Thomas Jefferson High School - Aristocrat Yearbook (Denver, CO)

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- 77 Age of Technology -A3-l . Z .wut Age of technology continued to grow and began bearing fruit in 1976-77. Above a student uses up-to-date science equipment and below Tl's sophisticated computer system offered students an interesting and challenging experience. 1 - ,4 ff 'x fig: 20 - Silver Anniversary

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Bicentennial Club 4-441, if 1 nr' Officers for first semester are Cleft to rightj: Mindy Quinn, trea- surer: Stan Burkcamp, sales manager: Lisa Barrante, president: Dave Pierce. assistant sales manager: Tina Schmidt. publicity. Also, not pictured are: Theo Tsiouvaras, vice-president: Debbie Spears, secretary: George Betz, photographer. Students at Thomas Jefferson, especially sen- iors, have a lot to celebrate in 1976. For one thing, it is our country's 200th birthday-- although by summer we may have heard too much about it. It is also Colorado's Centennial, which is a little more special since not quite as many people are talking about it. It is also election year, and leapyear. Some Americans may be somewhat cynical about electing another president, but others are more inspired to examine the candidates after past events. Of course, the most important thing happening this year is the graduation of this class of seniors. Our class has an important task to carry out. First semester, Bicentennial Club activities included a visit to the stock show, and to the celebration of the Chinese New Year in Central City. Second semester the club elected new officers. They made plans to have an assembly in March, to attend the opening of the Opera House in Central City, to see the musical Paint Your Wagon at U.N.C., and to attend the l-lolly Horse Racing at Gateway Downs Race- track in April. Silver Anniversary 19

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Fads Run Gamut Over Year A chronological sampling of American fads: 1922-More than 131,000 sets of mah-jongg, an Oriental game that combines the strategy of poker with the luck of dice and the skill of bridge, are sold for as much as S500 each. ln 1923, 1.5 million would be sold, and by 1924 the fad would begin to fade. 1923-The marathon dance craze begins, The dance-till-you-drop fad would continue until the mid-19305, when city and state governments enacted legislation to outlaw it, 1927-The first miniature golf course is opened on Lookout Mountain, Tenn. Forty thousand miniature golf courses would be built during the next three years and as many as 3 million people would participate in the pastime during the summer of 1930. 1939-A Harvard University student swallows a live goldfish on March 3 to win a S10 bet. College students begin competing to see who could swallow the most goldfish. The fad ends in April with therecord for goldfish gulping at 67. 1949-Silly Putty is introduced. Thirty-two million units of the silicone clay would be sold during the next five years. 1952-Thirty million Beanies-bill-less caps top- ped by spinning propellers - are sold. 1952-Two thousand University of Missouri students rampage through dormitories in the first documented panty raid. Panty raids would continue through 1957, with occasional resurgences throughout the '60s and '70s. 1955-Walt Disney's version of the Davy Crockett legend, with Fess Parker playing Crockett, touches off a seven-month coonskin-cap craze. 1957-Wham-O introduces the Hula Hoop, fashioned after a bamboo ring used for exercise classes in Australia, and sells 20 million of the 51.98 plastic rings by September 1958. The craze would end by November 1958. 1959-Twenty-five South African students jam into a telephone booth, starting a world-wide col- lege fad that ends the same year with 32 California students squeezing their way into the record books. 1961-The Twist dancing fad starts and inspires a commercial binge of Twist furniture, Twist clothing and Twist hairdos. By 1967, the fad that inspired such spinoff dances as the Mashed Potato, the Monkey and the lerk would become passe. 1964-The first American tour by The Beatles touches off Beatlemania. 1967--Smiley buttons appear. During the next 10 years the happy-face symbol would adorn T-shirts, stickers, napkins, notebooks, coffee mugs and, seemingly, almost everything else. 1972--Pong becomes the first video-game fad. After Pong, interest in video games would decline until the introduction of Space Invaders in 1977 and Pac-man in 1980. 1974-Streaking, a fad confined for the most part to college campuses, peaks in March and April. Occasional streaking incidents would be reported through 1977. 1983-Cabbage Patch Kids, dolls with computer-designed faces, become the rage of the Christmas season. 1984--Michael lackson's Thriller album, released in 1982, becomes the largest-selling record in music history with sales of more than 25 million. lackson's popularity spawns the sales of sequined gloves and influences clothing fashions and dancing. 1985--Furniture: Atomic age furniture, lacquered furniture, black and white. Food: Tofutti, sun-dried tomatoes, angel hair pasta. Fashion: Pixie haircuts on women, layered socks, patches and patchwork, wearing your shirttail out, vests, cufflinks and studs. Travel: Texas, London, Van pools, bed and breakfast inns. Peopleg Marlon jackson, Mozart, Ed- die Murphy, babies, Bill Cosby. Entertainment: Opera, VCRs, board games, bicycling, off-off Broadway, training for triathalons. Denver: Reynelda Muse, mountain homes, living downtown, shopping downtown, walking to work, film festival, car pools, imagining a great city.