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Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2009

Students, teachers alumni on hand for Le Grand High School's centennial celebration

LE GRAND -- A sheriff's helicopter hovered overhead in the dreary morning sky as students from Le Grand and Granada high schools clustered on the football field below.

A sheriff's deputy on the ground barked out orders.

"One more time! Here we go," his voice boomed through a squad car loudspeaker.

At ground level, the scene was uncertain.

By air, it was more clear.

The 600 students, staff and graduates, many clad in green and gold, formed three giant figures on the turf below: 100.

A photographer in the chopper captured the scene.

It was on Monday, Sept. 13, 1909, that the first students filed into Le Grand High School.

This Monday, present students honored the past with a short ceremony and photo at the campus. Some of the school's oldest living graduates were also on hand.

"I never dreamed the school would grow so big," said Elizabeth Kahl Miller, from the class of 1935.

Kahl Miller graduated with 22 other students. Three of her siblings also graduated from the campus, in 1937, 1939 and 1948.

She remembered coming to school in the brick building which originally stood on the current grounds from 1913 to 1946.

"It was quite complete," she said. "It had lab facilities, a kitchen for homemaking, a big sewing room."

During the ceremony, Superintendent Donna Alley shared more of the school's history with the crowd, reading an excerpt from the 1912 yearbook.

The high school district was created Aug. 23, 1909, when voters in and around Le Grand joined several grammar school districts to establish the high school.

On the first official day of class, students "gathered in a vacant room in the Grammar School building. An old table and bench were round and put in the middle of the room. At nine o'clock there sat around this eleven bright-looking pupils. That first morning will never be forgotten by us," Shirley Price wrote in the yearbook.

Two courses of study were offered: a four-year academic track and a three-year commercial education.

In 1913, the high school moved across Le Grand Road to its current location. The 104-foot-by-63-foot building was "modern in every particular. Modern plumbing, electric wiring, lecture and assembly rooms wired for use of stereopticon, and cooking room and laboratories supplied with heat from a gasoline plant," Price wrote.

The building cost $23,000 and stood until 1946. New buildings were planned after damage from an earthquake, Alley said.

Even today many features on campus remain the same as they were in 1913: the steps that lead up the lawn from Le Grand Road are original, the sapling trees captured in fading photos of the school are now majestic landmarks, the train still rumbles along the tracks just a few blocks away.

"I knew they were old, but I didn't know they were from the original building," senior Jamie Joseph said, looking at the cement steps.

Joseph and other students who had earlier escorted the eldest grads at the ceremony giggled as they passed around old photos of the campus.

"Look at how they're dressed," Joseph said, referring to the ankle-length skirts of days gone by.

"I think people are going to look back at the way we dress now and laugh, too," senior Kayleigh Haas said. "I don't think those people ever expected us to wear jeans and flip-flops."

Talk of today brought the girls to another idea: a time capsule, which Alley said was being planned.

After flipping through the 1912 yearbook, they wondered what they would hide away as emblems of this generation and came up with a short list: an iPod, flip-flop sandals, a sports uniform, picture of the current senior class and a Pizza Factory menu.

Alley said the district will hold two other 100-year anniversary celebrations on Oct. 23 for the homecoming football game and during commencement on June 9, 2010.

After Monday's ceremony, contemporary students begrudgingly filed back to class while several older grads visited in the gymnasium lobby.

It was the first time 87-year-old Phyllis Lambert had ever visited the building.

"It's nice, real nice," the 1940 alumna said. "I've seen two gyms go up and come down, two high schools go up and the grammar school come down."

Before long, Turner's daughter drove to the front of the building, providing curbside service to avoid the falling rain. She made one last observation while leaving the building:

"Look at all the cars here," Turner said. "We were lucky if we saw a bicycle."

Reporter Danielle Gaines can be reached at (209) 385-2407 or dgaines@mercedsun-star.com.