1. When did you attend Judge?  

2. Why did you go to Judge?

3. Who were your teachers?  What do you remember about them?

4. What kinds of things did you like to do when you were a teenager?  What were some of the popular trends of the time?  

5. Were there dances like Homecoming and Prom at Judge?  If so, what do you remember about them?

6. Who were your friends at Judge?  Did you have any friends at school that you stayed in touch with after you graduated from here?

7. The campus itself has been renovated since you attended. What do you remember about the school buildings and the campus?

8. How well did Judge prepare you for college and/or your professional life?

9. Do you have any advice for today's Judge students?

10. Anything else you'd like to ask.


Step Two - What do do with the responses

Read Mike Gorrell's and list points of interest

• St Mary's of the Wasatch
• Good priests/bad priests.  Corporal punishment
• teachers that stood out: McGean, Disorbio (coach)
• period of rebellion
• Vietnam War
• Gary Barber
• initiation
• how Judge prepared him for a career as a journalist and as a college baseball player.

    The question is how to take a letter and turn it into a feature story.  The problem in the past is that students would just write the draft by chronologically summing up the letter, so all stories tended to sound the same.  Start by having students prioritize the information.  In Mike Gorrell's case, I might highlight the teacher that most influenced him.  But someone else might key into the rebellion part of his letter and ask about the Vietnam war.  Another student might be curious about the treatment of the freshmen.
    So for me to write a story about the teacher and coach who impacted him, I'd likely consult a yearbook to find out about those people.  I'd look for pictures of Mike and those of the friends he mentions.  So the letter is not the sole source of my story.  The letter is used for some quotes but also to search for more pictures and information from the yearbook.

Step Three - write a thank you letter and a draft.  Then send them some follow-up questions
    Send them a draft of the story with 3 images scanned from old yearbooks and ask them to write about the old photos (this could be used for caption info), and for them to critique/clarify the draft. Ask them if they have any old photos they'd like to donate to the archives.