Malden High School - Maldonian Yearbook (Malden, MA)

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- 1 j V j 1. Senior Christine Rooney poses for a picture for her I.D. card, which were issued to all students in an effort to maintain order but ended up becoming a hassle in themselves. 2. Dances and other social events were often well planned but poorly attended as was the case with the Sophomore sponsored “Holiday Ho-Down. 3. Fred Mendelson entertains the crowd at a football game and displays the stylish new band uniforms which were a welcome addition to replace the old worn unifroms. 4. Raising enough money to provide buses for the athletic program was no longer a problem. The field hockey team prepares for an away game as they board the waiting bus. 4. An outside Evaluating Committee observed the high school for a three day period in early October. According to them, Malden High had been doing quite well given the financial situation due to Proposition 2‘ 2. mi: v 6 Adapting

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2 -’r 41 Optimism Mixed With Doubt Downtown Malden was changing. The old Jordan Marsh building was rehabilitated as a sort of mini-mall. Two major parking garages were under construction. The Route 60 by-pass was finally complete. “The Square’’ teetered on the edge of becoming something quite different than what it had been when generations of students associated it with “going to the high school.” Apartments, condominiums, professional offices were beginning to dominate a dwindling number of retail stores. It was sad, and perhaps good, this adjustment to a new, less lively “campus.” Any year brings its catologue of sorrows and hopes. We would all have to adjust to living in a world without John Belushi, Grace Kelly, Margaret Truman, Ingrid Berman. We would have to live without a Kennedy presidential run at least until ’84. According to Time we would have to learn to live with computers even in our home. The magazine actually named the machine its Man of the Year. Then too there was some hope in the Mideast. The situation we were told had changed enough so that some real peace progress was now possible. Personality buffs had a good, if ambiguous year. The Pulitizer divorce provided seemingly endless headlines. William Arthur Philip Louis the new heir to the British Throne provided cute baby pictures. Finally there was E.T., the creature “only a mother could love” according to creator Steve Spielberg. The nation cried when he went home. The images of the year were as always mixed. Adapting 5

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At school the situation was much the same. The Malden Schools entered what looked like a prolonged period of adjustment to the post 2Vfe world — making the most of what we had. There was some sense of optimism but it was always mixed with doubt. The sports program seemed more secure. A few more clubs began to organize themselves. Substitutes were back. The social scene actually improved a bit as class officers and advisors sought more imaginative ways of funding their programs or devised activities that did not need funding. The adjustment had another side. Teachers worked without a contract. Earlier in the year the mint of a pay raise had buoyed some optimism but by mid December the hundred percent reevaluation of the city was still incomplete and the union grew restive. Unaccountably classes seemed even more overcrowded than they were last year. Supplies were not always available especially in the physical education and art departments. The basketball team would serve to illustrate. The addition of freshman teams competing for gym space and strictures on overtime for custodians resulted in the varsity team practicing at 5:30 in the morning. Clearly the school was undergoing a realignment of priorities. Jobs, programs procedures, organizations all were being adjusted to bring them into line with the new reality of living with 2 V 2 . No one planned it. No one announced it was going to happen. At first a few and then more and more people figured out what was going on. It was clear change was taking place. It was not clear what the results would be. The process created its own anxieties. Small classes, elective programs, printed sports schedules, teachers and guidance counselors who really knew you — there was about the year the sense that some good things were gone perhaps forever. Adapting 7