University Demonstration Secondary School Port Harcourt crest UPAA Class of 97 logo UPAA 97 UDSS Port Harcourt, Class of 1997 Join UPAA 97
Home About UPAA 97 Meet your EXCO News and newsletter Events and 30th anniversary Gallery and memories Professional network Member directory My profile Join or verify membership Contact and feedback Privacy and site policies
School crest For knowledge, discipline and progress

The set of ninety seven, still holding together.

University Demonstration Secondary School, Port Harcourt. We left the same gate in 1997 and we are still one class. This is where we find each other again, keep the association's work in the open, and plan what comes next.

Claim your membership 30th anniversary plans
1997
Our graduating set
200+
Classmates on our records
8
Officers serving you
UPAA 97 album

The handover, September 2026. Leadership changed hands before classmates.

A word from the President

Building a dependable alumni network

We begin this new chapter confident in the talent, resilience and goodwill within UPAA 97. Your EXCO will lead with energy, accountability and openness, listening carefully, communicating clearly and turning good ideas into practical action.

Every member has value to contribute. Together, we can build a dependable alumni network where connections create opportunities, support is responsible and progress is celebrated.

Okorite Joshua
President, UPAA 97

Our shared promise

One class, many strengths

Connect

Build relationships that create opportunities.

Support

Stand with members fairly and responsibly.

Celebrate

Honour our people, service and progress.

In planning

The 30th anniversary

Thirty years since the 1997 set left UDSS Port Harcourt. The EXCO is gathering ideas on format, location and timing. Nothing is fixed yet, and nothing on this site should be read as a confirmed date.

Share what you would like to see
Provisional

Date, venue and programme are all under discussion. When the EXCO formally confirms them, this panel shows the agreed details and a registration route. Payment is not part of this phase of the website.

Latest

News from the association

September 2026

A new beginning: meet your new EXCO

Eight officers took office after a smooth handover, with one shared commitment to serve. The newsletter sets out what the EXCO intends to focus on.

September 2026

September celebrations

Happy birthday to every UPAA 97 member celebrating this month.

Read the news

Diary

Upcoming events

No confirmed dates

Early planning for the 30th anniversary is one of the EXCO's six priorities. Meetings and reunion dates will be listed here with joining details once they are formally agreed.

See planning status

What your EXCO wants to bring to life

Six priorities

  1. A smarter member experience

  2. Members helping members

  3. Health and welfare

  4. Better communication

  5. Sound governance

  6. Early planning for our 30th anniversary

Better tools, stronger accountability

Coming soon

In progress

This website

A fresh digital home for the association.

In planning

Financial system

Clearer, safer records, governed separately from this website.

In planning

Member database

Better connections and visibility across the class.

Forming

Committees

Teams forming around the six focus areas.

Were you in the 1997 set?

Membership is verified against the association's own records by an authorised officer. Typing your name into a form does not make you a member, and it never will on this site.

Start membership verification Read about the association

About UPAA 97

Who we are, what the association is for, and how it is run.

Our story

Awaiting EXCO copy

Send the association's own account of how UPAA 97 was formed, when it was registered or constituted, and the milestones members would recognise. We have deliberately written no history here, because an invented founding story would be worse than an empty page.

School memories

A short, warm piece about UDSS Port Harcourt as we knew it in the nineties, written by a member and approved by the EXCO. Photographs for this section belong in the gallery.

Awaiting member contribution

Invite two or three classmates to write 200 words each. Editors can publish these without a developer.

Our shared promise

Set out by the EXCO in its first newsletter, under the banner of one class, many strengths.

Connect

Build relationships that create opportunities.

Support

Stand with members fairly and responsibly.

Celebrate

Honour our people, service and progress.

How this website behaves

Rules the site follows, which the EXCO can amend.

Consent first

No classmate's photograph, contact detail or business appears here unless that person has agreed to it.

Money is handled elsewhere

Dues and financial records belong to the separate financial system, not to this website.

How the association is governed

This section should reflect the association's constitution. The structure below describes how the website itself is governed, which the EXCO can adopt as written.

BodyResponsibility for the websiteDecision rights
General membershipContributes content, claims and maintains own profileConsent over own data and photograph
EXCOApproves policy, content standards and what the directory showsApproves privacy notice, directory visibility, launch
Content editors, appointed by EXCODrafts and publishes news, events and gallery albumsPublishes within the approved content standard
Association administrators, two named officersVerifies members, moderates photographs, handles removalsGrants and revokes access, holds the accounts

What members can expect

Control of your own record

You decide which fields other members can see. You can change them at any time, or ask for your record to be removed.

No open registration

Access to the directory is granted by an officer after your membership is checked against association records.

No financial data here

The directory is not a source of dues, balances, welfare or health information, by design.

Meet your EXCO

The officers currently serving UPAA 97. Photographs supplied by the association.

