We have had requests from classmates who moved or transferred before graduation to be included in the class list. Is there a way others who have encountered this situation have used to denote in the Profiles list or in another place that someone was at one time a classmate but did not graduate with the class?

Most admins still include them as classmates even though they may have dropped out or passed away before graduation. There is no reason to denote them any differently. We aren't in high school any more. I say that if they went to school with you and want to be included, they should be added as regular classmates.

You can include them as GUESTS if you want. (Manage Classmates, Enter/Edit Classmates, DETAILS, then change the SHOW ON CLASS LIST to be "as a guest")

Our philosophy is once a Pirate always a Pirate. We include them in the class they should have graduated with.

We have several and included them in with everyone else. We tried to get high school pictures where we could. We don't consider them guests, they were classmates. We aren't celebrating only graduation, we are celebrating our school experiences. Classmates from the year before us and the year after us are considered guests on our site.

Hello Martha ~ As the others, I consider them as classmates and do include them. The way I keep track of them is by putting a note in my ADMIN NOTES on the Manage Classmates' DETAILS page that they did not graduate from our school, that they went to our school for only F/S/J year, or whatever other pertinent info you want to include. If I know where they graduated from, I add that in there as well.
For their photo, I scan the last yearbook photo I can find.

We welcome all who graduated or should have graduated with us.

This includes tranfers out, early grads, late grads whatever

We also include them as regular classmates. We went to school with them in grade/middle/high school so they BELONG. We also include some from the New Mexico Military Institute as they also were with us in the earlier grades. We also try our best to include their class photo even if it is only a Freshman photo or in the case of the NMMI their senior photo from NMMI.

I pretty well have 'free reign' on our class site, so ANYONE who WOULD have graduated with us is allowed to be a member.

Just depends on what you and/or your team want to do with your site. Many sites I have looked at have a purpose statement as well as a criteria statement that spells everything out. Thus, there will be consistency if Admin's no longer want to have the responsibility - it will provide continuity.

Wright Patterson AF Base, which was one of the largest and busiest bases in the world, is about a mile from our HS. For many years students who lived on base were assigned to our school district. During our HS (late 60s-early 70s) years, classmates, whose parents were military and civil servants, were transferred on a regular basis. In addition, we have some classmates who never graduated and some who completed requirements later. We make no distinction. Should someone "choose" to be connected with our class, we welcome him/her with open arms. THE MORE THE MERRIER!

The school is so close to the base that when SAC (Strategic Air Command) would start the planes and run the engines, class momentarily stopped. The noise was deafening!

It seems, and I whole heartedly agree, that anyone who would have graduated with our class deserves to be included. I have several that went to grade school and junior high school with our classmates but moved away just before high school, They are included as well. I recently asked one of those to send me a HS photo of her at her high school. She copied the page out of her annual and emailed it to me. I cut and psated her HS photos into her profile. Now she feels even more a part of the class.
There were also quite a number that went off to school after attending initially. We went and copied their photos from their sophomore or junior photos for them.

There is another reason why I am pro Class Creator... it is all of you!

Once a classmate, always a classmate.

As I recently wrote to a fellow alum, we do not fault a classmate because their family moved.

Watch out, I'm about ready for a group hug!

I've received emails from classmates who question whether they can join our site. They say, "But I never graduated," or "I only got my GED," or "I graduated a year behind." We've welcomed each and every one of them. They are considered part of our class (elementary, JH and HS)and would never consider noting them any different.

We decided early on that if anyone was with the class from 7th grade and up they were indeed part of that class. It didn't matter if they graduated, dropped out or was only there during their senior year. It helps making the decision of who is and who isn't. The only exception is ME! I graduated a year after them and went to a different school. But I'm now an honorary member of the class and the administrator of their site. I like them more then my class. lol

We call those who did not graduate with us "Former Classmates". We have a page dedicated to them (third link down from the top). On this page, we list their name, grades attended in our class, graduation details, and current location or year passed away. If one of them wishes to join, we add their name to the Classmate Profiles page, right alongside our graduates, not in the Guest Members section.

Twenty-five have joined to date. Some of them were in our class from kindergarten through eleventh grade and then moved away. Others were with us from first grade through eighth, then attended a Catholic high school. The ones who have joined have retained their loyalty to our class and greatly appreciate being counted as classmates. Aside from class loyalty, it's really about giving them the opportunity to reconnect with dear friends and renew long dormant relationships. That's the bottom line.

Don't worry that everyone who is a former classmate will want to join your site. It will sort itself out naturally. Those who stayed back and graduated a year or two later will probably retain the loyalty to their graduating class and not join. Those who were only in your class for first and second grade will most likely not wish to join.

All our site pages are publicly viewable, except profiles on the Classmate Profiles page that classmates choose to password protect, so have fun looking at them and feel free to copy any ideas you see.