#52stories - Week 9 (should've been Mar 1st)

Secondary school - part 2.  

I am behind schedule on my stories because I got hung up on what to say about high school.  I didn't have any bad experiences in high school, so the mental block is confusing.  I'm just going to start writing.

West Forsyth High School - grades 10-12: I attended these three grades at West Forsyth in Clemmons and generally rode the bus to get there.  It is literally around the corner from Southwest.  In fact, when I was in high school, we played our football games on the field behind Southwest.  West did not have it's own field as it does now. And, yes, high school was only 3 years--sophomore, junior, and senior.

West opened in 1964.  I remember touring it the summer before it opened because my sister was going to go there.  It is a campus style school, meaning that there are separate buildings for different departments that are connected by covered walkways.  But you go outside to change classes in most cases.  Harold Simpson was our principal and now has a building named after him.  Mr. Anderson, one of my English teachers, also has a building named after him now.

I had decided in the 8th grade that I wanted to major in math in college, so I continued my pursuit of that by taking algebra II and calculus.  All of my math classes were taught by Mrs. Greene.  I felt fortunate to have been exposed to calculus in high school; most of my college friends did not have that option.  I also took English each year and some sort of social studies/history--whatever was required--as well as P.E.  Electives included creative writing with Mrs. Clarke, Contemporary Affairs with Mr. Robinson, and French III and IV.  I don't remember what else.  For science, I took chemistry, physics, and Advanced Placement (AP) chemistry.

A word about AP classes:  All AP classes for the county were offered at Reynolds High School in downtown Winston-Salem.  To take AP, you had to be recommended by a teacher.  My teachers recommended me for history, chemistry, English, and one more, I think; but I could only take one of them. I remember having to choose from among four. They were offered first and last period.  That way, you could have the period after or before to commute to or from your assigned high school.  I chose chemistry.  My classmates included students from Reynolds, Parkland, Mt. Tabor, and maybe more.  My teacher was laid back and we got away with a lot.  Of course, I was not an instigator, but I learned a lot from the other students.  Like, you can take the gas hose and put it in a beaker of soapy water to create bubbles; then touching a flame to the bubbles creates an atomic bomb shaped flame.  Also, if you fill a dropper with acetone and squirt it through the burner flame, it will burst into flames on whatever surface it lands, usually a desktop or the floor.  The guys also taught me to shoot spit wads through a straw...a skill I think I have lost.

My first year, I tried out for majorettes and was selected.  I hadn't twirled in a couple of years, so I was very nervous about try outs.  My senior year, I was selected as chief. That meant that I had to choreograph all of our routines and teach them to the rest of the squad.  We would get the music from the band director. We performed at halftime for all football games, performed at pep rallies in the gym, and marched with the band in parades.  We twirled regular batons at most events, but twirled fire batons at least once during football season.  We always tied our hair back on fire baton nights; and we pre-soaked our uniforms in a fire retardant solution.  Nonetheless, we always lost the hair on our forearms and smelled singed after the performance. The fire batons were owned by the school and consisted of a staff with a "wick" on each end that was about 3 or four inches long and wrapped around the staff.  We would soak the wicks in kerosene and light them just before the performance.  To douse the fire, we would swing them very fast, one end at a time.  More recently, I have seen majorettes use a contraption that looks like a tube that smothers the flame; that would've been nice.  I still have the recipe for the fireproofing solution.  I don't know if you can still get the ingredients.

I also was in the National Honor Society, Y-teens, the yearbook staff, and served as student government treasurer my senior year. 

We had lots of student teachers from Wake Forest University.  Proms were held in the high school gym and were decorated by the students. Students could smoke in a designated area if their parents gave them permission to do so.  Female students who became pregnant were not allowed to talk about it at school and usually finished their studies elsewhere. Female students were not allowed to wear pants; I remember one person being sent home for wearing a pantsuit.  And skirts generally had to touch the floor when you knelt, although that was not strictly enforced if the skirt was just above the knee. I'm sure I could say more, but I've said enough.  

Here's a picture of me with Bobby Binkley at senior prom. I made my dress...and I still have it.