Up a set of stairs on the outside of the large brick building sits an aged and weathered wooden door. Surrounding the door are multiple doorbells. As a visitor to this place, I am faced with the decision of which doorbell to ring and whether it will make a difference. However, my difficult decision is solved when an employee whose office is housed in this building comes to the door to help.

After ringing a doorbell and stepping into the closed-in entryway to this place, photos of Westside’s varsity show choir, ATSC, and Westside’s varsity baseball victory in the Class A State Championship in 2013 make this familiar, yet unfamiliar building feel more comforting. A flat screen television is mounted above the fireplace with a kitchen. A winding staircase leading to the third floor is made visible a few steps into the foyer.

What one may believe to be a strange place based on the description is the Alumni House, which sits at the corner of 90th and Pacific streets. As students, we see it on our drive to and from school. Those who do not have any association with the school district may just assume that it is a house if they do not see the sign. Others may assume, since it is named the “Alumni House,” only alum can venture through its doors. What really goes on in this building is a mystery for most.

Inside the old walls of the house are the offices of different individuals: the district occupational therapist, physical therapist, a district teacher for the deaf and hard of hearing and other non-public teachers, or teachers who teach at schools that are in the District 66 area, but are not Westside schools, such as Christ the King.

The Alumni House serves as an office space and a place to be able to sit down and do their job when they are not at a school. According to Lindsey Natvig, Alumni Coordinator, the majority of these Westside employees travel from school to school. They need a place to fill out paperwork and make phone calls, and need a space they can call their own.

Although one of the main functions of the house is to serve as an office space to those who need it, two important organizations are also run through this building. Both the Westside Foundation and the Westside Alumni Association have directors and coordinators working from the Alumni House on a daily basis.

Both the Westside Foundation and the Westside Alumni Association do multiple things to give back to the Westside Community and specifically Westside High School.

“What the Alumni Association itself does is…we try to reach out and give as much money back to the high school as we can,” Natvig said. “We really want to support scholarships, support students and support faculty.”

Last year alone, according the the Westside Alumni Association newsletter, which is written and produced by Natvig for the foundation, $7,850 was donated from the organization to the high school.

“We got flat screen TVs for the school from the wish list,” Natvig said. “[Westside High School Principal] Maryanne Ricketts will go to her faculty teams and say, ‘If the Alumni Association is going to buy something for you, what would you like?’ Then she will submit a list to the Alumni Association. The [Westside Alumni Association] board meets and they go over what they want to [and] can support and what meets their objectives to support.”

A few other items, other than flat screen TVs, that were given to the high school that were found on the school’s “wish list” this past year included a basketball grant request, a smart board for the math department, a donation to Xanadu [a literary form of Westside’s Craze Magazine] and much more.

Although the Westside Alumni Association contributes and gives the majority of the money  they raise directly back into the high school and the district, so does the Westside Foundation.

“The foundation raises a lot of money for the district,” Natvig said. “In terms of VIVI, they do a lot of scholarships.”

The organization is also able to help and run two district programs, Club 66 and Early Childhood.

According the the Westside Foundation website the foundation raises money for the following: “student scholarships, teacher recognition, classroom grants, facilities improvement, and support where tax dollars are not available.”

Both organizations which are found in the Alumni House try their best to give back to the Westside Community and work to keep those in the district together in the means of working together to raise money.

According to Natvig, one of the largest fundraisers the Westside Alumni Association and the Westside Foundation is the Westside Open, the district golf tournament which is held annually at The Players Club.

The Alumni House is not just used by those who have offices and two of the biggest donors Westside Community Schools, but is open for all members of District 66 to use as a meeting or gathering center.

“Board meetings are held in the building, but not just the Alumni Association board and the [Westside] Foundation board, but a lot of people through the district can reserve this space,” Natvig said. “Also, if a [graduated] class is planning to have a meeting, they can reserve the space to discuss and plan their reunion here.”

While the Alumni House serves a multitude of functions and has seen its days, being that it has belonged to the Westside Foundation for about 20 years, it’s main purpose, according to Natvig, is to keep alum together after they graduate.