Facebook group reunites former Franklin Magnet School students

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) - The former students of Franklin Magnet School in St. Paul, Minnesota, recently relived their memories from the 1980s thanks to the modern day power of Facebook. 

“I had posted on [Facebook] that I was having a bad day, Miss Micko posted my sixth grade picture trying to get me to smile,” said Stacy Baker, who attended Franklin Magnet years ago.

The next thing Baker knew, she had a Facebook group of 291 former classmates itching to get together.

“I think first of all, being a magnet at that time and its location in the Mt. Airy projects, we had such a diverse group of people,” said Micko Brown, another former Franklin Magnet student.

After connecting on Facebook, the former students reunited in person at a party earlier this month.

The students are a unique group powered by great teachers like Mrs. McDonald, who passed away in 2010.

“You're talking about kids from the projects, they had it hard,” Baker said. “[Mrs. McDonald] made you forget where you lived and how you grew up.”

Mrs. McDonald passed away in 2010. But, her son Mitchell attended the party in her place.

“It would’ve been really good if she could’ve been here to see all of this,” Mitchell McDonald said.

But the strength of what they all became is something to see. Former teacher Frank Feinberg got to witness his influence.

“I’m just thrilled to see these kids grown up,” Feinberg said.

“Mr. Feinberg for me -- I wasn't the best child. I spent a lot of time in trouble and somehow I had Mr. Feinberg's voice in my head,” Baker told her former teacher at the reunion event. “I still had that voice in the back of my head telling me what a good person I was and how I could do this.”

Franklin Magnet was closed in 2010, but the family it created is going to stay pretty close, all thanks to the posting of a sixth grade picture.