Monday, September 18, 2006
The times they are a-changin' (but not very much)....
Friday night was the grand re-opening of my high school. It had originally opened for 9th through 12th grade in 1950, then was closed in 1988, the year after my sister graduated, and the students moved and merged with another high school. This was a disaster as my school had been high achieving and the other school was low achieving, and putting them together made them accommodate the lowest common denominator. About five years ago, my high school's building was converted for use as a K-12 charter school. Then this year, the district was completely revamped and divided into 17 small schools for all grades. Six of these are high schools, each with a different educational design. The idea is to have choices as not all kids learn the same way. So now my old high school building houses both an early learning school AND a small new design 9-12 grade school with focus on college prep.
We got there a bit late because I had fallen asleep on the couch and wasn't ready to go when my sister and her husband came to pick me up, and it took awhile to get the wheelchair packed and then set up at the school. My brother-in-law pushed the chair for me. We did get there in time to hear a bit from the alumni band, most of the presentation and the ribbon cutting ceremony. There were people in the audience from nearly every graduating class from the 1950's to the '80's. It was interesting looking up onto the theatre stage where the presentation was and remembering all the times I had performed on that stage.
Then we all migrated into the main gymnasium where there were displays from old yearbooks, a slide show, music, snacks, and a place for alumni to register. I must admit it helped me recognize more people when they put on some name tags, heh heh. We hung around the gym for awhile to mingle. I didn't see anyone I graduated with, but my sister ran into several from her class who had brothers and sisters I knew, and there were several who had graduated a year or two behind me. I also got to meet spouses and kids, which was nice. We mostly talked about what we remembered from when we attended. I think people had a slightly more difficult time recognizing me because the wheelchair threw them off (I've only been using it for a year). At one point, little girl about three years old approached me, staring at the wheelchair and asking me if I had a boo boo and where it was. I said no boo boo, that I was sick. That made no sense to her.
We took the grand tour of the school. It was almost shocking how much it had NOT changed. Same painted brick, same linoleum floors, same lockers. Band and choir still a major focus of the school. The science classroom still smells faintly of formaldehyde. No more geometric formations of individual desks, though. The kids sit at large tables, and they use laptop computers. And the chalkboards have been replaced with dry erase boards. One thing really cracked me up: on a poster for "Spirit Week", one of the designated events was "Old School Day", where the kids were supposed to dress in clothes from the '70's and '80's. So I suppose now it's safe to refer to me as old school, heh heh.
The west wing of the school is where the little kids attend. It's really kinda cute to look into the classrooms where I studied English and did college prep and see the tiny chairs that have replaced the young adult-sized desks. The halls have individual coat racks low to the ground, each assigned to a student whose photo is featured on a little cut-out of a penguin. The small gymnasium contains a lot of mats and half-height basketball hoops. One of the old locker rooms has been converted into storage. I guess both groups share the cafeteria? Part of it has been converted into a student union, and part is an art room containing very small easels.
There were a few indications of changing times: the cafeteria no longer holds a jukebox (very popular when I attended) or pop machines. But surprisingly, there WERE vending machines for water, juice, ice cream and snack foods. There's no longer a pay phone in front of the main office, as I suppose kids use cell phones now. The building still doesn't have a way to get upstairs in a wheelchair; I suppose they still have all the wheelchair-bound kids' classes on the main level like they did when I attended. My sister took a quick tour of the second floor for me and reported back. The classrooms were still very much the same except for where we learned typing; no need for those dinosaur-era manual typewriters anymore, heh heh. The big shock is that the library where I spent the majority of my time is GONE. It is now a giant music classroom. At first, I couldn't figure out why on earth a school would get rid of their library. Then I remembered that now kids can look up anything they need on computers. DUH!
I took pix throughout my visit, although most of them were too dark. I probably won't get to go to any of my reunions once I move, so this was my last chance to reminisce in person. It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I went.
We got there a bit late because I had fallen asleep on the couch and wasn't ready to go when my sister and her husband came to pick me up, and it took awhile to get the wheelchair packed and then set up at the school. My brother-in-law pushed the chair for me. We did get there in time to hear a bit from the alumni band, most of the presentation and the ribbon cutting ceremony. There were people in the audience from nearly every graduating class from the 1950's to the '80's. It was interesting looking up onto the theatre stage where the presentation was and remembering all the times I had performed on that stage.
Then we all migrated into the main gymnasium where there were displays from old yearbooks, a slide show, music, snacks, and a place for alumni to register. I must admit it helped me recognize more people when they put on some name tags, heh heh. We hung around the gym for awhile to mingle. I didn't see anyone I graduated with, but my sister ran into several from her class who had brothers and sisters I knew, and there were several who had graduated a year or two behind me. I also got to meet spouses and kids, which was nice. We mostly talked about what we remembered from when we attended. I think people had a slightly more difficult time recognizing me because the wheelchair threw them off (I've only been using it for a year). At one point, little girl about three years old approached me, staring at the wheelchair and asking me if I had a boo boo and where it was. I said no boo boo, that I was sick. That made no sense to her.
We took the grand tour of the school. It was almost shocking how much it had NOT changed. Same painted brick, same linoleum floors, same lockers. Band and choir still a major focus of the school. The science classroom still smells faintly of formaldehyde. No more geometric formations of individual desks, though. The kids sit at large tables, and they use laptop computers. And the chalkboards have been replaced with dry erase boards. One thing really cracked me up: on a poster for "Spirit Week", one of the designated events was "Old School Day", where the kids were supposed to dress in clothes from the '70's and '80's. So I suppose now it's safe to refer to me as old school, heh heh.
The west wing of the school is where the little kids attend. It's really kinda cute to look into the classrooms where I studied English and did college prep and see the tiny chairs that have replaced the young adult-sized desks. The halls have individual coat racks low to the ground, each assigned to a student whose photo is featured on a little cut-out of a penguin. The small gymnasium contains a lot of mats and half-height basketball hoops. One of the old locker rooms has been converted into storage. I guess both groups share the cafeteria? Part of it has been converted into a student union, and part is an art room containing very small easels.
There were a few indications of changing times: the cafeteria no longer holds a jukebox (very popular when I attended) or pop machines. But surprisingly, there WERE vending machines for water, juice, ice cream and snack foods. There's no longer a pay phone in front of the main office, as I suppose kids use cell phones now. The building still doesn't have a way to get upstairs in a wheelchair; I suppose they still have all the wheelchair-bound kids' classes on the main level like they did when I attended. My sister took a quick tour of the second floor for me and reported back. The classrooms were still very much the same except for where we learned typing; no need for those dinosaur-era manual typewriters anymore, heh heh. The big shock is that the library where I spent the majority of my time is GONE. It is now a giant music classroom. At first, I couldn't figure out why on earth a school would get rid of their library. Then I remembered that now kids can look up anything they need on computers. DUH!
I took pix throughout my visit, although most of them were too dark. I probably won't get to go to any of my reunions once I move, so this was my last chance to reminisce in person. It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I went.
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