Oak Park High School - Cambia Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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.1- -l: :I The A-Tram DJ's ham it up at the King of Hearts Dance. A surfin' safari - Christy Waiberg Stephanie Poggee, and Amy Collins, freshmen, attend the Hawaiian dance. Repetition causes dance turn-out to be and a loud chatter surrounds the room. Suddenly everyone silent, someone has been shot. . . NO - wait, it's just Tim and Dave Asbey, the DJ's of Atrain lnc. , promoting spirit for the sweetheart dance. But spirit was not always what it should have been, according to some of those involved. We divided up into committees and the dance committee put in a lot of overtime for the response they got, Staci Stathopoules, Stuco President, said. One reason the response was low, might have been there were too many in a row, l began to lose interest, Audra Tuggle, junior, said. Homecoming, Sweetheart, Cambia, Beach Party, Fifties, Hawaiian, and the small ones after football games made dance history for 1986. Dances might have had a better turnout if we had less of them in a row, Jennifer Ran- dolph said. According to Jennifer, dance committee chairperson, planning a dance was a lot of work. First, we had to check with Mr. Crews, activity direc- tor, and reserve the gym, then find chaperones, and form a committee to work on decora- tions, she said. The money spent on dances usual- ly breaks even, by the sale of tickets but Homecoming and Sweetheart pulled in a little extra, Staci said. My favorite dance was the home- coming dance. Everyone was having so he lunchroom begins to fill up small much fun and dancing around, Audra said. Brad Evans, junior felt the smaller dances after the football and basketball games were his favorites because they brought more people to games. Many felt dances needed more publicity and new ideas to get more people to attend. Maybe if we did more activities at the dances, such as dance contests and have little awards, more would want to go, Debbie Molleson said. Audra felt if the football stadium was at our own school more would attend the dances afterwards. Brad disagreed, lt's more a lack of spirit. Nobody seemed to care. Dances would be a lot of fun if everyone would have gone, he said. The dances varied from dresses and slacks to T-shirts and shorts. The Ha- waiian dance was fun. Everyone dres- sed crazy and it was different from the others, said Bobby Smith, junior. Brad felt the informal dances had better turnouts because You could just show up and have a good time. The variety of dances made each one special but the King and Queen dances promote the most spirit, Jenni- fer said. Bobby felt it was more then just school spirit. There is too much super- vision. We can't feel comfortable and just act crazy, he said. Despite the small turnouts, dances are likely to continue. Dances are an important part of school spirit and get friends together in the atmosphere outside of the normal school day, Staci said. By Lea VanBecelaere fad 22 Dances

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.lli ff f f ff i f af f fl yr f X ff ff gf X X 4' X angie 4 Q29 ' 1,3 'QZMQA ' fa' -H K DQWQN ,,Z4Ag WXWrW jgwgi AW! f' 4? Z . , iW W 2 l- Student behavior improves, but assemblies still rare that described all school as semblies this school year. Although they were few and far apart, Oakies found it was quality and not quantity that mattered. Even though we didn't have as many Cassembliesb as we had during my freshman and sophomore year - they were better, said Lisa Tisor, senior. The ideal number, according to Dr. Dan Kahler, is at least one a month. Although the assembly schedule fell short of that, the quality of assemblies and student behavior was quite differ- ent from last year. The year began on a high note. ln his last year as principal, Dr. Kahler called on tradition and held an old-fashioned pep assembly. Assemblies help raise the spirit of the school. The first assembly was a great deal of fun, said Dr. Kahler. l think it was put together good, Keith Bennett, freshman, said of the first assembly. It gave me a good impres- sion of Oak Park and what to expect out of it. This assembly was a throw-back to the old days when a first week of school assembly was performed. As the year wore on, it became increasingly obvious that, unlike the past few years, behavior was not going to be the yardstick by which future assem- blies were measured. lt wasn't as bad as last year, but the threat Cof no more assembliesb was still there, said Erick Warner, sopho- more. Student behavior was not as big a problem as compared with previous ew and improved were words years, Dr. Kahler said. This year, there were more assem- blies that urged students to participate. Class competition was the key in the United Way, Christmas, and Donkey basketball assemblies. We tried to get students involved, as well as entertain them in our Stuco assemblies this year, said Staci Statho- poulos, Stuco president. Although assemblies were scarce, students still felt that they were an intricate part of life at Oak Park. Assemblies were a way of raising school spirit and letting the students know what was going on, said Lisa. Assemblies were seen as not only a way for the entire student body to get together, but as a showcase for Oakies talent as well. An entire assem- bly was dedicated to talent at Oak Park in April. l was really honored to be asked to perform in DK's assembly. It was a really neat experience, said Eric Hughes, senior. Whether to showcase tal- ent, promote spirit, or inform the students, assemblies proved to be a break in the school year. lt made the week less boring if their was an assem- bly. lt gave you something to look forward to, said Erick. by Kim Noble ,M-eww' R1 Ns SQ .W ffff Aiming carefully, Becky Gatewooq sophomore, balances on her donkey. Keeping cool Lennie Nierenbeurgen freshman, Julie Moclg senion Robert Witchen juniorg and Ray Stevens, sophomore, participate in class competi- tion. ffl? breed Assemblies 1 f . ,

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