Weymouth High School - Campus / Reflector Yearbook (Weymouth, MA)

Page 23 text:

SENIOR ESSAY It was the summer of 1976 as I recall. Four hundred and fifty-four strong, we were known as the bicentennial class, individuals thrown together by the sands of time and the winds of chance, young Americans eager to test the wings of maturity that had, for so long, been in the growing process, young people anxious to make their imprint upon the world. Our arches strained by platform shoes, we danced into the suburban league playoffs. We were eaten by Jaws and freaked out by Zappa. Ties and sweaters were out: the now thing was the dirtiest dungarees and the smelliest work shirt you could find. When someone said, finals, we all laughed — then cried. When guid- ance pointed toward college we all asked for directions, until we counted our bucks. Senior year the Red Sox almost won the series and our teach- ers almost went on strike — almost. We were shocked by Watergate and saw a president resign. We were there to see bussing go into effect and we watched as discrimination raised its ugly head. We were there to feel the squeeze of unemployment and to taste the fear of graduating with no job prospects. Whipping infla- tion now with Jerry Ford, we were there to boycott meat and to see gaso- line become more precious than gold. We were forgetting Vietnam and trying to ignore Angola. We saw it all from streaking to striking; from War to Peace. But whatev- er happened, or happens — rest assured we were and still are, The Spirit of ' 76. ' By Warren Marble 19