Sherrard High School - Ivy Tower Yearbook (Sherrard, IL)

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As we celebrate our successes, we forget the risks Mrs Blais reacts to the tragedy of the space shuttle Challenger Until January 28, 1986 the NASA Space Shuttle program had gone well, successfully launching and landing 24 shuttle missions in a little less than five years. It was on that Tuesday that tragedy swept the country. At 11:38 a.m. Eastern time the space shuttle Challenger blasted off, and after only about 75 seconds into the flight, it disasterously exploded, killing its crew of seven members including teacher Christa McAuliffe who was to be the first private citizen in space. Until then, no American astronaut had ever been killed in flight. The news hit America hard, especially in schools where many awaited the first lessons from space that McAuliffe had planned to broadcast from the shuttle. Area school teachers who had applied, including Sherrard High School English teacher Mrs. Blais, thought to themselves It could have been me. When asked if she would apply again, Blais simply said Yes. She felt that those who had applied for the Teacher in Space Program had already considered their death as a possible outcome of the mission be- cause of the risk involved. Mr Clough, a Sherrard High Science teacher, said that he would apply if given the chance and that with anything scientific, there's always going to be a certain amount of risk involved. He felt that we did not only lose seven lives, but that the explosion was a “slap in the face to United States science and technology because the space shuttle is a symbol of how advanced we really are in space technology compared to other coun- tries. This slap in the face was what made this tragedy different from others. Clough added that the crew of seven were pioneers. In this day and age we tend to forget that many pioneers have died for their cause, such as in the early days of the West. It is that pioneering spirit that allows us to make remarkable breakthroughs such as the shuttle program. The public's reaction was A sick feeling in my stomach. The general reaction of the students was summed up by Kevin Benedict. President of All-School Senate, when he said It was traumatic. No one was expecting it. Challenger January 28, 1986 The United States observed the deaths of Francis R. Scobee. Michael J. Smith. Judith Resnik. Ronald E. McNair. Ellison S. Onizuka, Gregory B. Jarvis. and Christa McAuliffe by lowering the flag to half-mast for a week after the happening. Introduction 3

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Activities 7 Seniors 55 Underclassmen 81 Academics 103 Sports 121 Advertising 147 Index 172

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Celebrate in high fashion Celebrate! Everyone was doing it in style. The clothing fashions were a unique mixture of bygone and new-fangled styles. It didn't seem to matter what was worn, just about anything was considered stylish. Popular casual wear for girls included loose knitted shaker sweaters, tight fitting stretch pants and blue jeans with tapered legs. The guys sported baggy dress pants with plaid or printed shirts and Levi 501 jeans paired with T-shirts. College sweatshirts were also popular with the guys and the girls; as were swatches, colorful plastic fashion watches. The hairstyles took on a new wave . A bobbed hairstyle permed to it's curliest was most fashionable for the girls. The guys liked hair best in a very short style; yet. longer styles were popular too. For both the girls and the guys, layers of shingles could be seen in the back of a few heads of hair, The varsity football team started the shingle fad at Sherrard High when several players got the style on impulse. Everyone was celebrating with music. One of the most unique songs came from a group of popular singers and songwriters who called themselves USA for Africa . The proceeds from album sales were contributed toward a fund for Africa's starvation relief. Madonna became one of the most well known singers of the year with her three top ten hits. Music videos were as popular as ever; every hit rock song written was sure to have a television video to go with it so the song could be seen as well as heard. Chicago Bear fans definitely had something to celebrate about in 1986. The Bears went to the Superbowl for the first time and they won! They won BIG too. They beat the New England Patriots by thirty-six points (46-10)- the biggest win ever in Superbowl history. The Bears had a very popular rookie on their team, William The Refrigerator Perry. The entire team added to the fun-filled football spirit with the Superbowl Shuffle which was record- ed by the team players and grew to be a big hit song and video. Above Right: Diana Colino shows her shingles Above: Swatches are a colorful switch from regular watches Right: Tobi Johnson and Mike Iverson celebrate the Super- bowl XX victory by the Chicago Bears 4 Introduction