Quincy High School - Goldenrod Yearbook (Quincy, MA)

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OUR CLASS HISTORY As we began high school in September, 1982. we were unsure how the next four , years would affect the rest of our lives. We were faced with questions such as: What kind of classes should I take? Should I join any sports team? Should I join any clubs? What are my responsibilities? Now. leaving Quincy High School and Quincy Vocational Technical School as the graduating class of 1986. we can look back on the answers we chose to those questions and see the effects of our ■ decisions. Our combined efforts have produced a successful class; a competitive class: and a lot of great times which we will never forget! As we sat in the Voc-Tech gym on that first day, we did not know any of the ad- ministrators that spoke to us and we were anxious to get on with school and, I sup- pose, to get it over with too. The voices were monotonous and seemed to drone on forever. Now. none of us can mistake the voices that frequently come over the loud speaker and we never have to sit in that gym again. We came in as freshmen (quite the descriptive term), the first, but certainly not the last, of the unique qualities of our class. No class before us had ever been freshmen at Quincy High School. The Voc-Tech always had freshmen but we were the first entire class to enter Quincy High and Quincy Vocational Technical Schools together. The first wave of activities that were presented to us were the fall sports. The choices we made proved successful. Our volleyball team has been Massachusetts Champions twice and runner up another time. As freshmen we formed the ground floor of this auspicious group. Our football team has held their own and proven suc- cessful at the most important times, that is, on Thanksgiving Day Games with the Red Raiders of North Quincy. We won two and tied one during our first three years. Of course, none of us will forget the excitement of the Thanksgiving of 1985. We almost pulled the game out of the mud and mire that used to be Veterans Memorial Stadium, but ended up losing 7-6 and completed the first winless season in Quincy history. It turned out to be the inverse of Archies 10-0 season. Of course, the junior varsity, freshman and powder-puff teams followed suit with the varsity and lost as well. Our band has remained faithful throughout all the games. They even sup- ported the team during our first night home-game during which they played without the lights to see their music. The band has also received several awards for their competition in parades and field competitions. They also travelled to Montreal, Canada for a competition. Many of the best times were at the soccer games. (That is, if you are into bruises and braces). After the first wave passed we were moved directly into the winter sports such as hockey, basketball, track, swimming, and skiing. These games always proved in- teresting, especially when they happened to be on a Friday night and even more so when the blue and white proved to be victorious and there was a celebration after- wards, sometimes at Tony Koury's attic, other times in the Voc-Tech parking lot. Then after these Friday nights many of us would stumble out of bed at 5:00 A.M. the next morning to experience an exciting day trip with the Quincy Ski Club. 12 Our Class History

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Top right: The riots of 1985 led to P.W. Botha's relaxing some of the laws concerning apartheid in South Africa. An offer was made (or the release of Mack nationalist Nelson Mandela. Anatoly Schiransky was released in aprisoner exchange in Berlin in February. Bottom left: Chicago Bear Jim McMahon celebrates the 46-10 victory over the New Lngland Patriots in the Super Bowl. The surprising Patriots were the first wild card team to win three away games and participate in Super Bowl XX 1986 Top left and bottom right: On January 28. 1986. 72.98 seconds after liftoff, the Space Shuttle Challenger, carrying Teacher m-Space Christa McAuUlt • Scobee (corn mander). Michael S. Smith (pilot), and specialists Ronald E. McNair. EUison S. Oni uka. Judith A. Resnik and Gregory B. Jarvis exploded in a hi : y were the first U S. astronauts to die in flight, nineteen years and one day after the fatal pre launch ApoUo fire The announcement at 1:50 A.M. brought sudd’ all classes and the silent prayers of many teachers and students. They joined three Russian cosmonauts who had suffocated listen their returning capsule prema • . ;cd n the near vacuum of the upper atmosphere as the only in flight deaths. News of 1986 11

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The ski club also went to Canada and Austria during our four years. Tennis, softball, baseball, and track always provided some good times for the end of the year. The teams got the privilege of sharing buses and along with that, sharing victories. There were some interesting faculty games throughout the year. For those of us that were not very athletic but liked to go to the games we could always join Q-Club or cheering. Even those of us who chose not to do these (and for some who did these) we were kept busy in one way or another. The science club always had something going on. We visited New York, climbing the Empire State Building one year and the World Trade Center the next. The trip always included stops at the Bronx Zoo and colleges like West Point. We also had hiking expeditions on ML Chocura (with Chris Coughlin's lunch for fifty which he had finished before we reached the top). The math faculty could always find a way to use up our spare time. There was the Continental, National, and New England Math Leagues and the American Computer Science along with several other smaller teams. The computer room was always open for help or just some fun which was usually the case. The Computer Club was basically a group of hackers who exchanged software and played game after game. The Foreign Language Club usually planned an interesting trip somewhere and the English department was always capable of teaching us the excitement of riding home from Newport, R.l. on a defective bus. The history faculty never failed in bringing up another one of those great essay contests that Every one of us should enter.'‘ There was also the student government which proved to be one hell of an effort. We had two successful proms and even more successful parties along with the Proms. April 12, 1985. and May 23, 1986. are the dates that many of us will always remember. Those of us who did not go to the Junior Prom will still remember the date because it was on that day that the Quincy Public School teachers decided to go on strike to settle their contract. Unfortunately for us. it only lasted that one day. We lucked out when it came to fashion styles because just about anything was in. Styles varied from paisley to fluorescent outfits, which reminds me. how can any of us forget the HOODSIES, you know, the loud, obnoxious, females who get along with underclassmen and flirt with everyone. Another major achievement during our high school years is that Quincy High must have had the largest sale of M 'n M's per capita in the nation. Everyone enjoyed hearing that Chris, Steve. Mike and Sam were suspended for aggravating Mr. Pactovis during junior year. Well, we are leaving now. We have watched three classes come in behind us. I; wonder if they will live up to our achievement, or maybe that is an impossibility. We. are going on to various lifestyles now. Some of us have chosen to go to college and some of us are going straight to work. We are a group of people with distinct dif- ferences that has succeeded in proving that people who have very little in common other than the fact that we attend the same school can be successful and have a great time doing it. Whatever our plans are for the future there is no doubt that we« will remember the past four years and reflect back on them with a sense of pride and happiness. Good Luck to Everyone. Don't forget the precious friendships that we have made during our high school years. Our Class History 13