When a handful of us starting talking about hosting a party in honor of HTV Magazine’s 20th anniversary, one lingering concern kept haunting me. Would anyone really show up? They did.

Around 200 former HTVers came to Hillcrest on October 17 to watch old clips, eat food they recalled from their high school years when calories didn’t matter, and to check out the incredible growth of a program they built from nothing. We had students from our first staff, in 1989-90, and members of our 20th staff, from 2008-09 all having a blast, it appeared.

The video I produced looking back at all 20 years just about killed me. It took a toll on my body because in true HTV fashion, it wasn’t completed until 4:30 a.m. the morning of the event. But it also took a toll on me emotionally. I had to make decision after decision about which kids (they’re all still “kids” to me) to include, which moments to include, and which soundbites from the six former HTVers I interviewed to use.

I could not mention every accolade earned by our staff through the years. We’ve got a bunch of awards, and things like the ten Pacemakers and five STN Excellence awards didn’t make the final cut. At one point I wasn’t sure I was going to mention any of the national honors. I ended up consulting Dan Arnall, who was on HTV its first three years. He’s at the network level, working for ABC News in New York, and he gave me good advice about this being the audience that earned most of those awards, so why not include as many as I could? So I did.

The thing that really saved me was getting more advice, this time from Jason Morrow, an Emmy-winning alum who now resides in Florida. He still edits video even though he got out of the news game a couple of years ago. His tips on the organization and edit of the final product were invaluable.

So I finally got the video figured out, and crammed as much of our first 20 years into 30 minutes as I could. The sections I like the most were simply labeled “Moments” and “Telling the Story.” Those two pretty much say it all regarding HTV. We live for those great stories, and within those great stories are priceless “moments.” But “moments” also speaks to those times of great celebration or surprise that come with a phone call from Ethyl Kennedy regarding the RFK Award. We’ve been fortunate enough to take that call six times.

The best thing about celebrating 20 years of HTV is seeing how great so many of our former students have turned out. One of my long-time colleagues was in attendance, and she noted how they had all grown up so well, and seemed so happy and “professional” in their demeanor. Sure, there were laughs, lots of them. But there was a sense of dignity and pride in the halls of our old school that afternoon as the HTV alums returned.

Why not? Look what they made.