Saturday, Jun. 14, 2008

Atwater plans celebration for its campus' 50th year

Two-day event could attract students, teachers, staff from three generations

By CHRISTINA RHODES

Sun-Star Correspondent

ATWATER — Atwater High School is celebrating its 50th year, and in honor of its half-century of education the school is hosting a Fabulous 50 School Reunion.

The two-day celebration will be held Oct. 17 and 18 during homecoming activities on the Atwater High School campus, 2201 Fruitland Ave. Principal Linda Lucas says all Atwater alumni are invited to the festivities.

Lucas says all reunions planned for this year should be scheduled during that weekend, in hopes of generating a gathering that could include three generations of teachers, staff and students.

The Atwater Signal followed the construction of the high school in 1958, chronicling the inception and growth of the school throughout the past 50 years.

“We were planning our 40-year reunion when we thought about combining our reunion and the school’s 50-year anniversary to make something special,” co-chairmen Olzack said. “ We joined up with the current principal of AHS and collaborated on the idea of throwing a combination party.”

Marking the plans of the new school, The Signal headline read: “New City High School Design Planned Here, Construction Will Begin This Fall.” The story, dated April 25, 1958, continued.

“Atwater youngsters will not have to go very far to go to high school starting September 1958. Final plans have been completed on the new Atwater-Winton high school which will be located on the corner of Fruitland Avenue and Winton Way.”

The orginial Atwater High School opened in with a much different and much smaller version of the school many know today. Starting with a mere 23 classrooms, one of which was a bus, and three wings, AHS has grown to house 90 classrooms, 92 teachers and 1,955 students.

A homecoming parade will kickoff the Fabulous 50 celebration at 3 p.m. Oct. 17. The parade route will be extended to accommodate all the participating alumni. The procession, which usually begins at the Foster’s Freeze will be moved to Ralston Park. Homecoming concludes with the AHS Falcons’ junior varsity and varsity football games at 5:15 and 7:30 p.m. respectively. The football games will be played against Hiram W. Johnson High School from Sacramento.

On Oct. 18 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., AHS will host a community day open house on Falcon Field. Festivities include school tours, old movies, food and souvenir booths and a special speaker.

Wrapping up the celebration weekend, many classes will be holding their reunions. On Oct. 18, various venues around Atwater will be bustling with music, food, laughter and trips down memory lane. Planners who are interested in participating or want to schedule a reunion should e-mail Greg Olzack at golzack@elite.net or visit www.ahs.muhsd.k12.ca.us