For the month of September, the challenge was to tell 3 stories from school.
This is Janet's layout and her journaling:
My school career began in 1960; I was enrolled at St Jerome’s Catholic school. I was lucky, there were no nuns teaching kindergarten, (NO Num Fear!). My teacher was Mrs. Macken and she was great. She was the one that made sure all of us learned how to read and write our names, telephone number and address. That is my 1stMemory, which occurs to me every time that I hear that today children have to know those things just to enter kindergarten now. Mrs. Macken also had a memory of an elephant, it didn’t matter if you saw her 5-10-20 years later, she knew who you were and could still call you by name, which always amazed me. {Picture d– Friend, Tommy Hein, Me and Mrs. Macken in the classroom that was in the first St Jerome’s building built, the first church,. Later the school & new church was built. And shown is my sister & brother in our front yard where you can see the new school building in the back ground, 1955.]
During 1st grade I have a combo memory. 2.a) First, mid school year my Mom pulled my sister & me out of Catholic school during the middle of the day. She had a big disagreement with the Parish Priest and decided that we were no longer going to attend Catholic school. The day after that I started going to the public school system and attended Gibson Elementary School. This meant I had a much longer walk home from school. b) To be exact it was a 9 tenths of a mile walk down Cobourg Lands Dr. The kids that lived one street over got to ride the bus. So the second part is really about walking all that way home by myself. I really don’t know how long that walk took but some days it felt like it took over an hour.
The next stop for my education (1967-1969) was at Central Junior High (now they are referred to as “Middle Schools”) which included bus service, it was a bit future from our house. That seemed to be when everyone changed so much you weren’t even sure who you were half the time. The next bus ride took me to Riverview Gardens High School (1970-1974), where after the first 2 years no one wanted to ride a bus – but to get out of that you had to have a car and a parking spot, 2 very hard things to get. But the 3rd memory was Friday night football games. It wasn’t about football but more about my group of friends. We always got to the game, at some time and we would stay for a while but what was done before and after the games was 95% pure high school FUN! {Picture of me Junior year in High School 1972-73)
Carla's layout and journaling:
3 Memories
1) My first day of Kindergarten still remains vivid in my mind. My Dad took me and many of the other kids were crying. I wanted to cry too, but Dad said, "you're my big girl and you are not going to cry. So I did not, but it was really hard.
2) At the beginning of 3rd grade we moved from Millstadt and we had to go t a school in Fults. My sister and I hated it. The desk raised up and kep hitting us in the head until we got used to them.
3) For 8th grade we moved again and I finished 8-12 in Waterloo, IL. I became a cheerleader and made friends easily. I was a cheerleader in high school too and because I was so short I always got to be in front. That is the only time I didn't mind being short.
Karolyn's layout---and of course, cool memorabilia. She had a story that she wrote and a report card signed by her dad.
Here's my layout and journaling:
Pam's layout.
When I think back to my childhood school years, it seems
that the negative things are the ones that come to mind. I’m sure it’s because
these incidents made a lasting impact on my life. Nuns were just downright mean
in my day. But in hindsight, I think their “mean-ness” was a good thing. We
learned to respect authority---maybe “respect” isn’t exactly the right
word---more like fear. But given how today’s out-of-control kids are, I don’t
think that was a bad thing.
St. Aloysius was a really old school. In fact, my
grandmother and her siblings went there when they lived on their farm in
Spanish Lake. They had all since moved when my parents moved to the “sticks.”
The first time I ever got in trouble at school was in the
second grade. I didn’t do anything. My best friend, Reenie had just learned to
whistle and was whistling in the hallway. The principal caught her and drug her
by the arm to the front of the class. She yelled at her and shook her, but
Reenie never cried. When the principal asked the teacher who else might be a
whistler, my teacher offered me up since I was Reenie’s friend. As I moved to
the front of the class, I just started crying right away. I was always a crier.
I learned the lesson of “guilt by association.”
And I learned that crying doesn’t help.
In the 3rd grade, I needed to go to the bathroom
really bad. My teacher kept saying “no, you should have gone at recess.” No
matter how many times I asked, she kept saying “no.” Finally, she would ignore
my frantically waving hand. Soon, it was my row’s turn to go to the bookmobile.
I could not help myself---I bent down and peed all over the floor. I have no
idea what happened after that. I was sure I’d get in trouble, but I never heard
a thing about it. I guess the bookmobile lady wiped it up. What I learned from
this incident was to go to the bathroom when you have the opportunity. You just
never know where the next one will be.
When I was in the 6th grade, Dick Hoffmeyer
passed gas. The whole room was laughing uncontrollably. Sister Richard Maureen
came in and asked what happened. He stood up and confessed that he had “cut the
cheese.” I had never heard that term before and cracked up. I couldn’t get it
under control. Sister put blue striped masking tape over my mouth and made me
stand outside in the hallway all afternoon. When school was dismissed, all of
the kids filed past me. My teacher had forgotten me. I was more afraid of
getting in trouble at home since my sisters and brother would get there before
me. I learned that there are consequences for your actions that are
far-reaching! Years later, I had the opportunity to meet SRM again. I told her
she was the “meanest” teacher I ever had!
Despite these stories, I have to say that I had a great
school experience and wouldn’t change a thing!
Jeanne's layout.
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