Today was the day of the campus tour at my former high school. I was on the fence but forced myself into it. I am glad that I went, so much has changed. I saw a couple people I knew. One guy that I found out was gay I friended years back on Facebook. He walked right up to me and said hello. Until he said his name I had no idea who he was. The one thing that I wanted to avoid happened. I found myself alone with no one to talk to on more than one occasion and I felt so awkward. That really negatively affected me but I kept myself together. My old English and Math class room is now a Driver’s Ed room. The room next to it I learned all about civics. We walked the whole campus and learned they got a new auditorium and a 2nd gym. The new gym has no ac but has plenty of heat. It was a sauna and the now principal that was giving us the tour said that it feels that way all the time. They also no longer issue paper hall passes. You can a QR code on your phone. The whole school operates off of Google. Their computers are all chrome books, which is a perfect thing because if you get a virus, you just refresh it and then go back to life the way it was. No data is stored locally, it’s all cloud based. They use Google Hangouts and all of the educators are Google Certified (whatever that means). I couldn’t help but think as I walked through the halls, wow it would be really cool to work here. Not sure what the hell I’d do but it would be interesting. I was impressed that they have water fountains and there is a sensor up top where you can hold your water bottle and it will fill it. They have vending machines, the healthy ones we saw were stocked with water, Gatorade and High Caffeine Energy Drinks. The second set we saw that had soda in them had a warning sticker on the outside – “use at your own risk, no refunds”. All of the vending machines took credit cards. How modern. They also added cameras everywhere, it’s impossible to be in a hallway w/o being on camera. Sadly they also added card access. I noticed the principal was using a key fob. So back when I went to school all of the doors were just unlocked all day long. In the event of society changing and the active shootings that have occurred, they locked down campus and require cards to get into the buildings. It’s also great for tracking peoples movements. There are 2 security guards who conceal carry and 1 armed police officer. To say things have changed in 30 years is quite the understatement. It was nice to see the freshly waxed floors shining like diamonds. They have really taken care of the place and there are lots of improvements and the campus has been overall well kept. Our graduating class had 500 kids. Today graduating classes are much, much larger. I thought there were a lot of people on campus when I was in school. Today it has to be insane. There is a security booth where visitors have to check in. School is still out for the summer, but that will come to an end on Monday.
I’d love to be a kid going back to high school, ideally a sophomore or junior. I don’t know that I would like the safety/security factor that is out there. However, with all of the technology I think kids today are learning much more than kids did back when I was in school. Everything changes with time – somethings get better and somethings get worse. The campus tour was a nice touch and I am so glad I didn’t miss out. A few of the people grabbed lunch afterwards but I didn’t go with them. I saw hours later on Facebook they had a last minute cancellation and there was 1 ticket available, it was tempting but I passed because honestly there are only a couple people I would like to catch up with and chances are they probably wouldn’t be there. I’d be all alone again and not having a good time.
I covered myself in sunblock but I think I managed to still get a light burn. My legs and back were killing me by the time it was all over. We were on our feet walking a lot. It’s a 63 acre campus and that’s a lot of walking. Can you imagine what real estate taxes, electricity, and water cost. I mean it has to be out of this world but schools don’t pay real estate taxes and as for the other expenses that is what taxes are for. Now if they could just increase the pay for school teachers that would be awesome.
The heat took it’s tole on me as well and I was eager to get home and get cooled down, grab something to eat and watch a little TV then work in a nap with the kids. They made me sleep in my chair. It was the same thing last night where the girls took over my bed so I went to the master bedroom to sleep.
It was nice to have something different to do and I thought I would be late but I was the 2nd person there and had 5 minutes to spare. I don’t know many people that get to go back to their high school campus for a tour and I really thought that was a nice touch and a step above & beyond. Lots of memories both good and bad but the day is done. Next reunion probably be in 5 or 10 years (35th or 40th respectively). I was surprised to hear of the passing of so many people, some I knew others I just knew of.
Here’s hoping that your Saturday was enjoyable and that you got to do something fun and managed to stay cool & hydrated. Summer is slowly winding down. While we (my neck of the woods) have this month and next month, then the cooler temperatures will start to push in. That’s usually what follows back to school. Then before you know it, the holidays are here, snow is on the ground and then after a few months of that, we get to go back to the sauna that is summer time.
Cheers for now!
No comments:
Post a Comment