Highland Park High School - Albadome Yearbook (Highland Park, NJ)

Page 12 text:

will be exchanged with period one. Then, so as not to shortchange periods two, three, and four, pe- riods six, seven, and eight will take their place. The students who have fourth period lunch will take their lunches to school and eat between clas- ses. If you want a diagram, I have one here.' I managed to mumble 'no thanks' and stumbled out the door. I decided that I had wasted enough time. I no- ticed five students sitting in a car in front of the school. They looked as though they knew what they were doing, so I got in the car and was about to ask what important event was going on at the school. At the same time, a person sitting behind the wheel, whom I at first took to be an older stu- dent, asked if anyone knew how to drive. This statement caused a quick change of plans. I jumped out of the car and dashed to the relative safety of the school. How was I to know that this was the driver education car! Who can drive? 'LAS I walked in, the receptionist at the desk was eyeing a passing boy, so I quietly slipped by and disappeared down the hall. It was my aim to ask the first person I saw what big thing was hap- pening in Highland Park. This thought was in my mind when I practically bumped into a tall, rangy boy, ambling down the hall. I looked up into his belt and asked the question. Immediately, he said: 'The basketball game. We're playing Saint Peteris tomorrowf As we did not see eye to eye, I walked on. 5'Ahead of me I saw a girl who fit perfectly a description in the fashion column of the FLING. She was dressed in a bulky, black boat-neck sweater, accentuated with a white blouse. The background of her skirt was light beige, highlighted through- out with black tweed. Black wool socks completed this stunning outfit. I didn't fire until I saw the white of her blouse. 'What is the big thing ha pening in school?' I said. She coyly replied: 'Oh didn't you hear? Don Ballou has asked me to tl Senior Ball.' K The Outer Inner Sanctum 'G 4Why not ask at the office?' I thought, an turned around to go there. As I opened the dot and walked in, I saw the secretary busily workin' at her desk behind the counter. When I asked li' what big thing was happening, she said: 'Just minute. I'm busy right now.' Looking around tl room, my eye caught the office date calend: hanging on the wall. Maybe this would give me clue. I leafed through it, only to be disappointe Even the daily bulletin didn't help. All it ha listed was the day's schedule, a few club meeting 63.38, Please

Page 11 text:

i 1 nf wstwm The Late Rush the building. At that time I did not realize that the 'Early Show' they were talking about was not on television. I walked into the front hall. My footsteps and their echoes seemed to be the only signs of life. I knew all this would change to raucous shouts and stamping feet when the mass of the students ar- rived. I had to take advantage of the situation and see the school before they came. I wandered around, glancing into each empty room, until I came to room 201. Here, through an open door, I could see and hear a teacher, clad in a smock, lecturing to his chemistry class. A few of the students were paying attention, but the ma- jority were half asleep. 'So,' I said to myself, 'this is the Early Show. !' Only a few other people were in the school. Most of them were in room 102. Although it seemed to be a regular class, each student was working by himself, while the teacher was arguing with one of them as to whether or not the student was late the day before. When I got back to the entrance, I noticed a copy of the HIGHLAND FLING on the table. Here was my opportunity. There might be something about the Big Story right here. Before I could finish reading it, the hell rang. A sudden stampede of students made me cower and seek shelter in the telephone booth. I waited until they passed and then, determined to go on, crept out. A girl sitting at the desk by the door asked if she could help me. 'Yes,' I said, 'could you tell me what the sche- dule of classes is today?' Her reply went something Receptionist Desk like this: ufoday, Wednesday, will be Friday's schedule. Assembly, which should be last period, Students pass through hall

Page 13 text:

and the information that report cards were coming out this afternoon. As I returned to the hall, a stream of students all seemed to he rushing towards a single desti- nation, so l followed along. We turned down a side hall and l soon found myself in a cafeteria, which was also fitted up as a classroom. I found I was on the wrong track. The big question in their minds was: 'What's for lunch?' I was pretty hungry myself by this time so I got in line. Nobody seemed to notice me until I sat down among the students. A few of them kept looking at me, so I asked the usual question. They all said the same thing prac- tically at once: 'The College Boards are in less than a monthf After I finished my meal, I walked into the hall, up a few steps, and through a curtained door into an auditorium. About fifty students were studying in the seats or in desks at t.he front. As I walked by, I heard two students talking. One of them, reading from a preference test, asked the other: 'Would you rather grow peas, shell peas, or eat peas?' I walked on and out the opposite door. The next stop was down the hall in the boys' locker room. An interesting notice on the bulletin board was the first thing that caught my eye: 'The Marines will begin using this room as an ob- stacle course during periods seven and eight next weekf One glance around the crowded room was all I needed to get the point. A scale on the other side of the room reminded me of the lunch I had T C Home work, day dreams, or what? just eaten. I decided to try it. 210 pounds! How could I have gained 4-0 pounds in one day? Could it have been that the scale was off? A door next to the scale led into a small gym where an enthu- siastic f?j class was learning the fine points of wrestling. From the other side of a partition, girlish laughter could occasionally be heard amid loud music. A moment of indecision and then I decided to abandon any attempt to discover the happenings on the other side. 4'My investigation continued in this manner until 3:15. At that time the majority of the stu- dents left. School was over, but each room was still filled with activity. Staffs, committees, and clubs were working overtime and the 'Late Late Show' was in progress. The cooking room seemed empty so I walked in. I looked around the room and then out the window. There it was! This must be the Big Story. A new addition was being erected in back of thc school. The students I spoke to must have been so accustomed to seeing it that it meant nothing to them. A dream come truei' But after a day in the school, this story was overshadowed in my mind by another one . . . the story of the workings of the school . . . the per- sonal incidents that make Highland Park High School different from any other high school. 'LThis publication is my attempt to fold back Highland Park High School's outer covering in order to reveal its heartbeat of activity and the plasma of knowledge that courses through its veins, carrying along with it the people that comprise the school.