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

Page 33 text:

5 WW f J Barry Road detour creates parking problems t's 7:55 a.m. Five minutes to get in class on time. But there was no where to park. Where could students turn? Where did they turn? Often students turned on to side streets or illegal parking places. Oakies always seem to have parking problems every year. But in 85-86, with the Barry Road detour and more stu- dents driving, the problem was even bigger. I don't think they should have handed out as many parking passes. Then if someone drives, who doesn't have a parking pass, there would be room for everyone, Elaine Earyl, senior, said. The parking lot holds 344 cars. But the school handed out 439 parking passes. If students got caught driving, who did not have passes, they got two warnings and a 48 hour period to contact the attendence office on the reason for driving. If this was not taken care of, the Kansas City police depart- ment handed out S15 tickets. I had to park in the teachers' lot several times because there were not enough pIaces, Karen Steele, senior, said. lf you got to school a little early then you were okay. But about 10 until 8 a.m. then it became a problem, Mary Beall, junior, explained. Parking before school was only half of the problem. Getting out of the lot after school was a bigger problem. Sometimes I didn't think it was worth it to drive, Jamie Walk, junior, said. When people were in a hurry they didn't care who was in their way. ' Some students ran out to their cars right after school was over. That way they could get to their cars and get out of the parking lot faster. You really couldn't get out faster because you had to wait for the school buses, Mary said. lt usually took me 15 minutes to get out of the parking lot, Kelly Forslund, junior, said. But if you could beat the rush, you could get in the car line faster. But would students rather not drive at all? I didn't mind Cdrivingb because I don't like riding the bus, said Mary. lt's easier to just get in your car in the morning and not have to walk to the bus stop and wait. I would rather drive. It Cthe crowded parking lot? didn't bother me, Kelly said. Another problem that driv- ing students had was the con- struction on N.W. Barry Road. The construction involved wid- ening the road. It went on from July, 1985 until July, 1986. I think it took much too long, Mary said. lt took me five minutes longer to get to school because I couldn't go Barry Road and beat the traffic, Kelly said. Some of the students ig- nored the construction and drove on Barry Road anyway. I went on it CBarry Road and there was a pile of rocks in the middle of the road. It was dark and I didn't see the pile. My car got caught on the top of it Cthe pileD, Elaine said. There should have been more signs blocking the road off. Students survived the Barry Road construction and the crowded parking lot, but tickets and time often took a heavy toll. by Michele Tunnell F U fra ..- 'it SPEED LIMIT 1 A I. 5 Speed limits were sometimes ignored as Oakies rushed to leave. Cindy Roth, Lisa Mason, and Bret Smothers, juniors, arrive at school early enough to get a parking spot. fron .Mt L ,W Parking Lot

Page 32 text:

COU 'LUIT StI'C pro the der bigf han The hav roo saic the pas wh wa cor rea car me I r tim pla the 8 a Bea of aft wc sai dic rig the of

Page 34 text:

.l.i1 Y richer Teacher Memorial built -- 'to salute our heroes' t 11:39.13 a.m., only 73 sec- onds after lift off, on Jan. 98, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. ln the media center, many Oakies watched over and over the Challengers explosion. While one TV replayed the explosion, another kept track of the live coverage. Many just sat and watched in amazement. Even after watching it over and over, it was still hard to believe because it was such a tramatic loss, said sopho- more Scott Conley. Ultwastramaticin the way that we Cthe U.S.J lost seven brave and courageous astro- T nauts, said junior Kathy Wer- ner. At the time, no one knew . the cause of the explosion but what everyone knew was the first citizen in space had been killed. Christa McAuliffe was a Concord N.H. high school so- cial studies teacher. Last July, McAuliffe was chosen out of W Monxorial more than 1 1,000 applicants to be the first school teacher in a E 1986 i Flags at Oak Parlg as well as across the country were lowered to half-mast to honor the seven astronauts. Contributing to the district-wide fund drive, Diane Mufti senion gives for the Central Park memorial. space. The other crew members included, Francis Scobee, Jud- ith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Mi- chael Smith, Ellison Onizuka, and Gregory Jarvis. Memorial funds were set up in honor of these seven astronauts. Gladstone was one of the many cities around the United States to create a teachers' monument. The Gladstone Memorial was erected at the corner of 70th Street and North Holmes across from the communi- ty center. lt is in recognition of our parents and teachers, public and private, Sun- day School or otherwise, that we think of thanking too late in our Iives, said Mr. Joe Wally, corrdinator and originator of the memorial. The memorial is an open book made of steel granite. The base, which is nine feet long and five feet deep, rises two feet above the ground. With the book, the statue stands approximately seven and a half feet tall. It weighs a little over eight tons. Oak Park students were asked to donate at least 250 for the memorial. A total of S38 was collected. At the ground breaking ceremony for the teachers' memorial on March 21, Mr. Wally stated that all the funds for the memorial will be raised up to an amount of S10,000. All funds not used will be dedicated towards scholarships. The Oak Park a cappella Choir performed at the ground breaking cere- mony under the direction of Mr. Grace. They sang 'Festival Peace on St. Anne', 'The Star Spangeled Banner', and 'God Bless America', Tami Soules, junior said she felt honored to be able to sing for something that will be remembered forever. The loss of these seven astronauts lingered in the eyes of all Oak Park students for a long time. America mourn- ed from the White House to little communities. No matter where, the loss was still the same. Flags were lowered at half-mast and makeshift signs appeared in count- less cities: WE SALUTE OUR HEROES. GOD BLESS THEM ALL . by June Sumerlin D119 55 fer 30 Space Shuttle