Townies, we’re back and better than ever! This past year has been transformative for TownMag.co. I’ve had the time to invest in reflection and renewal throughout the pandemic. This has been a difficult and stressful year for all of us and our community has collectively been through so much. I took a step back to assess how TownMag.co fits in within this moment of history and I learned how we can grow to better serve our community.

After much deliberation, research, and conversation, we’ve rebranded to better fit our mission as a social impact product, made our site more accessible, and paved the way for growth. I’m excited to share our new changes this with you.

1. Brand: TownMag.co has new designs and a refreshed mission and vision. I explored the meaning behind TownMag.co and tried to answer the question as to how we can better represent it. TownMag.co has always been about conversations and connections that create something honest and beautiful. We’re a constellation of stories, returning to share them with current high school students to give them a map and help them navigate the many different decisions and choices in life after high school.

2. Policy: TownMag.co is a guaranteed safe space for all alumni to share their stories. Our platform has been a positive, supportive community since we’ve launched, but we acknowledged last year that we hadn’t received any alumni stories from Black alumni. We want to make it absolutely clear we’re doing everything we can to create an inclusive platform for all alumni to share their stories without fear of hate speech or harassment. Read our Hate Speech and Harassment Policy here.

   Additionally, we’ve created an Alumni Representation Policy. When alumni share their story with us, they become alumni representatives of TownMag.co. In the rare occurrence of certain public circumstances happen before or after an alumni story is shared, we reserve the right to take the alumni story off our platform once we are made aware of the event or circumstances, because the alumni no longer represents our values and mission. Read our Alumni Representation and Responsibility Policy here.

3. Accessibility: This website is now accessible for everyone to share their stories. We’ve upgraded our technology to allow alumni to share their stories through video and/or audio files in addition to submitting a written story. We now accept .mp4, .mp3, .pdf, .jpg, .png files. Check out our new process and share your story today.

4. Growth: We’re growing! We’re piloting TownMag.co in communities close to our hometown, and we’re accepting stories from Torrington High School alumni. If you’re a Torrington High School alumni, you can share your story today and we will share it with THS students! We’ll be starting to market and launch in Torrington this upcoming Fall 2021.

5. Reflection: I've been running TownMag.co for 5 years now, on an incredibly small budget with limited resources, and it’s been a success within our community. I’ll be exploring ways to grow TownMag.co so that other communities can utilize alumni relations and connections also. We're back up and running, growing, with an updated brand. We'll see where we go from here, won't we?

Thank you for being a TownMag.co supporter. I’m eager to grow and publish new alumni stories for 2021. Our core goal has never changed: bridge the gap between current students and alumni by sharing honest stories about life after high school.

Colleen Murphy

Founder of TownMag.co

Are you a Watertown High School alumni or a Torrington High School alumni? Share your story today!