Altavista High School - Nuntius Yearbook (Altavista, VA)

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... students Made Their Way Below: Jeff Finch and Chris Brum- field are thinking over some ideas for their Hi-Y bill to be presented at the Model General Assembly. Left: Football coach, Jeff Stickley ex- plains blocking assignment for the next play to junior guardsman, Ran Coleman. Below: Sharon Dagenhart leads her sixth grade SODA group in a values voting discussion. Opening 5

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4 Opening PLES ARS Teresa Burgess and Debbie Osborne found biology class to be an interest- ing experience as well as a challenge. “Tt’s about time...” echoed 726 Colonels, but for different reasons. The seniors felt it was about time they took over the top spot. Taking senior pic- tures, ordering graduation an- nouncements and caps and gowns, and creating their own float for the Christmas parade were only a few of their special activities. Those seniors want- ing to attend college found themselves taking college boards and achievement tests. The class of ’80 felt it was about time they got to order their well-deserved class rings. Planning prom was another big event too. College-bound jun- iors took preliminary SAT’s to give them an idea of their abil- ity to do college work. Sophomores anxiously await- ed getting driver’ licenses and Right: In Junior Achievement Sherri Southern learns new techniques about the business world from her adult ad- visors. Right: Mark Brumfield realizes being in high school isn’t all fun and games, but requires a bit of study. some even got cars! Being up- perclassmen, they took mini- mum competency test which an overwhelming percent passed. They also took the Armed Services Vocational Ap- titude Battery test. This was one more available measure- ment of what the students are capable of doing. Freshmen began to use some of their acquired liberties by getting involved in an array of varsity activities. Their pro- found presence was felt throughout the year beginning with their successive pep rally victories. Kighth graders thought it was about time they moved into high school status! They immediately adjusted to their atmosphere of new courses, sports, clubs, and an assortment of new freedoms. It’s About Timea

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Mud, Mess, And Major Changes Altavista has needed new school facilities for quite some time and everyone agreed it was about time we got what we needed when construction began in the fall of 1977. For a total of two school years, the students have fought the mud, the limited parking space, and make- shift classrooms in hopes of finally getting more modern facilities. Before school began this fall ru- mors circulated that school might not open on time but with our luck it did. School started slowly, with a fair amount of confusion. Many traditional classrooms vanished and all students, even seniors, walked around in a daze for a week or two. Below: Scaffolding has surrounded our school now for some time, and has become a familiar sight. 6 Opening Besides the mud and mess when it rained, the students were forced to put up with inconveniences every day. Going to the trailers with- out getting hit by a runaway bulldozer was pretty hard and trying to take tests with drilling and banging outside nearly drove us crazy. Walk- ing from your car to school was dangerous if you couldn’t dodge beams swinging in the air. Cyclone fences restricted us from treading into unsafe areas, and it was hard to con- centrate on Mrs. Blanks and English while Mrs. Tolley led French class in a dialogue. But all of these inconvien- iences will be worth it when we begin to use our new facil- ities. Right: Mountainous piles of books cover the floor of the book room, close to the beginning of school. Right: Our boys’ basketball coach, Ed Frazier, and our new athletic di- rector, Linda Hern, look over the floor of our new gym. We were all anxiously awaiting its grand open- ing.