These describe each office, not each officerThe notes below set out what each position is responsible for. Personal biographies written by the officers themselves will replace them when they are ready.

Updating this page after an election

An administrator opens the EXCO section of the admin area, edits the office holder, uploads a portrait and saves. Outgoing officers move to a past officers list rather than being deleted, so the association keeps its own record. No developer involvement, no code change.

  1. Record the election result

    Administrator enters the new office holders and effective date.

  2. Collect portraits and short biographies

    Each incoming officer supplies a photograph they are happy to publish, plus 40 to 60 words.

  3. Publish and archive

    Saving moves the previous holders to the past officers list and updates this page immediately.

  4. Hand over access

    Administrator rights transfer to the two officers named by the EXCO. The old accounts are disabled, not shared.

Member directory

Visible to verified members of the 1997 set only. Not indexed by search engines.

This is a Phase 2 feature and it is not liveThe layout below is the agreed design with clearly labelled sample records. Real member records appear only after accounts, server enforced permissions and role testing are in place.

Members only

Sign in to search your classmates. If you have not been verified yet, an authorised officer needs to check your name against the association's records first.

Request access

My profile

Your record, controlled by you.

Phase 2, shown here as an agreed designThe form below does not save anything yet. Nothing you type is stored or transmitted.

Your details

Your photograph

A passport style headshot works best. On upload the site checks the file type and size, strips location and camera metadata where it can, generates a small thumbnail, and holds the image as pending until a moderator approves it.

  • JPEG, PNG or WebP, up to 5 MB
  • Preview and square crop before you confirm
  • Your initials are shown until a photograph is approved
  • You can withdraw your photograph at any time

What classmates can see

Every field is off until you turn it on. Name and photograph are the only defaults, and the photograph only after approval.

FieldDefault
NameShown to members
PhotographShown once approved
Profession, skills, locationHidden until you opt in
Business listingHidden until you opt in
Phone, email, address, date of birthNever shown in the directory

Need your record taken down? Use the removal request on the contact page and an administrator will action it.

Join or verify your membership

Membership of UPAA 97 is confirmed by an officer, never by self registration.

How verification works

  1. Tell us who you were at UDSS

    Your name in 1997, any name you use now, and one or two classmates who can vouch for you.

  2. The General Secretary checks the association's records

    Your details are matched against the membership record the association already holds. No match means a follow up, not an automatic refusal.

  3. You receive an invitation to claim your record

    A single use link lets you set a password and complete your own profile. Nobody else can claim your record with that link.

  4. You choose what to show

    Only then does your entry appear in the member directory, with the fields you selected.

Members whose details are already in the association's Google Sheet will be invited to claim and correct that record rather than type everything again. Nothing from the old spreadsheet is published until the member has confirmed it.

Request verification

Not connected yet. It shows the fields the General Secretary needs. Until it is live, email the association from the contact page.

We collect only what is needed to confirm you were in the 1997 set. Read the privacy notice.

News and newsletter

Association updates, President's messages, member achievements and approved newsletters.

September 2026, newsletter

A new beginning: stronger connections, shared progress

Eight officers have taken office as the new UPAA 97 EXCO, with one shared commitment to serve. Former and incoming EXCO members joined classmates to witness and celebrate a smooth transition of leadership. Past Presidents and Vice Presidents stood with the current President, a picture of continuity in service.

The EXCO has set out six priorities: a smarter member experience, members helping members, health and welfare, better communication, sound governance, and early planning for the 30th anniversary. Work is beginning on a new website, a financial system for clearer and safer records, a member database, and committees forming around each focus area.

September 2026, President's message

Building a dependable alumni network

We begin this new chapter confident in the talent, resilience and goodwill within UPAA 97. Your EXCO will lead with energy, accountability and openness, listening carefully, communicating clearly and turning good ideas into practical action. Every member has value to contribute. Together, we can build a dependable alumni network where connections create opportunities, support is responsible and progress is celebrated.

Okorite Joshua, President, UPAA 97

September 2026

September celebrations

Happy birthday to every UPAA 97 member celebrating in September. We honour your journey and the value you bring to our alumni family. May this new year bring good health, fulfilment and many reasons to smile.

Coming soon

Your voice matters: a short member poll

A short member poll is coming. Tell us your priorities, what would encourage greater participation and how you would like to contribute.

How publishing works

  1. Draft

    An editor writes the item. Drafts are visible only to editors and administrators.

  2. Review

    A second person, named by the EXCO, checks facts, names and photograph permissions.

  3. Publish

    The item goes live with the publisher and date recorded in the audit trail.

  4. Correct or withdraw

    Corrections are logged. Withdrawn items leave a record that something was removed and when.

Newsletter

Approved newsletter issues are attached as PDFs with a short summary. Send the existing issues and we will load them into the archive.

Events and the 30th anniversary

What is being planned, what is confirmed, and what is still open for your view.

