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I remember when it was 1982. I was in the
ninth grade at Litchfield Junior High School, and my persuasive
speech was about "why everyone should be a preppie." I delivered
that speech on the stage of drama room 107. It catapulted me to
a mini-popularity status resulting in my winning the "preppiest
girl" award for the year (soon thereafter, I went into my
all-black/new-wave stage that nearly killed my father).
Now, sometimes when I am teaching my sixth graders at
Litchfield in room 107, I catch myself occasionally glancing at the stage and
grinning. The more things change, the more they remain the same!
– by Alisha Bretzfelder
I have many fond memories of my K-12 years in Akron Public
Schools. Recalling and writing this list is like playing "Do you remember when
... " Some are very distant memories, but some things will never change it
seems.
King School – row tag, Christmas plays, reading contests,
spelling tests, putting on plays in the LRC, stained-glass windows, a new
wall gym (that we got to demonstrate during Open House), the doll corner, the
haunted tunnel at the carnival, lunch boxes and five-cent milk.
Litchfield Junior High School – water fights in the hall;
running the track; vocabulary lists; diagramming sentences; dissecting cats; the
A, B and C teams (seventh grade); study hall in the library; fighting with
lockers that wouldn't open; lunch money and eating in the cafeteria.
Firestone High School – reading aloud in Mrs. Europe
Smith's class, avoiding "The Pit," championship basketball games, state swim
meets, ninth-period release, French fries, Mr. Bob Hatherill, smoke in the
chemistry lab, HIRC (it was new then), plays and gymnastics practice at 6 a.m.
– by Diane T. Hartong
Portage Path School was my first school in Akron. I
believe I started there in 1952. I think that my years there were formative of
my life presently. When I started out there in kindergarten, my teacher was
named Miss Winter; and, at the Christmas pageant, there were only three talking
parts. There was Mr. Claus, Mrs. Claus and the talking pixie. I was the talking
pixie. It sort of started me in my talking career.
Also in kindergarten, we had a school carnival where the
kindergartners each entertained on the stage; and I was the hula dancer. That
was also formative because for some reason, when I sang the Hawaiian war chant
off-key and in a very loud tone, I got fan mail from the school. So I got
reinforced for performing in public.
I had a great time at Portage Path also because I had a
very progressive mother. She allowed me as a first-grader to go down to Mary
Coyle's with 30 cents to buy hamburgers. Only four boys and I were allowed to do
this. We had passes to leave and go down to Highland Square. I think it gave me
a feeling that I was trusted by my parents, and I also learned not to fear the
world. This was a great place to start.
After Portage Path, I went to Case Elementary School, then
Litchfield, and then Firestone. I was among the original group of baby boomers
to go through the Akron Public Schools system. I will be 50 on my next birthday,
and I was in the graduating class of 1965 at Firestone High School. Before I was
at Firestone, I was at Litchfield where I was a cheerleader. I'm telling you
that because I'd like to tell you how Firestone High School got its colors and
how it became the Firestone Falcons.
Having been a cheerleader in junior high (we called it
junior high back then) and having written the ninth-grade graduation address, I
had said in there "how exciting it will be to establish traditions that will be
followed many years after our graduation from senior high. We, being the first
class, will have the privilege of setting patterns for the future." What I meant
by that was that having been at Litchfield and having been the Litchfield
Argonauts, I'd had enough of being "highfalutin' "; and it was very hard to
spell Argonauts. My sisters both went to Buchtel, and they had been the
Griffins. I got myself in charge of the committee to pick the colors and the
school mascot. I was determined to have a bird like the Griffins. So we ended up
the Falcons. And I thought that I looked good in green, so we ended up with
green and gold.
When I came to Firestone, I continued in my career in
having very little pride when I performed in public. Testament to that fact is a
picture in the yearbook. It says "Linda 'Morticia' Kersker mesmerizes the
audience at the senior talent show." I can't imagine how I could have worn a
bathing cap with yarn glued to it.
I had a wonderful start to my life through Akron Public
Schools, and I'm glad to be on the Akron Board of Education now and to be able
to give something back to those wonderful schools.
– by Linda Kersker
I have many fond memories of my K-12 years in Akron Public
Schools. Recalling and writing this list is like playing "Do you remember when
... " Some are very distant memories, but some things will never change it
seems.
King School – row tag, Christmas plays, reading contests,
spelling tests, putting on plays in the LRC, stained-glass windows, a new
wall gym (that we got to demonstrate during Open House), the doll corner, the
haunted tunnel at the carnival, lunch boxes and five-cent milk.
Litchfield Junior High School – water fights in the hall;
running the track; vocabulary lists; diagramming sentences; dissecting cats; the
A, B and C teams (seventh grade); study hall in the library; fighting with
lockers that wouldn't open; lunch money and eating in the cafeteria.
