June 2, 2014 at 3:41 p.m.
Happy birthday: Central school celebrates 75 years of learning
Happy birthday: Central school celebrates 75 years of learning
Current and former students and staff gathered for the event which included tours of the building for those who have not walked through the doors in years, student-created timelines detailing the history of the school, live music, a birthday cake and root beer floats.
Fourth grade teacher Theresa Werner was one of many staff members involved in planning the event. She said a lot of time and effort went into making sure everyone could come and reminisce about their time spent in the halls of Central.
"It's the 75th anniversary which is really a big deal when you stop to think about it. Seventy-five years is a long time. So many students and staff have come and gone through the years," she said. "Our committee is in charge of parent and family communications, so we decided to put on the birthday bash to celebrate that feat and give everyone a chance to come back and share stories and see how much the building has changed."
While the committee did a lot of work getting everything ready, the students did their fair share as well, creating timelines that recapped the decades the school has been open as well as making this year's yearbook all about celebrating the history of the school.
"The yearbook this year has the theme of Central school's history, so the kids did a lot of research on the history of the school and the city and all of that," Werner said.
"The students did a lot of work. They each had an era to investigate - the trends, presidents, the fads, the automobiles, all of that. They learned a lot and they really did a wonderful job.
The community played a part in gathering all of the information as well.
"We reached out to the community members that have attended the school and worked in the school so they could share their stories and memories," Werner said. "We invited everyone we could so they could come in and share their stories and memories and maybe even see some old friends and some of their former teachers."
That's exactly what happened. Many former staff members and students of Central school came together to share their stories and marvel at how much the building has changed since the last time they walked through the doors.
"I taught music here for a number of years, between 1993 and 2005," Pat Doyle said. "Everything's changed a lot - the staff, the makeup of the school - it's really changed a lot. My music room was downstairs, but the year that I retired was the year they sold a lot of the elementary schools and they remodeled the basement and I can tell you one thing for sure, it's not the basement I remember. It's a lot nicer. It's a lot of fun to go around and see how everything has changed."
The celebration included a few special guests, one of whom was Ray Peter, a member of the very first kindergarten class at Central.
"It's really neat to come back and see everything. We went to the kindergarten at the old junior high for one semester before they opened this building and we came here and went all through school and graduated in 1951," he said. "A lot has changed. There wasn't a gym when we were here. It was just a smaller building. They've added an awful lot. It's really exciting to see everything."
Peter got to see one of his old teachers, Amy Adams, who taught while he was going through school. She was thrilled to come back and see how much everything has changed.
"I came here to teach sixth grade when the building was just two years old. I taught for five years, but then I was married so I couldn't teach anymore as that wasn't allowed back then," she said. "I came back in the '40s and worked part-time before going back to full-time after three years and taught sixth grade until they moved that over to the junior high, which is when I started teaching fifth grade and did that until I retired."
"It's definitely a different building," she added with a laugh.
"It was small and beautiful like most were at that time. I can still picture it. It was a beautiful place. It's still nice. It's much bigger now, like most things are, but I still like to picture it as my small little building where I came to teach."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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