Althoff Catholic High School - Crusader Yearbook (Belleville, IL)

Page 20 text:

Japan sends lightning shortstop Kenji Enomoto visits America Mr. Foppe and Mr. Webb learned as much from Kenji as he did from them. I like Althoff and all of America except for TESTS. But don ' t ask me, Do you like America better than Japan? If I could speak English better, I ' ll say yes . However, I like the USA because people are funny (in other words: weird or crazy). I was a crazy kind of person in Japan (some people know it). My bud¬ dies and I aren ' t the usual Japanese — we ' re just crazy. By the way, I went to a private Christian high school in Japan. The name is Meiji Gakuin Higashimurayama H.S. . It ' s lo¬ cated in Tokyo. We usually go to school by bus or train, because in Japan, the driving age is 18. — (The drinking age is supposed to be 20!) I went to school by train with a lot of my idiot friends. In the train, we were always troublesome to the other passengers. At 8:40 a.m., my school started with mass everyday. Mass only took 20 minutes. It was a good time to sleep — (I hope the teach¬ ers don ' t read this!) In the morning we had 4 classes. After lunch, we had 2 classes. We didn ' t have anything like 4L or 5E. Class time was 45 minutes, rest time was 10 minutes, lunch time was 40 minutes. In most of the classes I slept — Some teachers used to beat me in the classroom be¬ cause I was too pert. But those schedules are for Mon. thru Fri. IN JAPAN, WE HAVE SCHOOL ON SATURDAY!!! But Saturday is a halfday. Althoff has only one schedule, but we have a different schedule for each day. It means we had to study more than 10 different subjects for final exams. At three o ' clock, we got out of school, and I went to baseball practice. That ' s the most popular sport in Japan. Prac¬ tice was over at about 8:30 p.m. After that we went to eat. It was my favorite time. I miss these things: Japanese food (es¬ pecially SUSHI), my idiot buddies, SAKE (If you don ' t know what it is, ask Mr. Foppe), and my GIRLFRIEND. I would stay here. Perhaps I ' ll go to an American college. But I don ' t know if I can go or not. I have to ask my father. If you ever come to Tokyo, shout Kenji , and I ' ll be there soon. I hope I can meet you somewhere. Thank You Very Much (arigatoh) and See You Later (matane)!!! Kenji In the last part of the first semester of the 1986-87 school year, the students of St. Paul ' s High School of Highland, Illinois received a great shock. They were told that it would be the last year the school would be open. The initial reaction was one of total disbelief fol¬ lowed quickly by a subtle mixture of an¬ ger and sorrow for most. Staff and stu¬ dents alike clung together weeping while others went off by themselves to think. Over the next few weeks nothing was the same. The teachers seemed sorrow¬ ful but still dedicated and for the most part did not have to heart to punish stu¬ dents. The students seemed unusually complacent, not causing any real trou¬ ble in class, just drudging through the days. After about a month, things seemed to return to normal. In fact, at this point only two things stuck in my mind that were not normal. The first was a rash of thefts that were occurring. Several members of the student body attempt¬ ed to collect souvenirs of the now dying St. Paul ' s. Second was a friend of mine who now also attends Althoff, not want¬ ing to hear the Beach Boys ' Gradu¬ ation Day on his tape, in fact, he flatly avoided it. When the year ended, we had to choose a new school to attend, and more than a few chose Althoff. From what I know of the others who came here from St. Paul ' s, we arrived with mixed feelings — but those did not last long. Unknown faces wished us hello in the halls. Others guided us to classrooms we had never before visited. All in all, the students here accepted us as we were and were willing to help us. When we first arrived, I ' m quite sure there were some who did not like the school, myself included, but over the course of the next few weeks and months, we came to like it here. I cannot say whether we like it here more or less than our own St. Paul ' s, but I can say that although St. Paul ' s will always hold a special place in our hearts, we will nev¬ er forget Althoff. And, for those of us who transferred in as Seniors, I especial¬ ly wish to thank you for making our first and last year here at Althoff unforgetta¬ ble. Thanks. — Dax Sprinot Althoff Class of 1987!

