Elkhart Memorial High School - Monolith Yearbook (Elkhart, IN)

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the inside Out with old, in with new rooms Memorial underwent over $750,000 worth of renovations to several areas of the building during the summer and throughout the school year. The replacement of carpet in A-hall, the remodeling of the library, the addition of the new freezer and cooler in the cafeteria, the addition of three classrooms and the remodeling of two classrooms in the science and math departments, updating of the lights in the auditorium, plus the lowering of the drinking fountains and remodeling of “Bless this mess” a plaque in her office read, but most people considered the office of Activities Director Miss Alice McKeehan to be spirited and busy rather than messy. With a smile and an occasional stern repri- mand, Mrs. Coe Strain guided enriched sophomore English students through ac- tivities from mythology to “personality projects.” 28 the restrooms for the handicapped in B-hall are the things that kept the in- side of EMHS looking good and working better. Many students found the library the one renovation that really caused a true change to the school. Linda Sigler felt that the school had lost something when the open library ceiling was remodeled. “| had a Central exchange student visiting with me last year, and she said the most exciting thing about our school was our library. | think we've lost that,” said Sigler. Freshman Sharon Brotherton said she felt the school had lost some of its character and variety from other schools. “At first they (students) didn’t like it, but they are now beginning to,” librarian Mrs. Della Mitchell said. -¢- Reconstruction work on Memorial’s library began last school year and lasted throughout summer. Librarian Mrs. Della Mitchell works to restock the shelves for its reopening. McKeehan, Strain leave EMHS “It’s time to get on with another part of life,’ ad- mitted Mrs. Coe Strain. Mrs. Strain, along with Activities Director Miss Alice McKeehan, retired from their posi- aol tions at EMHS at the conclusion of the 1986-1987 school year. Both Miss McKeehan and Mrs. Strain have worked at Memorial since the school’s inception in 1972, after a number of years at the old Elkhart High School. Mrs. Strain was instrumental in setting up Memorial’s drama program, after do- ing drama at EHS, and served as the drama coach for several years. “| learned a lot about music the first couple of years,’’ said Mrs. Strain, of her work on Memorial’s musicals. Her background in college had prepared her only in drama and English. Naturally, it took a lot of work to put on four shows a year, usually working four nights a week through the end of each school year. ‘| had to take naps on the floor of my office sometimes,’’ she remembered. “After a while, | got to the place where | was physically unable to get here at 7 in the morn- ing and leave at 10 at night, September through April.” Eventually, Mrs. Strain also joined the Humanities teachin team—while still teaching Englis and Drama, of course. All three of Mrs. Strain’s children are graduates of EMHS. Being at school with them proved to be an ex- perience at times. “I'll never forget the time my son came into class—in the middle of it—with the sliding door of my Volkswagen on his arm,” she laughed. “Memorial is a big part of my life, but | guess (wanting to retire this year) is just wanting to get out before they start to say, ‘Is she still here?’ ” But Mrs. Strain said that there are a lot of things she will miss next year. “You don’t do anything for 30 years and not miss it,” said Strain. Organizing Memorial’s drama departmen t was also what first brought Mrs. Strain into working with Miss McKeehan. When Elkhart High School was split, Dr. Palmer Mart needed someone to help take the load off of Mrs. Strain by hand- ling the financial end of the drama groups’ performances. The position of ‘‘Activities Direc- tor’’ was established by Dr. Mart in 1968, and ever since the role has been filled by Miss McKeehan. “Dr. Mart had some pretty definite ideas about what he wanted done,” said Miss McKeehan. “‘I guess | was fortunate. | did a good job, and when the two schools split, they maintain- ed the position in both schools.” There was at one time in Memorial’s history, however, a dispute over whether or not the position of ac- wile director would continue to exist. ‘About eight or nine years ago we | | were in a big financial bind in the school corporation,’ remembered Miss McKeehan. ‘‘They wanted to eliminate this position ... the staff got really uptight about it. They had a meeting. | didn’t know anything | about it. But they were so concerned | about it that they called the) superintendent—who was .in con- ference at the time—and called him | out of the conference to talk about it. So they made a couple of changes for that year, and the position stayed.” | The main purpose of having an} “Activities Office’ was to alleviate some of the duties of group spon- sors and the assistant principal. Miss McKeehan’s office handles everything from organizing the mor-. ning announcements to fitting the seniors for caps and gowns. For what seems to be a rather high-pressure job at times, Miss McKeehan has missed surprisingly few days in the past 15 years. She admitted to about 15 or 20 total—a record that few people could match. But the hardest thing to replace after this year may be the ex-| periences of a lifetime that both Mrs. | Strain and Miss McKeehan have of- | fered to Memorial and its students. From Day One 15 years ago, both} have played key roles in raising ‘‘the | new school” to its working place in; the Elkhart community—and its students along with it. “It's going to be a difficult transition,’ said Principal Carolyn Cook. -2-

