Mike O’Brian Goes Back To His Old High School

Well, today its back to school for kids in Clark County…a bit too early if you ask me, but clearly no one did.

As parents, sending kids off to school has changed over the years…oh sure, you take that picture of them holding up their little sign in front of the front door with their back pack, all dressed up in their first day of school outfit (or do you?), but more and more children either take the bus or have their mom or dad drop them off.

It got me to wondering if kids actually walk to school any more. I know there’s a huge safety risk that concerns parents, but one of my fondest memories of school is walking to school with my group of friends every morning.

With elementary school, after spending the summer together, we all knew were we would meet, at what time and how long it would take to walk up Garfield St., down to 5^th St., make the turn walking a couple of blocks past Our Lady of Grace School and onto Highway Avenue. There it was, Main School! A two story grade school with wooden floors, cloak rooms and a basement that served as a cafeteria and a bomb shelter just in case the town was ever attacked! However, it’s no longer standing having made way for a town park for everyone to enjoy.

But it was my high school where lasting memories were made…we still walked to school at times, but mostly the guy with the car picked us all up for school. Now I spent my formative years at Highland High School…Home of the Trojans! After getting ready for my last few years of public education in junior high, the last 3 years were spent wandering the halls of this fine small town educational institution.

I was able to go back to my high school a few years ago and nothing much has changed. In fact it looks pretty good since I graduated in the early 70’s! But the memories of are still there…Friday night football games, basketball games, Homecoming, proms and much more.

We all have those special memories on this first day of school, so if you scroll down, I invite you to wander the halls as I did at Highland High School back in the early 70's!