Nothing on this page is confirmedEvery item below is marked provisional until the EXCO formally agrees it. No dates, venues or costs have been assumed. Payment is out of scope for this phase.

Confirmed events

None yet

Confirmed events show date, time zone, venue or joining link, and who to contact.

Under discussion

Provisional

30th anniversary gathering

Format, city and date all open. Members in Nigeria and abroad both need to be able to take part in some way.

Provisional

Regular class call

A recurring online meeting so classmates who cannot travel stay part of association life.

Tell the EXCO what you think

Expressions of interest and opinions only. This is not a booking and it does not commit you to anything.

Gallery and memories

Handover ceremonies, reunions and school day photographs, organised into albums.

Everything here was supplied by the associationAnyone appearing in a photograph can ask for it to be taken down through the contact page, and an administrator will remove it. No explanation is required.

The handover, September 2026

Former and incoming officers with classmates on the day leadership changed hands.

Your EXCO

Portraits of the eight serving officers.

Albums to build

Handover ceremony

Published above

Reunions and meet ups

Awaiting photographs

School days, 1990s

Awaiting photographs

30th anniversary

Opens after the event

Before a photograph is published

An editor confirms who supplied it, that the people in it are content to appear, and writes a caption and alt text. Group photographs are treated with more care than individual ones.

Asking for a photograph to be removed

Write to the association through the contact page naming the album and photograph. An administrator removes it and records the request in the audit trail. No explanation is required.

Professional network and opportunities

Skills, businesses, mentoring and openings shared by members who choose to share them.

A listing here is not an endorsementUPAA 97 does not check, recommend or stand behind any business, offer or opportunity listed by a member. Members deal with each other at their own discretion. The EXCO can change this wording, but something to this effect should stay.
◈

Member businesses

Name, category, city and a short description. Added by the member, visible to members.

◎

Skills and mentoring

Classmates who are willing to be asked about their field, and what kind of question suits them.

◇

Openings and training

Roles, contracts and courses a member wants to bring to the class's attention, with a closing date.

Nothing is listed yet

Opens in Phase 3

Listings depend on verified accounts and on each member opting in. Until then this page explains the rules rather than showing invented businesses.

Contact and feedback

Reach the officers, suggest something, or ask for your details to be removed.

Send a message

Protected by a hidden field and rate limiting. A captcha is added at hosting if spam becomes a problem.

Where your message goes

Every message reaches the association's own inbox, which the EXCO monitors. Your topic travels with it so the right officer picks it up. Nothing is broadcast to all eight officers.

TopicPicked up by
Membership and verificationGeneral Secretary
News, newsletter and eventsPublic Relations Officer
Removal requestsAssociation administrator, logged
Everything elseGeneral Secretary

Prefer to email directly?

Use the button, so the address is not harvested by spam robots.

Privacy, accessibility and site policies

Written in plain language, for members rather than lawyers.

Draft for EXCO approvalThis notice is complete in structure but needs the association's own contact details and retention decisions before launch.
Who runs this website

UPAA 97, the alumni association of the 1997 set of University Demonstration Secondary School, Port Harcourt. The association owns the domain, the code, the hosting account, the database and the image storage. Two named officers hold access at any time. The association can be reached through the contact page.

What we collect and why

For verification: your name in 1997, your current name, an email address and the classmates who vouch for you. For your profile: only what you choose to add. For security: sign in times and administrator actions, so misuse can be traced. We do not collect health, welfare or financial information on this site.

Who can see your information

Public visitors see only the public pages. Verified members see the directory fields you turned on. Editors see content, not member records. Administrators see what is needed to verify membership, moderate photographs and handle removals, and every such action is logged.

Photographs

You upload your own headshot and can withdraw it at any time. Uploads stay pending until moderated. Location and camera metadata are stripped where technically possible. Gallery photographs are published only once permission is confirmed, and anyone in a photograph can ask for it to come down.

How long we keep it

Member records are kept while you remain a member and for a period after, to be agreed by the EXCO. Audit logs are kept for a fixed period, also to be agreed. Deleted photographs are removed from storage, not merely hidden.

Your choices

Change what is displayed at any time from your profile. Ask for a copy of what is held about you. Ask for your record or photograph to be removed. Requests go through the contact page and are logged.

Cookies

A sign in session cookie only. No advertising or third party tracking cookies. If the EXCO later wants visitor statistics, a privacy respecting tool without cookies is the recommendation.

Accessibility

We aim at WCAG 2.2 level AA: keyboard navigation throughout, visible focus, text that meets contrast requirements, meaningful alt text and respect for reduced motion settings. Tell us through the contact page if something is hard to use and we will fix it.

Search engines

Public pages are open to search engines. The member directory, member profiles and the admin area are blocked from indexing and protected by server enforced sign in, not merely hidden from the menu.