Kennedy alumni mount unified front

More than 300 Kennedy High School graduates spanning five decades gathered on Oct. 21 at Mulcahey’s Pub and Concert Hall in Wantagh for a night of drinks, music and fundraising, while catching up with old friends. The multi-class reunion was the kickoff event for the newly formed Kennedy Alumni Association.

Since the school’s establishment in 1966, Kennedy High School, which takes in students from Bellmore and Merrick, had yet to form an official alumni association. But Assistant Principal Eileen Connelly, who has been at Kennedy for 16 years, said it has long been her vision, as well as that of longtime principal Lorraine Poppe, to form one. “I was absolutely amazed that there was no alumni association,” said Connelly.

Connelly said she the new alumni association has three goals – to recognize Kennedy graduates, to raise scholarship money for scholarships and to restart the school’s Hall of Fame.

Last November, as a result of fundraising headed by Connelly, Kennedy held its first Hall of Fame dinner in 15 years. While at the dinner, attended by many Kennedy alumni, the room was abuzz with talk of an alumni association. Connelly was seeking someone to commit the time and effort to lead the association. She found Dr. Gary Morganstern, 56, a 1973 Kennedy graduate and dentist with a practice in Merrick.

Shortly after, Morganstern began making phone calls, and soon formed an association board. Among the members is David Weiss, 61, a local attorney who was among the 2010 Hall of Fame inductees, and Mark Meyerowitz, 60, a local accountant, who was among the original Hall of Fame inductees 15 years ago.

“We’re very prideful of our education and our community,” said Morganstern. “And we’re now of the age where we are able to reflect back and say, ‘This is something special.’ And we want to nurture it and support it, and we want to give back to the future generations to let them know how important it was to us.”

Weiss was part of Kennedy’s first graduating class, in 1968. Meyerowitz, a 1969 graduate, was part of the second graduating class. The two have remained friends ever since.