Rah, rah Arcadia! Go Titans!

Wow, I haven't said that in years. Although I rarely think about Arcadia High anymore, recently there are several glaring instances which have made me rethink my high school years (and bemoan how long ago it really was!).

I recently heard that "the circle" was being demolished during Arcadia's construction project/renovation. THE CIRCLE? This was a landmark. Rumor has it that Steven Spielberg received his inspiration for ET's UFO from THE CIRCLE. I have numerous memories of classes in THE CIRCLE, hanging out by our lockers in THE CIRCLE, walking up the ramps of THE CIRCLE in trepidation if I wore hard to handle clunker shoes that day. THE CIRCLE is what made Arcadia unique. (Besides the stories of the Black Box, but that's a different post altogether).

Also, I am serving on a district articulation committee this summer that is bringing together high school and middle school Language Arts teachers to discuss and collaborate ideas. When I walk in whom do I see but FOUR of my former teachers. No longer am I their student, but their colleague. (Yes, I'm sure it was scary for them, too). My 7th grade Language Arts teacher was there (I loved that class), as well as my honors sophomore and English IV AP teacher, both of whom were known for their "evil eye" and no nonsense attitude, but good teaching. Finally, my 8th grade humanities teacher ended up showing on the final day. She had an awesome class that studied everything I seemed to enjoy. It was in her class I was first introduced to the goodness that is Les Miserables.

It's very interesting to see a completely different side of these former teachers, much the same as I'm sure it is for my kids to see me outside of the school building in my Saturday sweats or buying groceries (gasp!). I was able to catch up with "Mr. P" and Mrs. Johnson, and they are as friendly of teachers as ever. I told them about many of my former high school/middle school friends whom I'm still in contact with, and they were both glad to hear you are all doing well. Interestingly enough, Mr. P said he has a yearbook with pictures of us (you know who you are!) that he might bring in at the next meeting. Now that's the scariest thought yet...