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

Page 8 text:

Spirit Week Hysteria Senior guys with spoons behind their ears forming pyramids in a strange lunch¬ time ritual; junior girls with innocently ob¬ scene graffiti markered across egg, shav¬ ing cream and mustard splattered t-shirts what was the cause for this mass hysteria? School spirit! Spirit week dissolved the inhibitions of Rocky students at Homecoming time. The week long competitions through cos¬ tume and lunch time activities conjured up class spirit in the best of us. Spirit Week ’88 crammed the hallways with red and gold clad Hawaiian super hero hip¬ pies wearing hats and shades. No one could escape the call of the wild as masses passed bananas, threw water balloons, built pyramids, chugged root beer and three legged their way to the finish line. After an obnoxious tug-of-war between the junior and senior girls, the torching of the despicable Moline Maroon Thursday night finalized the psyching up process amid ever spirited Rocky students. Needless to say, Spirit Week provided a chance for everyone to take part, get wild, and express themselves the way only Rocky students do: with class. The class of ’89 displayed this well as they dominated the week long competitions. The class of ’89 dominated the Spirit Week ' s com¬ petitions as well as the float competition with their “Marooned on the Rocks.” Torching the Moline Maroon at Thursday night’s bonfire psyched up everyone for Friday night’s win. 4

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Embarking on a real adventure When we as Freshmen came to Rock Island High School with our school and lunch bags packed we received our first year schedule which was our ... ticket to adventure. Armed with pencils and books instead of suitcases and postcards, we set off to discover hidden treasures in new lockers and long dark hallways. Suddenly sur¬ rounded by big seniors and ancient edu¬ cation, we felt quite young and naive. Like eager tourists we were bounding with en¬ ergy to use our mental cameras to record future memories. Admittedly, this first year schedule was not a plane ticket to Athens. Instead of romping through the Greek temples we had the chance to enjoy the art-deco ar¬ chitecture of the beloved Rock. Instead of taming the jungles of Africa most received the equivalent experience in the hallways between classes. Once settled down and seriously work¬ ing in class, we discovered England’s Ox¬ ford and France’s Sorbonne Universities had nothing over Rocky. We learned of foreign adventures and ones within our¬ selves. At the Rock we had opportunities to swim, dissect frogs, create master¬ pieces, and speak in foreign tongues. Granted, Rock Island may not have the sheek atmosphere of a Paris cafe or the intrigue of a geisha girl, but the chance to meet interesting people in the cafeteria or at school activities was always available. The backgrounds of our fellow class¬ mates were different from us; sometimes this thought attracted us and sometimes it scared us to death. We learned with people of all races, religions and cultures. Along with our classes, this diversity pro¬ vided us with an invaluable education. Throughout our years at Rocky we were faced with choices so confusing they may as well have been given to us in Russian. What classes to take next year, what to do after graduation, what group of friends to make, what to wear to Swirl not to mention who to take! Without the support of friends we had made from classes, sports and clubs, we might have become lost in our travels. Along with friends, our tour was guided by caring teachers, coaches and guidance counsel¬ ors. This was the key in making it to the end of our journey. At the end of this trip lies the one ticket to our final destination — the coveted RIHS diploma. With it we will be given the freedom to take our experiences and knowledge from the past four years and choose our next course of adventure. On a trip with his youth group. Frank Eirinberg mo¬ dels the new 1988 Israeli camel. This baby can go from 0 to 5 in two hours. 3

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Seniors Brian Jones, Richie Ballinger, Scott Smull. Sean McMil¬ lan and Floyd Smith proudly lead their winning float through the Homecoming parade Friday. Mad pyramid builders painfully scramble their way to the top during a lunch time activity. Seniors Christy Chambers and Becky Stambaugh try to kill each other after getting shamefully beat by the juniors in the tug-of-war. 5