Shawnee Mission Northwest High School

 Class of 1971 

Remember to scroll down for the welcome letter

SOME FOOTBALL !, the falling leaves, COOL weather,

and wearing jackets again? ! (all may be viewed after

the intro letter and player).    

 Here we are then- SMNW Class of 1971

SMNW 40 YEARS LATER in 2009!!!

est. 1969 

WELCOME members of the Class of '71 to your NEW and very own Class Website! 

It's been a long journey since our school days at Shawnee Mission Northwest in Shawnee, Kansas!  Some of us have moved away and some of us never ventured from our hometown.  

We all took different career paths after leaving high school, but we all have something special that we share: We're still SMNW Cougars ! 

  Established in 2008, this website was created by Michael Jackson, a member of Shawnee Mission Northwest High School Class of 1971, to gather the class together and provide a meeting ground for future Reunion organizing and more ! Hopefully every member of the SMNW Class of '71 will be found and address updates will be made so the class list may be updated and maintained. 

This alumni website is available to connect SMNW1971 grads easily no matter where a fellow Cougar has landed.  The site set-up is our gift of time and effort to the Class of '71 and to help volunteers meet the needs of their classmates! Thus, there is no charge for alumni to join their new Cougar lair !

Hopefully, everyone will be as elated as we are and want to continue its existence so that our Class of '71 will finally have a source to connect and stay connected.   The possibilities are endless: the thought of finding an old friend from home, someone you played ball with, or shared a class with but haven't seen since our days at Northwest, or reuniting with someone you lost contact with through the years.  Hmm - I wonder whatever happened to ????   You never know who will be there around the corner or who will be the next to log onto our Web page!   Or, make a new SMNW Cougar friend long after graduation.

We encourage all of the Class of 1971 to participate by entering your updated information on your first visit -and continue to come regularly to this site. It would be very helpful for everyone to be proactive and invite as many of our Classmates as possible--to help us contact and spread the word to as many former SMNW classmates as possible. If you are friends with another SMNW alum, please forward their name and e-mail address in a message to us on this site so we can invite them.  You may also add their e-mail to the "Missing Classmate" web link to the right of this message.  Just enter their e-mail address in the window that's provided; an e-mail invite will automatically be sent to them.  The more members we invite to our site, the more interesting and active it will become as it grows larger to accommodate all of our classmates.

The Classmate Profile page is where you will be able to type in contact information, birth date, hobbies, photos, and information about you and your family as well. You choose the amount of information you would like to include.  New site features will be added as we expand such as a Birthday Calendar, a countdown clock to the next reunion, a US/world map showing where Cougars have made their homes, and several slideshows with past and present photos.  

We will also be adding Senior pictures/class photos to your profile when we could locate them; it helps when trying to bring back a memory.  If anyone does not wish their Senior photo to be published on their profile, just let us know; however, the photo may still unavoidably appear in the yearbook that is slated to be placed on SMNW71 and the slideshows of classes.   If you do not have a senior picture to publish and would like to add a photo of yourself from the 70s era, please do so or ask for help if you have any difficulty.

Our graduating class grew up during the activism of the 60s and the apathy of the 70s - not always "joiners", yet recognizing the need to be a part of something bigger than just "1".  Can we still gather and share our life stories or were we just guinea pigs in a social experiment proclaiming  "you're #1" - always considering "one" over the group? We think that our class, our beginnings still have those roots that bound us together then and propelled us forward. 

So, we hope you will enjoy this site while contributing to it and checking out other Classmates' postings. YOUR participation with other Class of '71 alumni will make this class site quite a success and rewarding experience for everyone.  Your site administrator is Michael (Mike) Jackson.  He has been joined by volunteers Dennis "Mac" McDaniel and Jan (Janet Butler) Klein who will act as co-administrators to further build up www.smnw1971.com.  Jan and Mac come from sister SMNW class of 1972 and are thrilled to be able to help Mike and   the Class of 1971.  We all started "new" at Shawnee Mission Northwest and have many shared experiences.

So, if you have any questions or need help navigating SMNW Class of '71 website, please call or e-mail directly to any of your co-admininistrators of  www.smnw1971.com - Michael Jackson,   Dennis "Mac" McDaniel, and Jan (Janet Butler) Klein.   We are just a short message away (reach us through the "Contact Us" tab, in the directory above and to the left on the Home Page or to the e-mails listed below).

Michael Jackson

(reach through the Contact Us tab, upper left directory of Home Page) 

   Dennis "Mac" McDaniel      and     Jan (Janet Butler) Klein

(reach through the Contact Us tab, upper left directory of Home Page or

individual e-mails listed below) 

     macbethii@msn.com                            kleintx72@gmail.com 

               ((SMNW Class of '71 Site Administrators))

 ==============================================

        ..a special note.....

Remember, it is not  how we die, but how we live that becomes our legacy.  Please help us remember those who have made an untimely appearance on our Memory page.

Please add a note or remembrance of their lives. Just click on their name, either on the person's name listed at Class of '71 profile(s) or the In Memory page, click "post response" and enter your thoughts, comments or memories. click submit at bottom of page...Can also be easily edited after the fact. It's well worth your efforts.

........Thank you from Jan and Mac and Mike on behalf of all those remembered on smnw1971's "In Memory" section and their families (and if you know of anyone we have missed who needs to be remembered there, please e-mail us directly with whatever information you have).    

