Full-Blooded Wildcats Built Traditions

I don’t think any of us will forget our first day at Mt. Spokane-Mead High School. After spending a few unimaginably slow years in junior high, we couldn’t help getting bubbly at the thought of high school. We had waited, anticipating new surroundings, new friends, new teachers and a new school.

I still remember my fist step into high school and the initial whiff of fresh paint. The clean, untouched look gave it the feel of a dentist’s office. This new school that had once excited us, now gave us a mission, a determination toward building a grand identity. But unlike that first day, our first year was a struggle.

Although many of us wanted pride in our school, few knew how to achieve it. Then one day everything changed.

On December 17, 1999, an echoing announcement marked a turning point in Mt. Spokane’s short history. The word “Mead” would be officially removed from our name. Mt. Spokane would stand alone on everything from transcripts to our school’s entrance. Although most students cheered, students who had begun their high school years as Mead Panthers groaned, making evident the difference between Mt.

Spokane’s first and second graduating class.

The Class of 2000 will be the first graduating class to have begun at Mt. Spokane.

But this event did more than separate us from Mead. Being recognized as an individual school gave us the chance to show everyone what we were really made of.

Because of the building of traditions, we can look back and smile, remembering the colorful and deafening crowds at Pack the Palace, the resonant laughter during gladiators, and the funky beats blaring at coffeehouse. Our accomplishments in academics, the arts, and sports have equipped us with pride not only in our school but also in ourselves.

I don’t think any of us will forget our first day at Mt. Spokane or the lack of identity we began with, but three years later, as full-blooded Mt. Spokane students, I know we will never forget our last.