School years add up

About 40 former North Central High School students met recently in the school library.

They asked one another what year they had graduated. They laughed and joked as if they had always known one another – many generations with a common bond: their old high school.

Yes, it is an old high school. Next year, North Central will celebrate its centennial.

The group of alumni met to discuss plans for the birthday party for the oldest school in Spokane.

Scott Harmon, NC activities director, kicked things off by explaining his history with the school.

Although he attended Shadle Park High School, his mother has worked in the NC office for 32 years.

“I remember the old school (building),” he said.

Harmon, who has taught at the school for 12 years and says he bleeds red and black now, stressed that the most important aspect of organizing a significant centennial celebration will be to build a strong alumni association encompassing all classes.

Although there are many strong alumni groups from North Central, they include members only of specific class years. Also, there is little communication between graduates who attended school in the old building and graduates who have gone to the new NC building.

Organizing the alumni would help in fundraising efforts for the centennial party as well as for scholarship programs.

Harmon and fellow teachers Kim Rieken and Brent Osborn, along with office manager Darlene Linahan, unveiled the logo and theme for the centennial celebration.

The theme is “Northsiders True – Continuing the Legacy,” which has been incorporated into a logo that features an old-fashioned “N” wrapped in a “C” flanked by two red and white feathers.

Organizers want to see the logo everywhere, starting at the beginning of the next school year, when the celebration will begin.

They have plans to place the logo on T-shirts for NC students when they arrive on the first day of school. They also want to make patches for all varsity sports teams to wear on their uniforms, and they want to put the logo on mugs and other souvenirs.

The logo also features the words “Past, Present, Future.” The staff members want the celebration to tie together the history of the school with the school of today.

When the original building was torn down, many artifacts were auctioned off or put into storage.

Old class photos, furniture, trophies and even bricks went to the highest bidder. School staffers recently looked for the items in storage but couldn’t find them.

Much of the history of the old building has been lost. Organizers of the centennial are on the lookout for lost memorabilia.

NC’s lost history is one of the issues that has driven a wedge between students who attended the old and new schools.

“It’s not just a divide or a gap,” Harmon said. “It’s a chasm.”

The school staff hopes the celebration will bring all graduates and current students together to share in North Central’s traditions.

The school is giving its distinguished alumni program a bigger profile. A plaque in the shape of Washington state lists distinguished alumni, such as former U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt and Chicago Cubs baseball great Ryne Sandberg.

Osborn explained plans to make an alumni showcase to help today’s students see what they can do after they leave North Central. Plans include a better location and better lighting for the original plaque, as well as plaques for individual NC graduates that explain why each is special.

Centennial activities being planned include student fundraising; ongoing recognition of North Central’s sports, arts, music and academic accomplishments; the annual “Groovy Shoes” basketball game; the commissioning of commemorative art for the skylight area of the school building; and a big homecoming football game in the fall of 2008.

Another event being planned is a performance of the “Doll Shop” – a musical that was started by Elsa Pinkham, a longtime teacher in the early days of North Central. Tom Armitage, drama teacher at NC, hopes to book the newly remodeled Fox Theater for the performance next spring.

For now, teachers are turning the centennial project over to the school’s alumni to plan and organize. Committees will be formed for fundraising, organizing and planning.