Page 19 text:

16 is a very big year for a lot of reasons. For most, it means a car, usually borrowed, but nevertheless, the freedom to go where we please. Turning 16 is a milestone for yet another reason. For many of us, it means going out and getting a job for the first time in our lives. A job, of course, is the very biggest jump into adulthood we can take. It means a steady paycheck, weekly schedules, taxes, FICA, United Way, union dues, uniforms (nothing new, no doubt), bosses (also nothing new), and other assorted responsibilities. For the first time, we are gravely responsible for our actions, and our supervisors are not parents or teachers who tend to give us second chances. Instead, they are managers and crew leaders and employers who sometimes don ' t really care if you work there or not. They almost inevitably demand that their jobs certain¬ ly have higher priority than, say, school, and always higher priority than your social life. For the first time, someone else decides what you do with your free time, where you will be, and what you will be doing. Jobs vary, granted, but most work is menial, and takes little skill, although certain industries would invariably shut down if it weren ' t for the teenage work force. The fast food chains, in particular, are notorious for employing teens at below mini¬ mum wage and giving them tons of hours. It is not hardly unusual to find kids at McDonald ' s working 30-35 hours a week. As usual, people find many things to disagree with about this issue. Some educators and parents don ' t think it is a good idea to let students work because it takes up so much time. Kids need time to enjoy life, and exposing them too early to adult responsibilities will make them cynical. On the other side of the fence, many people agree that hold¬ ing a part-time job is a very worthwhile experience. You learn to budget time and money, in addition to learning how to get along with fellow employees as well as customers. Although receiving a weekly paychecks can persuade some students to go to work right out of high school, more often it is a motiva¬ tion, encouraging kids to go on to college or vocational train¬ ing because they ' ve seen people who have passed up that opportunity and remained at unskilled jobs all of their lives. Working is more of an eye-opener to the real world than just about anything else. It is quite a shock to be pampered all of your life, and then be surrounded by people whose only in¬ come is flipping burgers or standing at registers. The same paycheck that pays for your gas and car insurance feeds their kids and pays their rent. For us, a job is a diversion. For them, it is the center of their lives. Many years from now, when we are all settled, we ' ll look back and remember many different things about our job exper¬ iences in high school. We ' ll recall crabby bosses; calling every¬ one you work with trying to find someone to trade with you so you could get off to go to the Christmas Ball; blowing whole paychecks on something really stupid, like a new pair of shoes; bussing tables until two in the morning and sleeping through all of your classes the next day, but best of all, know¬ ing that you are finally independent. You are able to work and keep a job, and not have to depend on your parents financial¬ ly (well, not completely, anyway). You may hate it, but it is yours, and if you don ' t like it, quit! But if you ' re just having a bad day, call in sick. — Molly Polka

Page 21 text:

Maite Luengo spends year with an Althoff family. My name is Maite Luengo, and I am 18 years old. I am from Madrid which is the capital of Spain. I have a large family. My parents are separated, and I live with my mom and my three sisters. My mom is 39 years old and she works as a fashion designer. One year ago, I decided to come to the United States to study for 10 months. I talked about it with a friend of mine who studied in San Diego for one year when he was 19. He gave me information about different agencies that handle foreign exchange students. I chose an agency and they found Alicia Sierra ' s family for me. I left Spain on the 17th of August and spent 4 days in New York City before coming to Belleville. I lived in college dorms with students from all over the world and I had a great time. It was sad when everyone left for different states like Utah, Ohio and Colorado. When I arrived here, everything seemed so different to me. I come from a city almost as big as New York. Everybody lives in apartments and the streets are always full of people. Sometimes it was difficult living with the adjustment. People also stay out later than they do here; they wake up later, too. When I told my friends I was leaving, most of them said I was crazy and that I ' d die, but I am happy with my experience. Learning English has been great, but knowing a lot of the people here has been the greatest experience. I can ' t wait to go home and see everybody again, but I will miss my friends here and it will be hard to say good-bye. I hope to see them again someday. I ' m leaving for Spain on June 17th. Hopefully, I will get to see some of New York City again on my way out. I love big cities like New York, Chicago and Washington D.C. I spent Easter in Washington with a friend of mine. I really enjoyed it. This experience will definitely help me in the future because I hope to become a journalist and travel a lot. I would like to learn many languages — the more, the better. Learning about a different culture has been so interesting — meeting new people, seeing new places and living a new lifestyle. Next year, Stephanie Nelle (Class of 1987) is going to study in France for 5 months. I hope she has a great experience, too, and I am sure she will agree that being a foreign exchange student is one of the best forms of education. The best way to learn a language is to live it. The closing of St. Paul ' s brings new students to Althoff These are all the new sophomores, juniors, and seniors.