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Charger Cha The party of the century is a hit Crash! boom! bang! these ere the sounds that marked the deginning of the Statue of Liberty's pecond century in July of 1986. Miss Liberty was given to the iPnited States as a gift from France in 1886. Through the years, she had suffered serious deterioration in Several parts of her framework. But ‘wo years of renovation and $75 Jnillion later, Miss Liberty was ready ‘0 reopen. Of the many operations ‘hat contributed money for the ‘enovations, the Memorial student yody made a contribution of $700 tarned with a dance held in honor of Miss Liberty last year. The Statue of Liberty received | | Elkhart may not qualify as ‘ruins,’ but the city project to im- srove the area has been named for he mythical phoenix bird that is ‘eborn and ‘“‘rises from the ruins.” ‘vhe Rebuild Elkhart || Phoenix Pro- rect, a long-term plan to improve the ! nconvenienced motorists were forced to Jetour around the Jackson Street bridge as renovations of newly built iron stan- dards, and, as a new effect, the torch was changed to have a gold leaf ap- pearance. Miss Liberty was also bathed and scrubbed before her grand reopening. The 100th birthday celebration for Miss Liberty, held in New York, hosted six million spectators from all over the country, including the presi- dent of the United States and his family. The French president, Fran- cois Mitterand, made the trip to the United States for Liberty weekend. Included in the ceremonies was a naval procession consisting of over 40,000 ships from 30 different na- tions in New York harbor, an elab- Elkhart gets city, was cause for objections from Elkhart citizens. One of the most controversial undertakings was that of the com- munity center on the corner of Benham and Indiana Avenue. Many objected to bringing people, it was under reconstruction to be widened, a project that took all summer to complete. LUCCHESE’S ITALIAN DELI OPEN — DETOUR TO EAST JACKSON especially youngsters, to an area that is already occupied by taverns an lounges. orate fireworks display, the relighting of the statue, a rededication of the statue, and a big birthday bash for Miss Liber- ty. The weekend was a time that the people of the nation were able to cut loose and be themselves for a little while. The Fourth of July weekend ended with a bang—as a 25- minute firework finale conclud- ed the weekend in New York harbor. Spectators all over the nation could watch the phenomenon on their television sets all day long as Miss Liber- ty was entering her 101st year of existence. -¢- a face lift into a farmer’s market. The Bucklen Opera House, a historical downtown structure, was demolished late last year, despite attempts to save the run-down building. The space will be used as a parking lot. The city also has plans to build a deck over the Ar- thur’s Midway Motor Lodge parking lot that would be on street level and open to the public to enjoy. The proposal to close Waterfall Drive behind Midway Motor Lodge and make it into a riverside park was rejected because some people believed it would cause traffic pro- blems. Many Main Street storefronts have undergone improvements and others are still in the process of gettin face-lifts. New stores may soon be added, with the help. of the city, d generally to help make downtown a nicer place to Ictober’s tornado that touched down near elkhart Central High School damaged parts Mf Elkhart’s east side, including this fallen ree at Rice Elementary School. The idea was passed, however, and the center will be set up in the old A?P store building. A variety of educational and recreational pro- grams will be available to everyone, and it should be a fun place to go, according to Mayor James Perron. Programs would be set up to in- clude teen help programs as well as facilities for sports. Most of the Phoenix projects are centered around downtown Main Street. Plans were made to make the old railroad depot on Main Street in- to the National New York Central Railroad Museum, as well as developing part of the freight house be, in the hopes of Mayor Perron. In addition to these building im- provements, the city water, sewers, and road- ways are being repaired and improved. According to Mayor Perron, this program can benefit everyone in the community but needs support—not only from adults, but from the young people of Elkhart as well. -0- Hooray for Dennis Conn : er who b te only American to win the America’s Cup rps after losing it in 1983. Even the tough ustralian team was little Challenge for the ne of “Stars and Stripes,” mericans had another reason to cheer j : ee ay a as Jeana Yeager iis Plane that would fly non- around the world ... and they didl Te Voyager took seven d : history-making journey. one te At the same Celebrating a victo Ing a tragedy. Ja Prepared by Activitie McKeehan. Marcos left behind her col- lection of 3,000 pairs of shoes when she and her husband Fer- dinand Marcos fled the Country. AIDS con- tinued to claim lives, one of ‘a hich was amous — piani den Some People argued that aon ads on national TV. would help reduce that Psa Goa but because of the con- , these peu a have not been put on The world may not have been perfect place, but People were ape make it better. The campaign against drunk driving grew as the local police enforced the ge Taal ia drunk drivers. The Ace any a j oe Die ah SO gave free rides home on The race for Indiana's Repr i ae Third District grew hot as Sayegh a Ward competed for the position. INS were even hotter after (yes, after) : election. The punch card ballot system nae Was put to the test when Ward : le Of a recount. Each candidate claimed oh oper the real winner of the race down to Noe’ end when Hiler was Officially This year May go down in History books as “the year the Reagan Administra- tion goofed.”’ With the controversy of the tran Scam surfac- ed many claims of Reagan's i i gan’s incompetency Photos Courtesy of The Elkhart Truth, 4

