,

Thank you for your generous book donation to Northland High School.  I went through all of the books and separated them into areas where I thought they could be used most effectively.

 – 6 dictionaries and 1 thesaurus were added to the class sets of  dictionaries used in the library

  – 31 books (some with corresponding Teacher Guides) were separated for teacher use. Teachers were emailed and      encouraged to check them out over the summer. One teacher has already taken advantage of this opportunity!

  – 75 books were reserved for giveaways either by PBIS or other clubs. These are books already in the library collection or one of multiple copies donated. Five have already been given away.

  – 110 books will be added to the library collection!

Again, your thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated! 

Jean Trimble
Teacher/Librarian
Go Vikings!

Another successful NHSAF Golf Outing is in the books. Sixteen teams hit the links at Chapel Hill this past Saturday with Team Wiederman taking 1st place, Team Welsh taking 2nd place and Team Lundy coming in 3rd. We would like to thank all of our golfers, hole sponsors and a special thank you to Alum Pam (Jones) Zeirott for planning and organizing another great event.

Paid members can see all the pictures here 

Coach Ryan Sayers has put up a Popcorn Pop Up store to help raise funds for The Viking Football Team. Check it out here and purchase some popcorn to show your support!

Popcorn Pop Up

Our 7th annual NHSAF Alumni Golf Outing is less than 2 months away, happening on Saturday, June 26th at Chapel Hill GC. Reach out to your classmates, friends and neighbors and put together a foursome. Due to the Covid situation we will maintain a more basic golf outing similar to last year, without a dinner or raffle prizes. Proceeds will go to support programs for the students at NHS. We appreciate all of our golfers and hole sponsors. Click the link below for our event flyer.

2021 Alumni Golf Outing Flyer

NHSAF 2^nd Annual Bowl-A-Mania Event

When: Sunday, April 25^th, 2021

Where: Sequoia Pro Bowl, 5501 Sandalwood Blvd., Columbus, OH 43229

Time: 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm, 2 full hours of bowling fun!

(doors open at 2:30pm)

Cost: $15.00 per bowler (includes shoes and ball)

Family (all ages), Alumni, Current Students, Teachers, Staff and Friends are all invited to our family friendly event.
Additional Info Contact: Randy Suver

Randy.suver@gmail.com

Sequoia Pro Bowl has implemented these Covid protocols

• Masks are mandatory at all times except when you are up on the approach throwing the ball or raising food/drink to your mouth.
• We have spaced our tables so there is 6ft space around each table.
• Gloves are given to anyone getting a ball from our room of sanitized house balls.
• Dots guide you where to stand when waiting to bowl and avoid congestion of people in a small space.
• We ask for Air 5’s instead of High 5’s that are so typical in bowling.
• We use a very effective cleaning agent called Extreme Bio that is used to clean up places like meat packing plants to kill any virus on surfaces.
• Shields between customers and staff at all counters.
• No pitchers are used to serve beer to eliminate sharing.
• To eliminate sharing of food, we are offering 7 inch individual pizzas and our typical “shareable” size appetizers are not available.

Tickets on sale now!

Pay At The Door

(Please purchase before April 18th, tickets will be $17 at the door)

To purchase tickets you can send a check made out to

NHSAF 

PO Box 1894    

Westerville, OH 43086

Please write Bowling in the memo And include a note with your contact info.

Social media can work in mysterious ways.  One of our NHSAF board members received a Facebook message just before Thanksgiving 2020 from a total stranger.  It was a fluke that the message was even seen as the board member doesn’t really use messenger.  But this message was seen along with a snapshot of an NHS 1978 class ring that said:

“I’m looking for someone, most likely female, who graduated in 1978 with the initials KLW, I’m in eastern NC and found a class ring.”

