Seekonk High School - Seekonk Yearbook (Seekonk, MA)

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CLASS FRESHMAN YEAR: 1981-1982 The excitement that usually comes with the first day of astudent’s freshman year of high school was definitely present on our first day. Everyone was buzzing about their summer vacations and new clothes as the administrators attempted to usher us into the auditorium. Auditorium? What’s an auditorium? We were used to class meet- ings in the cafeteria and the words, “when you turn around, quiet down.” This was much different. Mr. Dias and Mr. Andreozzi hardly ever yelled as they oriented us in the right direction. Freshmen homeroom lists were posted on the outer wall of the office and were eagerly observed by all. “What staircase do you go up to get to 204?” We found it amazing that “up” and “down” staircases did not exist any more and that homeroom was actually a time to congregate with friends. Schedules were distributed (to the dismay of all) signifying a definite and con- crete end to summer vacation. Soon we were thrust into the main- stream of highschool life where we quickly discovered that freshmen were considered dirt. Though we were gullible, we did not fall for the old buy-an-elevator pass routine. As the day passed, many new things were discovered. Lunch posed a problem: which line do we go in for hot lunch? Once we finally did get lunch we OF ’85 CHRONOLOGY realized that it was not much better than lunch at the Junior High, there were just more delightful varieties from which to choose. Before we knew it, the first quarter was almost over. We got used to our schedules and our teachers and began to get into more exciting things such as football games and dances. Dances were more fun now that Mommy and Daddy didn’t have to be available to pick us up as soon as the dance was over. Some of us were even introduced to partying, a thing that had been non-existant prior to our high school experience. Probably the most memorable event of our freshman year was our first Spirit Week. Massive poster meetings were held and everyone worked together to create our spirited masterpieces. Our themes in- cluded Arabs and mismatched clothing, both of which were “freshman type” ideas (though we didn’t know it then).Almost everyone participated as we let the rest of the school know that we weren't so “itty bitty.” Spirit Week ended with our class tying with the Sophomores for third place. Sports was another thing that was almost brand new to us. Sure, some had played on intramural teams or organized softball, hockey or football teams, but most of us had never experienced a real team experi- ence until now. Hundreds of us partici- pated in field hockey, football, volleyball, swim, cheerleading, track, baseball, and basketball. Though we were not powerful members of the squads, we showed prom- ise for the future and carried the Warrior name proudly. We looked up to the up- perclassmen as figures to emulate and prayed for a Freshman Sports Program to pull us out of their shadows, but no such program ever materialized. Deciding to be content with playing, we worked hard to be assets to our teams. Seemingly, the year began, progressed and ended in a matter of minutes. Soon June was here and we crammed for our first final exams. We learned that a year of information could not be recalled in an hour as we struggled through the grueling tests. The “itty bitty” Freshmen would soon be a Sophomore. With excitement we said “goodbye” to our first year at Seekonk High School.

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| : . : ; | | ] | We returned from our summer vacation with bright attitudes. The anxiety that we felt last year as little Freshmen wore off a little as we became accustomed to Seekonk High School and its procedures. Again, the routine beginning of the year red-tape was encountered (schedules, pamphlets, handbooks) and the year was underway!! We had a big year ahead of us, and we were off. As sophomores, we were promoted into the potential partying crowd of Seekonk. A typical Friday or Saturday night was spent hanging out at McDonald’s in the south end, at the Showcase, or frequenting the Seekonk Bowling Lanes. All in all, we took advantage of our newly found free- dom in many ways. The most important part of our Sopho- more year was when the Balfour represen- | tative visited the school to talk to us about class rings. We gathered up the pamphlets he offered us eagerly and began to design our rings. Gold, celestrium, silver, white gold — there were so many choices! Stone cut and color was an even harder choice ... $0 many decisions for a young child! In February we received the product of our decisions — our high school class rings. Sophomore year was also a big year for fundraising for the Class of 85. We knew we had to sell something in order to raise money for our class .. . but magazines???!! It was worth a try. Many prizes were awarded as incentives to get us to sell, and boy did we sell! We raised almost two thousand dollars for our treasury from our efforts. Our spirit as a class once again was evident. Spirit Week arrived just before Thanks- giving as is the tradition at SHS. Everyone participated in dressing up as motocycle gang thugs but only a few braved wearing togas to school. Our boys’ tug-o-war team proved to be the highlight of the games as they pulled to a big triumph over the “mighty” seniors. But all our efforts proved fruitless as we slopped to a last place standing. Even though we didn’t do too well in the rank- ings, we felt that our spirit was underesti- mated by the judges ... oh, well, maybe next year. The gala event of the year was the Soph- omore Semi-Formal, the only event of its type in eight years. The administration granted us permission to hold an event in the large cafeteria so we decorated it in blue and white crepe paper and rearranged the tables to accommodate the approx- imately two hundred people attending. Everyone arrived around 6:00 prepared to dance the night away!! Ron Jay provided the music (You call the “hokey pokey” SOPHO MORE YEAR: 1982-1983 music?) and the catered buffet was actually good! The atmosphere was extremely hap- py as classmates reacquainted themselves with people that they hadn’t spoken to in years. All squabbles and disagreements were put aside that night as our class acted as one unit. And they said that we were last in spirit — we had proven ourselves other- wise. The spring passed quickly and soon June was upon us. The coming of summer vaca- tion was a relief to all of us who had work- ed so hard during the year. Once again we prepared to say farewell for a few months and give the books a break. We would return in September well rested and ready for another year. A-5