"Hi everyone! I’m Colleen Murphy and I’m the founder of TOWN Mag. We’re really excited to be here and meet you guys in real life. So, who here has heard of TOWN? Okay cool so around 3 of you. For those of you who don’t know what TOWN is, TOWN is a platform for WHS alumni to share their stories with the community, specifically you guys. I don’t get paid to run TOWN and literally no one asked me to do it. It really was just my own crazy idea. I started TOWN to make a positive impact on a community that I truly loved. There are three main reasons why, to reconnect and re-energize our community, create truthful education for WHS students about life after HS, and to include everyone in the conversation.
Reason 1: Reconnect and Re-Energize
I really wanted reconnect and reenergize our small town community. I was determined to help future generations (you!) reach new heights and discover a multitude of divergent paths in life beyond the doors of Watertown High School. I never could have even imagined when I was in high school We were navigating the rough roads of reality but at the same time doing amazing things, things that. I kept thinking, what if our community knew the potential they had? What if we could see the steps taken to success, instead of just seeing the success and finding it to hard to accomplish, something we could never attain? What if we can add just a little bit of inspiration, from people grew up in our community and came from this town. I wanted to inspire townies and show what you can really do, even being from our small little town.
Reason 2: Truthful Education
Secondly, I wanted to tell truthful stories. There is no success without some sort of failure. I wanted you to know what really happens after high school so that you can make educated decisions about student loans, moving away from home, staying home, choosing a college, studying abroad, buying a car, ultimately finding yourself. By sharing the truth in our stories, we are sharing the most important and vulnerable part of ourselves, and that is what will really inspire.
Reason 3: Inspire Everyone
Third, I wanted to inspire everyone. My mission was to tell real and raw stories of success and failure and bridge the gap between students and alumni and that didn’t just mean college-bound students. I wanted to redefine success; that success could mean many different things to many different people and you don’t have to follow the rules. Maybe success is becoming a sergeant in the army, having a baby, overcoming depression, graduating from college, starting a business, even just finally figuring out exactly what you wanted to do in life. We should value every individual who contributes to society. I wanted every student at WHS to know your are worth something and that your story will matter too.
And so, TOWN Magazine was born.
And here we are. And today we have 6 speakers all Watertown Alumni, whose stories are extremely diverse. We’ll each have 5 minutes to share our stories and then we will answer your questions and break up into smaller groups to meet personally."