Searching a 78 yearbook, there were indeed 4 senior lady Vikings found with the initials KW.  But how to find them?  Luckily, Class of 1978 had a Facebook page. Their admin posted to their site to see if 78 classmates could help identify the person. Wouldn’t it be something positive during this pandemic time to find the owner?!?  Well, a flurry of excited and encouraging responses from classmates popped up on the post, and low and behold, KLW saw the post and weighed in.   A ring had been lost by Kirsta while she was in college over 40 years ago.  It had long since been forgotten.  Could it be hers? 

NHSAF was able to connect Kirsta with the good Samaritan, Mike.  It turns out Mike had acquired several boxes of items at a thrift store going out of business.  He had plans to sell the goods at flea markets.  The ring was in the mix, and something made him want to find the owner when he saw it.  What an act of kindness Mike made trying to locate the original owner, and how easily it was done, in one day through social media! 

Do you believe in coincidences? The ring made it home again in the mail, and surprisingly both people live in North Carolina!  Kirsta’s youngest son was a Viking locally in NC.  And another? The inquiry to find the ring’s owner was made after Mike saw a recent post on the class Facebook site, one that NHSAF was seeking Viking Veterans.  Kirsta just happens to be married to a Marine!  The stars certainly were aligned at the right time for this happy ending!  

In this trying year full of fear and frustration, something warm and wonderful has happened. Through the kindness of one very special Northland Alumna, the NHS Alumni Foundation’s band fundraiser has hit a beautiful high note.

Laura Spears Frankenberg, a 1980 NHS grad, has graciously helped the NHS Alumni Foundation’s (NHSAF) cause this year. Though Laura was part of the vocal music program while at NHS, she became a band fan when her children, Aundrea and Nick, who also attended NHS, enjoyed their years marching at the football games and in parades. Two of her grandchildren, Laura Jean Tanner and current senior Micah Tanner, also have the NHS band in their blood. Yes, that is three generations of Northland Vikings!

With a heart that is always giving, Laura has chosen to give back to her high school with inheritance money received. She gifted $2,000 to the NHS Alumni Foundation, all this for the simple cause that the students are so deserving. And through that kindness, an anonymous alumnae donor has matched her donation! We cannot thank these Viking alumni enough!

Through the generous and kind hearts of other alumni, NHSAF has raised a total of $7,900 towards the repair or replacement of many band instruments and the cleaning and mending of band uniforms. As one alumnus said “We want to help the band get its beat back!”

NHSAF appreciates the giving spirit of Laura Spears Frankenberg, the matching donation of another alumnus, as well as all of our Viking donors, in support of the current NHS student family. We appreciate the alumni also working with the staff to achieve this goal.

If you, too, want to be a part of this deserving effort, you can make a donation by contacting NHSAF Treasurer Laurie Spinosi at laurie.alum@northlandhigh.com

A generous NHS Alum has offered to donate $10 for every CharityMania ticket sold now through October 28th. If you have been waiting to buy, or on the fence about getting a ticket, now is the time to make your move. Not only will the instrumental program benefit from your purchase, but also from an additional donation of $10. Buying a ticket is easy just go to https://www.charitymania.com/give/CA00A

If you would like more info go to our webpage: https://northlandhigh.com/2020-football-mania-fundraiser/
or contact Pam Jones Zeirott, ’72, nhs72.pam@gmail.com.

If you wish to just make a donation, please mail a check to NHSAF PO Box 1894 Westerville OH 43086 (please note in the memo:Band)- or click the donate button on the right side of the page.

We are a non-profit, your donations are tax deductible to the extent the law allows. Please help us meet this need.

With safety in mind we will be conducting our monthly meetings virtually for the foreseeable future. Upcoming meeting times are listed below.

Topic: NHSAF Monthly Board Meetings (alumni welcome!)
When: Every month on the Second Tuesday
        Jan 12, 2021 06:30 PM
        Feb 9, 2021 06:30 PM
        Mar 9, 2021 06:30 PM
        Apr 6, 2021 06:30 PM
        May 11, 2021 06:30 PM

If you are interested in attending, email laurie.alum@northlandhigh.com for the virtual meeting information.