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‘Yiscrepancy between Central School boundary changes discussed “| enjoy myself at Memorial and | ‘earn every bit as much as a Central student does,” wrote EMHS junior Cristi Cain in her Feb. 11 letter to The =|khart Truth. Many people in the Elkhart area vere concerned about the enrollment and Memorial High Schools and about the youndary changes that were proposed ‘0 balance those differences. Ways to balance the two schools ‘were considered by a committee made up of Elkhart Community Schools’ Yarents. One option that raised objec- tions included moving school boun- aries so that some students who cur- rently live in the Central district would ‘Jo to Memorial. ' Pinewood Elementary School students held an informal boundary yrotest on Feb. 7. Pinewood was one Df the schools that would have had some or all of its students change “rom Central to Memorial, which upset ,) Many of the students and parents. ‘) One Pinewood student told The ‘J:lkhart Truth, ‘I’ve always lived in ,2entral district, and | want to go to Sentral. My brothers went there.” Another suggestion that brought on mixed emotions was one of combining the two high schools into one Elkhart high school. This proposal would put the junior and senior classes in Memorial’s facilities and the freshmen and sophomores in Central’s. The parent committee pointed out pros and cons to this idea. An advan- tage would be that classes and pro- grams could be geared to more specific age groups. Also, special Classes like advanced and remediation programs would be stronger because they would consolidate kids from all over the city. There were also many cons to the idea, however. Students would have to adjust to another school change; there would no longer be competition bet- ween two schools, and freshmen and sophomores would lose upperclass leadership. Which option will be used remained undecided at presstime, but it seemed agreed upon that some sort of a change was necessary. According to Elkhart Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Fred Bechtold, Central will become overcrowded in Charser Ch the near future if some students are not moved. New housing projects in that area have brought so: many people to Central that if the trend continues, in seven years Central will contain about 1890 students to Memorial's 1430. Another problem was that Central has a mixture of upper and lower class students while Memorial had primarily mid- dle class students. The committee tried to recommend boundary lines that would give a more even distribution between the two schools. Bechtold said in a GENESIS news conference he understood why people were upset by the pro- posed changes. ‘Kids are just uniformly concerned about who they'll be going to school with,’ he said. He also felt, however, that young people should be able to adjust to the changes. “Elkhart is a very mobile society. Kids need to learn how to adjust.” EMHS Principal Miss Carolyn Cook agreed that students as well as parents should be flexible. “Wherever a student goes, if he has the right attitude, and his parents have the right attitude, he will do just fine,” she said. -¢- Seventh period proposed students who are having Among this year’ ars Was a dog. ae facetious, § I into com- arties and uo who made down-home Humor was definite! “in” j Se evoen! business, and fle ark umor Caused many groggy looks on Students at school. Stupid pet tricks dropping watermelons off of roofs. and hysterically answering viewer mail ee Some of the things that made ate Night With David Letterman eee ut ae “Ya, that’s the sn't that ial” became Standard jargon, thanks io he Pathological liar and Church Lady on the ever-popular Saturday Night Live. As far as game shows go, The Wheel of For- tune was a winner, iving White a chance to turn letters and = — S heads) and Pat olay as chance to give away new cars. This = the only prime time game show. ruce Willis was moonlighting with nde ores and a hit song music respect Yourself.’ Moonlighting was a big hit nominated or 16 Emmys. Millions Of viewers across the country breathed a sigh of relief when Bruce and co-star ybill Sheppard finally kissed this season! With the concern for quality education growing, many politicians and school administrators have been trying to find a way to improve the education students receive. A proposal under consideration for Elkhart schools was the seven- period day to permit high school students to take a maximum of seven courses instead of the current SIX. The committee reviewing the pro- posal contained three Memorial staff members: Mrs. Janice Dean, Dr. David Flora and Mr. Donald Litherland. The seven-period day was suggested to help those students having trouble earning enough credits for graduation and to help freshmen and sophomores meet increased graduation re- quirements raised by the state. According to Mr. Stan Teal, mathematics, ‘“The seven-period day might have to fit into the present framework of school time (7:55- 3:10). What would happen then is that the current class time would be shortened from 10 to 15 minutes and the teachers would have less time to cover material and help those trouble. The study time for students would decrease and depending upon the class that the student elected, he could have 20 percent more to do.’ Also, he said, “Teachers would have less time to prepare for class and to grade papers.” While these were serious points, other teachers believed that some good things could come from the seven- period schedule. For ex- ample, a student could take classes that interest him such as music, business, photography or metals and still be able to meet the additional paces requirements. he seven-period day also would help those struggling in a particular area to take more classes or to repeat courses if necessary. -@- The computer generated peadivem aiso made big rie ‘ ¢-catch the wave” commercials for ‘Oca Cola and as the wacky host of ane Se nueous show on e. Starti Night Lita ing out on Saturday the Saturday ve: 'n the world of fashion i jackets and mini skirts were an aes . wore’ drobes. Students would a'sO pay up to $90 for a pair of Guess overalls. Something new this year was eigen oe only!!) that were 0 use an like it had been “put ip — oes Pho! vs oa Courtesy of WSJV, The Elkhart Truth, and