LAUNCH: BTW, Hillcrest High School alumni association

Hillcrest High School just might get an alumni association, a first in the school’s 70 years of existence. “This could lead to things like mentoring programs, which could translate into a lower dropout rate,” explains Jim Arnold, one of the parents on the Hillcrest Site Based Decision Making Committee who is helping to launch the effort. “An active alumni association is like chicken soup — it can’t hurt.” Right now Arnold and others are looking for anyone who has attended or graduated from the school to be a part of the association. “Ideally, we’d like to form a board that has alumni from several decades — the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and so on.” And as of now, the group’s Facebook page is more than 1,700 members strong. Their goal is to have the association up and running by the end of the school year, but in order to make that happen, they’ll need help from alumni who are willing to do some pro bono work to get the group incorporated as a nonprofit, or are willing to make financial contributions to get the ball rolling. And though he can’t join the alumni association because he never attended Hillcrest, Arnold says he wants to see the association formed because it will help Preston Hollow students. It’s a local worthy cause, he says, and he hopes others will see it that way, too. “It’s called giving back. A lot of people gave to us so that we could get where we are today, so it’s our time to give back to the next generation here.” —Marlena Chavira-Medford