Rock Island High School - Watchtower Yearbook (Rock Island, IL)

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Pointing to the diogtom of the stadium, Tab Smith shows how feasible outdoor graduation could be. Senate President, John Shallman, speaks to the board concerning graduation. 24 Student Life

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Chris Weinert cringes as Randall Parsons and Mike McKinley prepare to bomb her with snowballs. Although most of the snow was unpackable, they took advantage of the wet, heavy snow. Drr! Mikkos did it! Faithful General Hos¬ pital Fans firmly believed that the evil Mikkos Cassadine. who single-handedly froze Port Charles with diamond crystals, also sent Rock Island thermometers plum¬ meting. More scientific crews, however, announced the coming of on ice age, and that the weather was due to the align¬ ment of the planets in space. (They are nearly in a straight line, causing the gravitational forces to change.) Regardless of the causes. Rock Island faced its coldest winter of the centruy. Records doting back to the late 1800 ' s fell. The thermostat dipped down to a biting 25 below zero, and if that wasn ' t bad enough, the wind chill sent the tem- pature plunging to nearly 100 below. School was cancelled the 11th of Janu¬ ary, due to the dismal weather. To many students dismay, however, finals went on, as scheduled, the following two days. Also to the regret of many, the weath¬ er seemed to warm up for the week, while they sat in class, and grow colder every weekend, resulting in a disease known as Cabin Fever. New Year ' s Eve was spoiled for many because of the blizzard-like conditions: Blowing snow, low visibility, and slippery roads. As January progressed, blizzard condi¬ tions reigned. Plagued by the icy roads and slick sidewalks, attendance was low throughout the month. The cold weather did have one good point: when it got up to ten degrees, students were estatic because of the heat wave. Srudent Life 23

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Graduation Decision Creates Conflict Say one word ond most seniors will an¬ swer with eagerness, anticipation and panic. For many, a high school graduation will be the only graduation, due to high tuitions and less scholarships. So, after twelve years of schooling, seniors felt that they had the right to graduate where they want to: outside, in what is considered to be one of the finest bowl stadiums in the country. Usually, graduation is scheduled to be outside in the stadium, with an alter¬ nate, set up in the field house, in case of rain. Last year, however, the administra¬ tion decided that all future graduations would be held inside. The seniors protest¬ ed, for they had not been consulted in the matter. Superintendent James Hopson overruled the administrative decision, and plans for outside graduation were drawn up. It was decided, however, that the res ¬ lut of graduation 1981 would decide the fate of all graduations to follow. Less than perfect planning resulted in a graduation plagued by the early sunset, and overall poor visibility. The announcement hit the Argus by late July,- all future graduations would be held in the fieldhouse. The 1982 graduates, facing their final year at a drastically different Rocky, felt that indoor graduation was just too much to take. As a result, they banded together to think of an outdoor graduation plan that would be feasible for everyone involved. Led by three student school board mem¬ bers, Nancy Nielsen, Tab Smith and Matt Lofgren, and Senate President John Shall- man, the students formulated a plan based on the students ' ideas of a perfect gradu¬ ation, and designed to improve on last year’s problem points. What resulted was a well thought out plan that covered every aspect of gradu¬ ation. The plan called for the seniors to sit on folding chairs on the grass in the center of the stadium: thus highlighting the gradu¬ ates by putting them in the center of at¬ tention. The audience, each of whom would need a ticket to attend, would sit in the west bleachers, with the setting sun at their backs. Each would march through the grass in order to save wear and tear on the all-weather track. This would also create a long enough walk for the graduate to be seen by his family and friends, something that didn ' t happen last year. The student representatives called on the juniors and seniors to support the plan and to show it by attending the school Money Neiisen. a student school board representative, reads her prepared statement on graduation to the board- board meeting on February ninth. The meeting was well attended. Matt Lofgren summed up the students ' feelings in one sentence, I have a picture of my gradu¬ ation and that picture doesn’t include bas¬ ketball hoops. The plan, presented to open-minded and attentive school board members, created little result. A meeting was held with the administration board representatives and student board repre¬ sentatives but the verdict announced on February twenty-third was undecided. The administration stated that they were under too much pressure to make such a hasty decision; so, they announced that a formal decision would be made the week before graduation. Student Life 25