Lake Braddock Secondary School - Lair Yearbook (Burke, VA)

Page 16 text:

Red lights blinking on buses. . . chains around poles, tying up bikes. . .thundering footfalls descending from buses. . .slamming car doors.. .stumbling along unfinished side¬ walks. . .all evidences of opening day activities. For the first time we attended all classes even though we had a short¬ ened schedule due to the incom- pleted construction of the cafeteria. At the same time we could not understand what we were doing in school—the air-conditioning was faulty, we were too many students for too few tables and chairs, seventh graders were busily mani¬ pulating their conbinations, eighth graders were socializing at every opportunity, ninth and tenth gra¬ ders were searching for smoking areas: but we were all mastering our schedules and handbooks, confi¬ dent that someone knew what was happening. Our shortened schedule continued for two weeks, and as we were about to get used to changing thirty-five minute classes without bells, the cafeteria was completed and we were on full days starting Septem¬ ber 17. At last we had a place to eat, but we had to start brown-bagging it, for the kitchens were not yet in use. The absence of walls was growing less obvious while the openness” was becoming routine. We were be¬ ginning to form together to involve our new surroundings in our learn¬ ing experience. We were unique; we were pioneers. ” =:■ H .-Mw , 1 J10JM IV 12 introduction