I went to school when:

[emptynest]

I went to grade school at the Howard Grade School and it always amazed me as a child that we got to rope off the brick streets and play in the street.  Girls still wore dresses everyday and those shiny-slick soled shoes that slid easily on bricks, so we were always falling down and skinning whatever body part hit first. 

And since basketball games for the high school were played in the gym in the grade school, the hallway would be blocked off and tables set up for the concession stand.  The next day, the old fountain pop machine would still be sitting there in the hallway.  One day, about noon, as I was coming out of my classroom to walk home for lunch, I recognized the distinctive cries of my younger sister, who was at the time, in Kindergarten.  She and my brother had been waiting for me to get out so we could walk home for lunch together.  Welll, since we didn't get pop very often, she tried to get some by pushing the lever down, but somehow her finger got stuck in the mechanism and pop was flooding in every direction.  And she was howling.  All my younger brother could say was, "Not me, not me, I don't want pop....sissy did it!"

Anyway, I just remember going to grade school and walking home for lunch and when we would walk back, the high school was just being released and they headed uptown to the various places mentioned earlier by Teresa.  I remember being deathly afraid of those "big guys" and would cross the street so they wouldn't try to run me off the sidewalk.

The stage had those colored lights that tucked down into the floor and we did musicals or some type of fancy programs.  But the basketball games I got to go to as a child were the most impressive---I remember getting to sit up in the balcony the surrounded the gym on 3 sides and that gym was rockin!

Such memories. Maybe some more later.

[Teresa]

You know..speaking of memories.. and the gym...

After Dad Cookson bought the old school... I used to go in there and just stand, and look around. It was so quieet and empty.. or so it seemed.
But I swear I could hear all of us and see all of us doing all of those things that we used to do in that gymnasium. I saw us playing dodge ball and the boys making baskets and the band and the pep club and the Programs on the stage etc.............................
It was if time took a step back and just stood still.

It is so sad now that the windows are all broken and the floors are all buckeld up and the roof is caving in.. the pigeon poop in there is about 3 feet thick and the ammonia is so strong that you can barely stand outside the door. For health reasons I wouldn't dare go inside.
Rob Cookson owns it now and even if I hate seeing our old buildings go... this one should be totally torn down.

[emptynest]

Teresa,
I agree about tearing down the building.  It is quite an eyesore now and I think, very hazardous to one's health.  For those who like to vandalize--it's just more temptation. Are there any plans to demolish it? 
A few months ago, when we were so warned/worried about the Bird Flu epidemic, I could just see the whole town of Howard wiped out----since all those pigeons have homesteaded there.....I already have had the flash feeling of Alfred Hitchcock's "BIRDS" when I have driven or walked past there.
But I still have those good memories.

[Buddyboy]

I went to school a little later than some:
We had a two or three rebel guys that took Home Economics.

We had PE instructors showered and dressed with us and put on shirts and ties again.

We had to get to the cafeteria early for Mrs. Lanning's cinnamon rolls and lasagna. We also had a new thing our Jr. or Sr. year, a sandwich line, a salad line and a hot meal line.

We had study hall but didn't always study. I still remember my senior year having Mr. Graham telling us that he couldn't keep us from taking the class the next year but he sure could recommend it. We listended carefully and then went right back to talking. We had Study Hall in the cafeteria.

We could not wear shorts outside of PE class or sports practice. No flip flops because we had to wear socks with sandals and no tank tops.

In elementary school, we had yardsticks by the door and the girls had to stop and have their skirts measured.

We had open lunch until our Sr. year when we moved to the new school. Everyone was ticked when we had to go to closed lunches and it took a lot longer to get through the lines.

We prayed for drifts in the winter because that was the only way that school was going to be closed.

We members of the pep club would sing We Are the Champions as the guys walked off the court even after be trounced by the opponents.

The sick room was laying on a couch in the office or in the Home Ec room.

We had PE with the girls. When playing dodge ball we had to throw with our left hands.

I remember being at the old buildings with the windows open in the summer. The wind would change and their would be a distinct odor. My dad used to call it "the smell of money." Probably not so much now.

When I started teaching in the mid 80's, the guys wore tank tops, shorts and flip flops. The girls were clad about the same. One of the coaches ran around the field without his shirt and I didn't have to wear a tie to work everyday. The first year I taught, we had a pregnant homecoming queen and the king was the father of the baby. At that time, girls and guys were required to take a quarter of Vo-AG and a quarter of Home Ec. Things were a lot different in less than ten years.

Scotty

[bowie boy]

you dont have to to home Ec unless you didn't take jr-high band other wise your home Ec safe, from there on out.

[Jody]

GRADE SCHOOL--- REMEMBER THOSE LOVELY RIDING PANTS THAT MY MOM BOUGHT FOR ME.   AS I REMEMBER,THEY DIDN'T LAST VERY LONG AS  I WAS ALWAYS FALLING DOWN AND I TORE THE KNEES OUT OF THEM. I IREMEMBER THIRD GRADE AS  A VERY SAD YEAR.  PHYLISS WINN, ELAINE THOMPSON AND I ALL SHARED THREE BOY FRIENDS, AND GUESS THAT THEY ALL MOVED AWAY THAT YEAR [DAVID MORGAN, HAROLD PEMERTON, AND LARRY DEAN MALEY].  BUT  MOST OF ALL I REMBER PEGGY SPUNAUCLE  [CUSTODIAN]
HE LET JANIE HENRY AND I PLAY IN THE HIGH SCHOOL.  WE ROLLAR SKATED ON THE FIRST FLOOR UNTIL AUG.  HE THEN PAINTED THE  FLOOR.  IT WAS SUCH FUN TO GO UP TO THE THIRD FLOOR AND GO DOWN THE FIRE ESCAPE [SLIPPER SLIDE].   HE WAS SUCH A GREAT GUY.