Columbus East High School - Altis Yearbook (Columbus, IN)

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Ij ife at East is fast-paced and almost never dull. There is no such thing as a typical student; just as there is no such thing as typical student life. Most of the similarity seems to end with the fact that all of the students at- tend classes. There are organizations to honor outstanding achievement in certain areas. Plays and musi- cals allow the aspiring actor or actress to “show their stuff.” There are clubs to fit almost any interest. The clubs range from foreign language to trying to escape in Dungeons and Dragons. Student life extends beyond the walls of school. Students work part-time jobs to earn extra cash for fun times, and several students do volunteer work in the community. Volunteer- ing ranges from working with aged at a nursing home to being a friend to a small child in Big Brothers Big Sisters. Activities one participates in lead up to one thing-graduation, the one day everyone looks forward to. Every activity, organization or play makes this day even more special. Junior Kim Craig gives Seniors Mike Kammon and Tom Hendrickson a good luck kiss. Junior Sandy Schmeltz puts final touches on the Spanish float that appeared in the annual Columbus Day Parade. Swing Choir entertains at the teacher's dinner. Its all in how you look at 8 Student Life Divisional

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Black armbands were replaced by yellow rib- bons on Tuesday, January 20, when news came of the release of the Americans who had been held hostage in Iran. Four hundred and forty-four days earlier Iranian militants had stormed the American Embassy in Tehran to take the Americans. Months of negotiations had often falsely raised the hopes of the hostages and their families, only to find that their release was still not possible. The last few days of waiting were the hardest, wondering if everything would really work out this time. During the last days of Jimmy Carter’s term as president, the final agreement with the Iranian government was reached. The hostages were not actually freed, however, until moments after Ron- ald Reagan had taken his oath as the fortieth President of the United States. Freedom came to the hostages just as the transition of power was completed in America. Students and faculty at East joined in the na- tionwide celebration of the hostages’ return home. The community of Columbus showed its joy in many ways, from free yellow ribbons to free cakes to free ice skating. Columbus expressed pride in its own Ulric Haynes February 6 with a special celebration in the Commons. He assisted in negotiations and welcomed freed Americans in Germany as the US Ambassador to Algiers. ’’I think they (the hostages) deserved every bit of the attention they got,” commented Carrie McClure, a junior. Some people didn’t share that opinion, how- ever. Les Jackman, a junior, said, “I thought the hostages got too much attention. The POW's de- served more attention than the hostages did; they had to go through a lot more. Even through the hard times and trials, the na- tion made it. Perhaps it was in part because of the hard times. Said McClure of the crisis, The whole situation helped the nation to really unite. For once we were all concerned about the same thing. We weren’t at odds with each other. People we'll always remember

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STUDENT LIFE Student Life Divisional 9