Class of 1987
Our news stories and blogs pay a great deal of attention to WNY's brain drain.
We all know that people are leaving this region in droves, but it really hits home when our own children decide to live and work somewhere else.
Two of our reporters took the personal approach to the brain drain issue and developed a three-part series that kicks off in Sunday's News called Best & Brightest. It focuses on some members of the Class of 1987 from 25 high schools in Erie and Niagara counties.
Ten years Twenty years (thanks Mark) after graduation, these young people tell us about their lives now, and why they stayed in the area, or why they left.
News Staff reporters Mary Pasciak and Deidre Williams have been working for months tracking down the far-flung class of '87 through intensive research, interviews, Web work, phone calls and e-mails. News photographer Derek Gee has devoted much of his working time to the project, photographing the 48 members of the Class of '87 who are participating.
Their work, under the guidance of suburban editor Bruce Andriatch, will come to fruition when you read the stories and see the Web extras, such as yearbook pictures, biographies and two audio slideshows.
Members of the Class of '87, and anyone else who wants to chime in about the series, can go to our Buffalo Nation blog, which on Sunday will turn its attention to these special stories.
It some ways, reading Best & Brightest feels like attending a 20-year 10-year high school reunion - only with deeper implications for this struggling community.
Susan LoTempio is the Readership Editor at The News, and as such, is well versed in what
readers like and dislike about their hometown newspaper.
So you tracked down 103 candidates for your article but only 48 agreed to participate? There must be a story there. What is it?
Posted by: Larry | July 23, 2007 at 01:08 AM
10 years, 20 years... in Buffalo does it make much difference?
For the heckofit, an interesting follow-up would be for the News to do something similar soon with the class of 1997 and see if a similar number of them have already left.
Posted by: Millard | July 22, 2007 at 11:02 PM
I'm confused. You keep mentioning the Class of 1987, but it's a 10-year reunion. Is that a typo?
Posted by: Mark | July 20, 2007 at 11:39 AM