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

Page 10 text:

Contests And Laughs Head Spirit Week Rocky’s usually rousing spirit seemed to take a roller coaster ride this school year. There were many ups and downs, curves and straight aways. Homecoming sent the roller coaster to the peak. More organizations and in¬ dividuals took part in the homecoming preparations and parade than anyone could remember. Rocky students could feel proud of their 31 unit parade with every element being of top quality. The coaster dipped into the valley as the cheerleaders tried to get the student body to send up an encouraging cheer at pep assemblies however. Once again students hit the high road of spirit as they donned their red and gold during the winter to encourage the basketball players on to another win¬ Crowds always seemed to gather to watch the lunch time activities during Spirit Week. Kathy Simms and Sharon Fuller proudly dis¬ played their new fashion look for Nerd Day during homecoming festivities. ning season. The Letterman’s Club added a boost to Rocky spirit as they sponsored their “Rent-A-Letterman” campaign for the second straight year. The red and gold sweaters were seen everywhere as orga¬ nization members promoted the good times to raise money for community projects. As spring approached and thoughts of graduation soared through every¬ one’s mind spirit and pride took one last fling. As we prepared to move from one important faze of our lives into the bigger world beyond we took one last look back. We remembered the good things and proclaimed our spirit and thanks with a rousing version of our Alma Mater at the closing ceremony. Missy Esparza is amazed at just how fast Drake Nelson can scarf down crackers during the cracker whistling contest. 6 Student Life

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The Varieties Of Summer Eyes pop open, Gasp! Bolt upright. 7:45 a.m.?.Overslept again? Wait a minute ... It’s summer! Back to sleep until around noon. Ah summer, no more crowded hall¬ ways, dull classes or homework. Just you and the glorious sun. It was up to you to decide how to spend the entire day. A popular summer pastime was sleeping through breakfast and maybe even lunch. Most people however got out of bed in time to hit the lawn chairs during the peak tanning hours. Rocky students found a number of different ways to spend their summer days. Go¬ ing to the lake, shopping at the mall, taking part in sports and working topped the lists. Shana Rice spent her summer conditioning for the basketball season to come, Sharon Lange spent 50 hours a week baby sitting and Sean Chance found himself in Washington’s Olympic mountains rebuilding trails and climbing mountains. Summer nights usually found Rocky students piling into cars to terrorize the Quad Cities with all kinds of teenage antics. Drive in movies, crusing 23 ave¬ nue and parties occupied a great deal of the evening hours. The more romantic- ly inclined found summer nights the perfect time to get together with that someone special to gaze at the stars or just take a stroll in the warm air. No matter how you spent your days or nights you were sure to have a great time, after all it was summer. Of course along with all of summer’s advantages there were disadvantages. Chris Early found, “The only thing wrong with summer was it wasn’t long enough.” Other people had quite a list of complaints against this sunny season also. Some students found coming back to school and getting into the swing of things a major trama after three months of lazing around. Kerry Scud- der didn’t like summer when there was nothing to do but fight with her older brother. Julie VanDePutte hated the unbearable heat that seems to be a sum¬ mer trademark, but she went on to say, “Even though I do have dislikes I still feel summer is the greatest.” With the end of August came anxious anticipation for the first day of school. As much as we looked forward to school being out for the summer we got more excited about it starting in the fall. Me¬ lissa Ledford summed it up best when she said, “When summer comes all I think about is if my next school year will be better than the one before it.” Some Rocky students like Gina Boyd not only worked all summer but had to be at Rocky as well. She was the switchboard operator in the main office. A summer festival on the mall supplied the per¬ fect chance for Mr. Payton to sell barbecued ribs while Gordon Staley raised money for the foot¬ ball team by selling jerseys. These students decided to use their summer to ment with Mr. Strupp. get a jump on needed credits by taking govern- Student Life

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Being a centipede can be difficult. Jill Keim, Sue Demonstrating that the balloon popping contest Clark, Debbie Styx and Julie Robinson are find- could be quite painful at times in Melisa Seward ing out just how hard it is. with John Timmer as her partner. Student Life