Firestone High School – reading aloud in Mrs. Europe
Smith's class, avoiding "The Pit," championship basketball games, state swim
meets, ninth-period release, French fries, Mr. Bob Hatherill, smoke in the
chemistry lab, HIRC (it was new then), plays and gymnastics practice at 6 a.m.
– by Janet Lippincott
I remember when I was a kindergartner in Mrs. Krahl's
class at Fairlawn School in 1950. Our classroom was an attic. She had a wooden
birthday cake I always wished was real. I remember always getting stuck playing
the rhythm sticks when everyone else got to play the cymbals or triangles. We
made clay ashtrays, grabbing big, wet handfuls of gray clay out of barrels.
In first grade, Miss Miriam Clouse ruled with a
no-nonsense hand. We were told to keep our hands folded, and we obeyed
completely. She had a small bathroom in the back of the class and washed mouths
out with soap (not mine!).
I was a second-grader when Fairlawn School was adding on.
My class went to school in the Fairlawn Civic Center across the street –
literally a one-room schoolhouse. Mrs. Madeline Foust taught us there. I had a
picture taken for the Beacon Journal standing on a ladder in the apple blossom
trees on the property. Miss Beatrice Singer, the Fairlawn principal, used to
walk over and beam at us. We made vegetable soup and planted a tree on Arbor
Day.
In third grade, back in Fairlawn School itself, I had a
wonderful young teacher (Miss Scott) who later became Mrs. Russell. We made
samplers, candles, soap, tom-toms – we even had a store inside the classroom
made of 2x4s and clear sheeting. Miss Scott was a very hands-on teacher. On a
weekly basis, Ralph Gillman used to speak to us on the PA about music. Martin
Essex, the superintendent, used to talk to us, also.
In fourth grade, Genevieve Spring (later, Yanke) let us
make a huge mural on Egypt. She wouldn't tolerate any misbehavior, and I
remember her shaking a redheaded boy so hard for talking "baby-talk" that he
turned as red as his hair!
In fifth grade Mrs. Sarah Caldwell was a benign presence –
until I copied a report. That made her very angry, and I had to rewrite it in my
own words. It was a fine lesson. She took some of us to the cafeteria in the
basement and worked with us until we understood what fractions were. She had a
cardboard pie, and it suddenly dawned on me what she was trying to teach! She
kept a poster on the cupboard door of the complete multiplication tables through
the 12s – all year long I familiarized myself with it. I'm forever grateful!
At the sixth grade "graduation" from Fairlawn, we were
lined up to march into the auditorium for the ceremony. A group of us girls felt
we had finally grown up enough to wear lipstick. Someone produced a tube of
fire-engine red; and we all cut into the girls bathroom and smeared our lips
crimson, then got back in line. When our teacher came back and saw us, she was
horrified and proceeded to marshal the other women teachers and moms to scrub
our mouths so the ceremony could begin!
I have lots of memories – of Simon Perkins and Buchtel
High School, of white gymsuits, fingernail and collar inspections, strict and
orderly classrooms where teachers sat and students worked and girls wore skirts
everyday and boys wore dress slacks and tucked-in shirts. I had many great
teachers, and I got a fine education. We did what we were told, didn't question
authority at school, tried to meet high expectations, and learned and grew
intellectually. I am so glad I went to school then.
– by Jane Petersen Miles
Two distinct school memories stand out for me. One was at
Fairlawn Elementary School. My teacher, Mrs. North, was absent. I was very
curious as to the reason since Mrs. North was never absent. At that time I
worked in the school cafeteria. My classroom was directly across from the school
office. As I left class early for my "job," I passed the office just at the
moment that the secretary, Mrs. Bone, told a parent that Mrs. North's mother had
died the night before. This was the first time I had considered that teachers
had families and lives of their own. It was a revelation!
My second memory was my fear of leaving elementary school
to enter junior high school. One of my best friends was Judy Resnik, who was the
same age as me but one year ahead of me in school. I told her of my fears of the
"hoods." Judy told me to just stay away from the kids with long, greasy hair,
Cuban heels and turned-up collars; and I'd be fine. She was right, and I made it
through!
– by Barbara Roduner
In the early '60s, I was a third-grade student in Mrs.
Betty Watts' class at Case School. That was the time when we could still walk
home from school for lunch if we lived close enough. I was lucky that I did.
There was a small group of us, close to the same age, who would walk back and
forth faithfully together every day. We would have "pickle parties" occasionally
on our way back from lunch. We would get from our mothers a big Polish gherkin
wrapped in a paper napkin to nibble on during our walk back to school. I had the
bright idea one day that I would save mine in my desk all afternoon until it was
time to go home at the close of the school day. Needless to say, that pickle put
an interesting fragrance in the classroom; and I was distracted all afternoon.
Of course, at the end of the day, Mrs. Watts told me not to do it again! I
wasn't surprised.
– by Nancy Schneider
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