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Sat, Mar 25, 2023

West High.com FAQ's

Please check this guide before contacting me for help!

QUESTIONS

School Information FAQ's
01. I need to contact the school office and need the phone number, fax number, mailing address, and / or official website.

02. I would like to enroll (or obtain information about) in West Torrance High School.

03. I would like information on a school activity, club, teacher, sport, or other school related information or event.

04. I need a copy of my transcript, diploma, or other school record.

Website FAQ's
05. How do I add myself to the alumni database?

06. How do I sign up for the message board?

07. I haven't officially graduated from West High - but have attended at some time. Am I allowed to use the message board - and what do I put in for Graduation Year when signing up?

08. I forgot my username or password.

09. How do I search for alumni?

10. How do I learn how to use the message board - and it's features?

11. How do I update or change my alumni information?

12. Can I use the same e-mail address to subscribe a friend or family member that I used to subscribe with?

13. The reunion committee is planning a reunion for the class of 19XX. How can I make use of the message board to contact the alumni from our class?

Reunion & Misc. FAQ's
14. Who is responsible for planning reunions?

15. I want to make sure I am invited to my next reunion. How can I make sure I get an invite?

16. I am looking for a friend I haven't heard from in years... Can you help me get into contact with my friend?

17. The message board is giving me an error message or it isn't doing what it is supposed to.

18. I like the layout of the website and am interested in having a website designed for my business.

ANSWERS

School Information Answers
1. Please note that westhigh.com is a volunteer website which is run outside of the school. The website is not directly affiliated with West Torrance High School. That said, their contact information is as follows:

Telephone Number: 310-533-4299
Facimile Number: 310-972-6483
Mailing Address: 20401 Victor Street  Torrance, CA 90503
Official Website:
http://www.whs.tusd.org/

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2. You will need to contact the school. Please see the answer to question number one for the school's contact information.

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3. Most of this information can be obtained from the official West High website - http://www.whs.tusd.org. If you do not find the information you are looking for, you may wish to contact the school directly - see the answer to question number one.

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4. You will need to contact the school directly. Their contact information is listed (in this FAQ) under the answer to question number one.

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Website Answers
5. You can add yourself to the alumni database by making a user account under the message board. The data from the message board is used to generate the database. It may take up to a week for your listing to show in the alumni search.

By making an account to the message board, you will have access to all it's features. You can read and post messages, obtain reunion information, look for lost friends, and become a part of the active alumni community. You will be able to contact other alumni and other alumni can get in contact with you.

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6. To sign up for the message board, click on the message board button on the main WestHigh.com page. A page will load that looks something like this:

You will need to click either the register button or the "-here-" text to begin registration (both highlighted in pink).

On the following screen, you will be asked for a username (a unique handle used to identify you on the message board), your e-mail address, a verification code (which will be displayed - you must simply enter the code that you see). You will also be asked for your first, last, and married last name. If you are married, you should place your maiden name in the "Last Name" field, and your married name into the "Married Last Name" field. If your last name has not changed, you should enter your last name into the "Last Name" field and leave "Married Last Name" blank. Text fields for your class year, city, and state of residence will also be displayed. If you are outside of the United States of America, please choose the "*Outside of the U.S.A.*" option in the "State" field, and enter your location ex: "Tokyo, Japan" in the "City" field. Otherwise, please enter your city state.

To continue, you need to read the terms of use. If you agree to the terms, click the I agree button and click the register button. If you do not agree, click the I do not agree button. If you do not agree to the terms, your registration will not complete. If there are any problems with the information provided, you will be given notice and asked to correct the errors. This can sometimes happen when a desired user name is already in use by another alumni, or where a required field is left blank.

After sucessful registration, you will be given notice that you will receive an e-mail shortly with your user name and password. You can change your password once you log in - and update your profile under the profile link. It can sometimes take several hours for the e-mail to be transmitted - dependent on server load. If you do not receive an e-mail within 24 hours, chances are it was blocked (or transferred to a spam folder). You can usually fix this by adding the westhigh.com domain to your white-list and/or address book. If you cannot add spam bypasses via domain, you can unblock the message board's send only e-mail address: whsalumni@westhigh.com. You will receive registration, instant message, reunion, and other website notifications via the previous e-mail address. Please note that the e-mail address is not monitored. If you need to contact a person, you will need to use the Contact Form.

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7. This is a tricky question. If you are currently attending West High School, or are attending a seperate school to obtain a high school diploma, the answer is no - at least not yet. Once you have your diploma, or GED, you are welcome to join.

If you graduated somewhere else, you should enter the year you would have graduated at West High (as if you had not changed schools). For example - Say "Joe" Went to West High in 1999-2000, his Freshman year. After that year, he left West and went to South High School, and received his diploma from South in June 2003. In this example, he would enter 2003 as his graduation year.

West High graduates are always welcome to join.

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8. If you have forgotten your username or password, you can have the message board e-mail it to your registered e-mail address. First, please make sure your spam filters are configured to accept e-mail from whsalumni@westhigh.com. To have the message board send you your username or password, go to the login screen by clicking on the message board button on the left hand side.