ANIMAL FACT GUIDE:  Cougar (s)

Cougar

Puma concolor

The cougar, which is also commonly referred to as a puma, mountain lion or panther, is the second largest cat in North America. Unlike other big cats, however, the cougar cannot roar. Instead, the large feline purrs like a house cat.

Cougars also have similar body types to house cats, only on a larger scale. They have slender bodies and round heads with pointed ears. They vary between 1.5-2.7 m (5-9 ft.) from head to tail. While males can weigh up to 68 kg (150 lb.), females weigh less, topping out at nearly 45 kg (100 lb.).

The coat of the cougar is a grayish tan to reddish color with lighter parts on the underside. The tail has a black spot on the end.

Inhabiting various ecosystems from mountains to deserts to sea-level, the cougar's range includes western North America, a small region in Florida, and most of South America. Cougars make their home anywhere that there is shelter and prey.

Generally they prey on deer but also feed on smaller animals if necessary, including domestic animals and livestock. Cougars have even been known to eat insects. Skilled and cunning hunters, cougars stay hidden from their prey until they can pounce with claws out-stretched. Cougars can also climb with ease and leap over 6 m (20 ft.). After killing a large animal, a cougar hides the carcass and eats in the coming days.

For the most part, the cougar has no natural enemies and sits atop the food chain. However, cougars occasionally compete with other predators such as bears and wolves for food.

During most of their lives, cougars are solitary creatures. They interact only to mate, which can happen at any time of year. Females can breed as early as 2-3 years old, and they give birth to 2-3 kittens at a time. The female cougars raise the young while the males return to their solitary lifestyles. Female cougars fiercely defend their offspring from any threatening creature.

At around two years old, cougar offspring will leave their mother to start their own life. Some travel far to establish their own territory as cougars need a lot of room to roam.

A healthy cougar in the wild can live to around 10 years of age. In captivity, cougars can live as long as 20 years.

Conservation Status

Cougars have been long been killed by both sport hunters and farmers protecting their livestock. Other threats to cougar populations include habitat loss and fragmentation and automobile accidents. As a result, the cougar population has significantly decreased.

Although they once ranged throughout North and South America, they are no longer found in the eastern portion of the United States and Canada, the exception being a small population in Florida. The subspecies known as the Florida panther is considered to be critically endangered, and agencies are working to maintain the current population. There are still, however, several thousand cougars in the wild, and as a result, they listed as being of 'least concern' on the IUCN Red List.

What You Can Do To Help

It is difficult to stop habitat loss or reverse its effects, but there are some ways you can help. You can help persuade your congressperson to designate the cougar as a protected animal. This legally prevents the taking or injuring of cougars, unless they pose a threat. This law has been in effect in the state of California since the approval of Proposition 117 in 1990.

You can also appeal to your congresspeople advocating the preservation of open land in order to maintain a livable habitat for cougars. In addition, you can donate directly to the Mountain Lion Foundation.

Cougar Distribution

Inhabiting various ecosystems from mountains to deserts to sea-level, the cougar's range includes western North America, a small region in Florida, and most of South America.

Cougar Resources

• Mountain Lion Foundation
• Colorado Division of Wildlife - Mountain Lion
• National Geographic - Mountain Lion
• The San Diego Zoo - Mountain Lion (Puma, Cougar)
• IUCN Red List - Puma concolor

If you can't get your work done in the first 24 hours, work nights.

A pat on the back is only a few centimeters from a kick in the butt.

Don't be irreplaceable, if you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.

It doesn't matter what you do, it only matters what you say you've done and what you're going to do.

After any salary raise, you will have less money at the end of the month than you did before.

The more crap you put up with, the more crap you are going to get.

You can go anywhere you want if you look serious and carry a clipboard.

Eat one live toad the first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.

When the bosses talk about improving productivity, they are never talking about themselves.

If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a dadgum fool about it.

There will always be beer cans rolling on the floor of your car when the boss asks for a ride home from the office.

Keep your boss's boss off your boss's back.

Everything can be filed under "miscellaneous."

Never delay the ending of a meeting or the beginning of a cocktail hour.

To err is human, to forgive is not our policy.

Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he/she is supposed to be doing.

Important letters that contain no errors will develop errors in the mail.

If you are good, you will be assigned all the work. If you are really good, you will get out of it.

You are always doing something marginal when the boss drops by your desk.

People who go to conferences are the ones who shouldn't.

If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done.

At work, the authority of a person is inversely proportional to the number of pens that person is carrying.

When you don't know what to do, walk fast and look worried.

Following the rules will not get the job done.

Getting the job done is no excuse for not following the rules.

When confronted by a difficult problem you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question,"How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"

No matter how much you do, you never do enough.

The last person that quit or was fired will be held responsible for everything that goes wrong.

Happy Birthday to the February-born babies of the Class of '71 !

Have FUN !!!

It's a journey,not a destination!

Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt and dance like no one's watching.

Better Get Busy!!

"There's No Place Like Home..."
It seems you can go "Home" again,sort of...Visit any of the old neighborhoods on the Internet...

Check it out! This is a fun website to visit. It will show you where you grew up,or anywhere else,as it looks now...just enter the address,City, State, Zip Code and "travel"...Click on Dorothy's shoes above or the link below...
When you enter an address you will see the picture .
You can double click and "walk" down the street..."Scoop the Loop"or you can follow your old path to any former or current locale, business, hangout, etc., or anywhere else your heart desires... Have Fun!!

www.vpike.com.