Kellam High School - Challenger Yearbook (Virginia Beach, VA)

Page 10 text:

85158 SB DIL ... THEN HAI' 2 Few people realize how much energy is required to exist in the academic envi- ronment. Involvement in school requires a number of exhausting hours per day. Sometimes the hours seem much shorter than sixty min- utes, and, on the other hand, sometimes the minutes sel- dom end. Either way, the time can drain vitality from the invidual, and the time that remains after school has sapped all that it desires from him, leaves no time to waste, so the Kellamite doesn't waste it. Whatever he does with his time makes him unique, strengthening his character and that of the school. Kellam's participation in the Iunior Miss Pageant, the NCTE writing contest, the Neptune Festival, Boys' and Girls' State, Governor's School for the Gifted, Lead- ership Workshop, and YCC are credits to the school as well as to the participants. Not to be forgotten, however, are those individuals who di- vorce themselves from orga- nized activities and strike out on their own, taking part in little-known and little- publicized diversions. All forms of entertainment, all pastimes, are learning expe- riences of sorts, and are a dif- ferent reflection of their par- ticipants. The concerns of those who make up Kellam's student body range from academic excellence and talent achievements to aid for the needy. There is nothing self- centered in their concerns, no matter how personal. The Kellam student of today exists at school and after school, then what?

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H585 BB BU HT UI ' Many students throughout the nation do not wish to be in- volved or lay claims to the exis- tence of the U.S. educational system and its demands. Unlike the rebellions of Kent State and Mississippi State University, students at Kellam displayed their adversity to the system by staging individual mental walkouts, and finding better things to do with their lives. The result: individuals apart from the rest of the crowd. The public school system had enabled all U.S. citizens between the ages of 6 and 18 free access to a basic education. Now, however, this access has been labeled a mandatory por- tion of one's life. One-hundred and eighty days of each year have been designated as school days and lack of attendance on these days shall be in portions no greater than 17o!o, one-sixth of the regular days in the class- room. The result of this newly- installed proclamationg the dreaded 30-day rule, a new common bond of suffering, a part of the academic life which affects students, teachers, and administration. In the evenings and after- noons there are families, friends, youth groups, civic or- ganizations, churches, jobs, hobbies and sleep. And in the mornings they find time, each individual must find time, to form a basic unity of minds, ideas, and tempers. Although this formation is often merely superficial, many Kellam stu- dents find themselves unable to shatter the bonds which en- velop the one-time student. The result of this bond: an adherence to often revised, but never totally abandoned, life style. Schools quickly develop into communities into which the citizens, like it or not, are thrown and must exist. A change in the school affects those who populate the build- ing, so it is only logical that the process can work in reverse: those who populate the build- ing will affect the school. Each separate personality not only adds to the character of the school, but is actually neces- sary to the school's function. Like Maxwell House which has found that the blending of three excellent coffees consti- tutes the best, Kellam High School has found that a com- bination of philosophical, aca- demic, and environmental in- fluences in a liberal atmosphere produces an unequaled social structure of unique individuals. The separate personalities of teachers like Margaret Canada and lo Caldwell add to the character of the school.

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, ' . we fly I vi .1 ' U U9 ,Oi lily 'VQQQQW1 RUN I dl P W' I 1,11 'h I JJ -5 VW X JL ,W VY J, gl' puff , l OW VJ U w 'W A H V 'ink 11, 'K QQ , E A ., 1 ' jig '5 1 252, -.ft VI . Q .-jjj? A f' , auwf i 1495? - ,ef 'L ' - 5 ' V ' ' ' iii? .. yhef- '. pf'-1 gff Y 4 1- ,f L, v! 4- '4p'gi,,5A'Nn D . 'l .:' xf ' 5 5 Ei 1 5'i - Q c , ' ' After 6th bell, the student body heads ve for 2555 separate lives. , ,, 1 A . , N .. 7 V 'i .' .. .-. gf f Q