Mater Dei High School - Hi Lights Yearbook (Evansville, IN)

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a o o o Many MD students actually enjoyed being sick because it gave them a chance to catch up on their favorite soaps! November 13, 1981. Seventh period. Sophomore Jenny Town- send hurried towards the science room. An important event was taking place; history was being made. As soon as I finished my Ger- man test, Mrs. Merrick let us go down there, explained Jenny, and I got to see about 45 minutes of Luke and Laura ' s wedding. Luke? Laura? What wedding? Luke Spencer and Laura Bald- win, two characters on television ' s number one soap opera Gener- al Hospital, were the main force behind a new American craze — soap opera mania. In addition to General Hospi- tal, Soaps such as One Life to Live, All My Children, and the latest, Texas, fill time slots from 10:00 until 3:30 every day. Of the 14 million daily watchers — a figure projected by Newsweek magaine — high school kids had joined in large numbers to watch their afternoon heroes. Mrs. Lynn Merrick, German teacher, was a big fan of the se- rials. She said she. had been hooked since high school, but maintained I don ' t make it a point to watch them. If I ' m there, I watch. However, Mrs. Merrick admitted to having another teacher substitute for her while she watched the marriage with her students. Not so amazingly, after the con- tent of the soaps centered on more suggestive material, large audiences were filled with the high school age groups. Senior Julie Gries explained, It ' s interest- ing to see the different people get married, divorced, and preg- nant. Mr. Herb Neighbors, dean of stu- dents, reported that at least five to ten students skipped regular classes to view the wedding. Some stu- dents found it easier than others. We had our pictures taken for our basketball I.D. ' s and we slipped into the science office to watch it, re- lated junior Joyce Martin. Apparently, some misunderstood the date of the wedding and skipped a day too early. According to one college profes- It ' s interesting to see the different people get mar- ried, divorced, and preg- nant. — Julie Gries sor quoted in Newsweek, a major reason for high-schoolers ' attraction to soap operas was a breakdown in communications with parents. Not many teenagers seemed to agree. No! exclaimed junior Julie Rexing. They ' re just fun to watch. You get to watch everybody fight and make fun of each other. — Laura Layman

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The scene was the Mater Dei track. About 25 tense fans awaited the start of the famed Miracle Mile, a race between Assistant Principal Mr. Todd Rudnick and Mr. Bob Culver, main custodian here at Mater Dei. The race was hailed as the sporting event of the centu- ry, putting the two rivals head to head in a one-on-one confronta- tion. Culver was confident of victo- ry. I ' m gonna win. I ' ve cut down to ten beers and five cigars a day. FRIENDLY FINISH: The old saying goes, It doesn ' t matter who wins, it ' s how you run the race. Showing this by his good sports- manship, Mr. Bob Culver, head of Mainte- nance congratulates his victor shortly after the race. (Photo by Scott Altman) WATCHING IN WONDER: Mr. Kurt Wam- bach, band director; and seniors Sherri Ricketts. Jeff Martin, and John Kohl watched the end of the race. Apparently they were all fans of Rudnick because of the smiles of victory on their faces. (Photo by Scott Altman] RUNNIN ' RUDNICK: Mr. Todd Rudnick, as- sistant principal, is confident of victory as he runs the last stretch of the Miracle Mile. He finished with a time of seven minutes, 45 seconds. (Photo by Scott Altman) He also added, I ' m spotting him (Rudnick) 15 years and 125 pounds. Rudnick refused to talk about the race, commenting, I ' m too nervous; talk to my agent, Mr. Neighbors. Then came post time. It started evenly and at the end of a quarter mile, it was neck and neck. But then Culver, cigar perched in his mouth, started to fall back. At a half mile, Rudnick had opened his lead to a quarter lap and began taunting Culver by running back- wards. From then on, Rudnick just poured it on, finishing in seven min- utes forty five seconds, edging out Culver, who finished in nine minutes fifty two seconds. Maybe Mr. Culver should have made it nine beers and four cigars a day. — Brian Johns

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lv; »«K , GENERAL HOS-PI-TAL: General Hospital, which airs on channel 7 from 2-3pm on weekdays, also has a magazine to keep viewers up to date. Freshmen Kelley Seib and Kathy Wannemuehler got their up- date from the magazine in the library during lunch period (Photo by Alan Bur- dette) SOAP DOPE: Senior Amy Klenck watch The Young and The Restless during Ms. Karen Fitzpatrick ' s communications class. The class watched the soaps to learn the various reasons of why people watch soaps. (Photo by Rob Zigenfus) GLUED TO THE TUBE: Seniors Lisa Scheller, Sue Reddington, and Mary Wanne- mueller and sophomore Todd Reddington keep close tabs on the action in the soap General Hospital. They were able to do so because they had a study period dur- ing that time. (Photo by Bethe Ledbetter) AND NOW I PRONOUNCE YOU . . . : At the height of the soap opera season, the most talked about event was the wedding of Luke (Tony Geary) and Laura (Genie Fran- cis) on General Hospital. It just so hap- pened that MD ' s absentee list was at an unusual high that day. The week following the wedding provided a high amount of detentions for the soap fans. (Photo cour- tesy of the Evansville Courier) oo CNOFF VOL ® E O 91