On the login screen, there is a link that says "Forgot Password?". Click on the link. You will be asked for either your e-mail address OR your screen name. Do not enter both. You will also be asked to enter a verification code. Enter the code you see displayed above the verification code input box, and click the "Send" button. Your username and password will be sent to your e-mail address. Please note that it can take up to several hours for the message to be sent, depending upon server load.

If you do not receive the e-mail within 24 hours, chances are your spam filter blocked the e-mail or directed it to a spam folder. You will need to check your spam filter settings and verify that e-mail from whsalumni@westhigh.com is not considered spam by your system.

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9. The message board (in my opinion) did not come with adequate search controls - so I have added an interface of my own. The message board's "Search" feature is not to search for alumni - but to search message board posts. The "Members" option shows a list of alumni, but does not allow a way to search that list.

You can access the search option I added by going to the "Search" option under "Alumni Directory" Outside of the message board. You can search by graduation year, name, and location. You can have multiple search terms seperated by a space, and incorporate any of the 3 search options together. For Example, if I were to search for "1998 p", you would obtain results from the class of 1998 only - and which had "p" in the location or Name. The search is case insensitive - "ROB" is the same as "Rob".

The results are provided 15 at a time, and you can select which "page" of results you would like to view by clicking on the appropriate page link. This is helpful for less specific searches, and allows you to more quickly navigate the results.

On the results page, you will see the results sorted and listed in this sorting order: Graduation Year, Name, Location. You will also see a user id. If you have found who you are looking for, you can click the user id to obtain more information about the user including ways to contact the person. NOTE - YOU MUST BE LOGGED INTO THE MESSAGE BOARD *FIRST* TO VIEW MORE DETAILED USER PROFILES. This was set up intentionally as a safety precaution. This setup allows non users to find alumni, and encourage them to join - while protecting the alumni community from spammers, and other such evil-doers. If you have found the person you are looking for, and have not logged into the message board, simply open up a new window, and log into the message board. Then return to your previous window and click the appropriate user id link.

I have plans to incorporate the search directly into the message board, but this is not a top priority at the moment. The search, as is, allows for non members and members alike to search for friends, while protecting the alumni community.

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10. There is an introduction to the basic features of the message board under the Announcements category. The post has a topic of "How to use this message Board".

Unfortunately, there is no additional documentation at this time other than this F.A.Q.. I plan to write a user's guide (instruction manual) at some point, but this is not on my top priority list. My best advise: Give it a try - click the different links, options, and icons, and see what they do. The only button you must not click (unless you want to terminate your account) on is "Delete User" in the Profile section - this will delete your account.

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11. You can change your location, e-mail, and other user information in the message board, under the Profile link. The Alumni Directory search will not reflect any updates until the next system update (usually once a week, on the weekend).

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12. No. The message board is configured to only allow one e-mail address per user account. This is to prevent message board abuse; and to ensure an e-mail address can be directed to a specific user account.

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13. For Event Coordinators:

I am in the middle of adding a feature for Reunion Committee Event Coordinators which will allow them to send an e-mail to alumni of their class regarding upcoming reunions. This feature is not implemented yet - but it is on my high priority list. In the meanwhile, the only option is to do a Alumni Directory search outside of the message board to obtain your class user id's - and retrieve the e-mail addresses one at a time.

For Non-Planning Users:

The best thing you can do is call, e-mail, or otherwise contact other alumni you may be in touch with - whether or not they are in your graduating class. Encouraging users to join the alumni community strengthens the community and allows them to be be advised of reunions and other alumni communications.

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Reunion & Misc Answers
14. I (or any administrator of this website) do not plan reunions. In addition, I have verified with the school that they do not plan them either. IT IS UP TO US ALUMNI to plan reunions. If you are planning a reunion, you can report the planning (and perhaps get help from others in planning) by posting to westhigh.com. Once a date has been set, please contact me, and let me know of the message board post that references the reunion; I will make it sticky and add the date to the calendar. In addition, I recommend notifying the school.

Any reunions in the planning stage can submit their information to Patty Yoo or Debbie Yearta, both in the Student Activities Office (at West High School). 310-533-4299 ext. 7744 FAX #: 310-972-6954.

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15. Reunion Event Planners can go through various resources to obtain alumni contact information. Westhigh.com is one such resource. While I cannot guarantee contact via the message board or this website, adding yourself to the westhigh.com message board will greatly increase the chances you will be notified of upcoming reunions. In addition, I recommend all alumni check the reunions category for relevant posts - especially when a reunion is a year or less away.

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16. The chance that the few people I have kept up with over the years is someone you are looking for is small to nill. There is a category in the message board: "Find Your Old WHS Friends". Your best bet is to post there - maybe an alumni has been keeping up with him/her and can provide contact information.

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17. There is a possibility that on occasion, a bug may be introduced into the programming that I am unaware of. I do have a test server, but because of the dynamic community and thousands of lines of code involved, it is almost impossible for me to test every single circumstance. Please contact me via the Contact Form and include your username, any error message (copy and paste if possible), what you were doing when it happened, and what feature of the website you were in (or were trying to access). I will do my best to track the bug down.

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18. Thank you for your interest. Please Contact Me to discuss the project.

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