Stories that fill the pages of the recently launched Chicago Public Schools alumni Web site are as unique and diverse as the graduates who have walked the schools' hallways over the 100 years or so:

The search for the owner of a 1954 class ring, found buried in a garden, engraved with the initials GPE.

"Memories of Mr. Wahle's 'Magneto' machine," shared by a 1970s grad.

Tales of separate playgrounds for boys and girls at Mulligan Elementary in the 1940s.

An account of swimming classes at Lane Tech, "and the unnerving requirement that we swim in the nude!"

The question, did 1930 Sullivan High grad Jack Moore become Clayton Moore, The Lone Ranger? And the list goes on.

The site, www.cpsalumni.org [2], offers a way to connect an estimated three million people nationwide who have attended or worked in Chicago Public Schools and provides home pages for every school in the district's history, making CPS the first large urban public school district to organize its alumni this way.

Brad Harbaugh, editor of the Web site, said the project aims to share information, engage graduates and offer ways to donate and support their alma maters.

"People don't just come to receive information, they come to interact," Harbaugh said of the site's users.

Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and launched in early April, the site also features a list of famous Chicago school grads and digitized graduation records from 1873 through 1973. Harbaugh said people who have parents and grandparents that were CPS graduates and even genealogists have shown an interest in what the project has to offer.

While sites such as Classmates.com and Facebook.com may provide similar opportunities, Harbaugh said he thinks the benefit of CPSalumni.org is that it is free to register and may be more appealing to all generations.

"It's welcoming to a larger demographic," Harbaugh said.

There are 2,800 graduates currently registered on the site and ongoing efforts to contact former students.

Harbaugh said there have been visitors from every state and more than 40 countries. The next phase will be an outreach effort to find Chicago Public Schools alumni in New York, California and Arizona.

Monique Burgos, a 1996 graduate of Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, said there are few people registered from her class on the site, but she hopes it will be a way to get updates and plan get-togethers.

"Hopefully it will start new friendships," she said.

Mae Jefferson, a 1966 graduate of Parker High School, said she wants to plan a class reunion and tries to spread the word about the site whenever she has the opportunity.

"I am a very strong proponent of going around asking, 'Have you signed up for the Web site yet?'" Jefferson said.

For Harbaugh, who isn't a CPS graduate, an interesting part of the site comes from the conversation threads and memories left by former students -recollections of a teacher that left a lasting impression or the search for a long-lost sweetheart or friend.

"I think it's all our stories. We're much more connected than we first imagined," Harbaugh said.