Tokay High School - Tokay Yearbook (Lodi, CA)

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Changes add fo student life ln a year which resembled a roller coaster ride, the ups and downs helped add dimensions to students' lives both on and off campus. When students returned to classes in September, they were soon greeted with the not so pleasant accusations from Con- gressman James Pinkerton. Pinkerton stated that Stockton kids were bums and Hhood- Iums, saying, We've got them in our schools and in our parks and we can't get rid of them. ln order to show Pinkerton and others differently, Student Gov- ernment invited Lodi City Coun- cil members to attend classes and meet with students, teachers, and administrators. lt was also hoped to improve Tokay's image in the Lodi Com- munity as well. The people who organized the project believed it did help. Pinkerton admitted he might have pulled a Mboo-boo but he gave no apology. Another issue was faced by students, in some cases with acceptance, and with others, re- jection. It was the state law to rid the campus of the smoking sec- tion. The bill was authored by As- semblyman William Filante. The main goal of this bill was to reduce peer pressure and elim- inate student smoking on cam- pus. While some students and ad- ministrators thought the habit would be reduced, others thought smokers would retreat to the bathrooms and behind build- ings. Therefore, causing a bigger problem. On Jan. l, the bill, now a law, was passed. The white line was re-routed and smokers sought out new smoking grounds. ln order to further the dispel- ling of student smoking, the organization Save a Sweetheart, fSASHl, was formed. lts goal was to encourage a friend to stop smoking or not to start. The expulsion of the smoking 184 O Photo by Darrin Coe section may have been a change for some students but an even bigger change would involve the possibility of year-round school. Tokay's enrollment in Sep- tember equalled 2,870 students and during the first week of school counselors registered 490 new students or an average of 20-50 students a day. For the rest of the month counselors registered three to four students a day and after that new students continued to trickle in. The inevitable answer seemed to be year-round school. Teachers, administrators, and members of the school board traveled to Los Angeles to exa- mine its year-round schools. Al- though they noticed several pro- blems, the general opinion was that YRS could work with an effort on the part of administrat- ors, teachers, and students. Extra-curricular activities, elec- tives, and sports seemed to be the main problems in the transi- tion to YRS because some par- ticipants may be on vacation. Even though there were some problems, teachers and admini- strators believed YRS could be a way out of the overcrowding - .fe sr 4 wt- . ..,. .ff .W,,,, . situation within the district. lf YRS went into effect, hope- fully it would not affect the outstanding achievments at- tained in sports, academics, and activities. Among the recipients of aca- demic awards were: senior Helen Henry and junior Timothy Page for honors and a trophy in the Woodsman's US History Com- petition, senior Anahita Jamshidi for the Scholastic Acheivement Scholarship and at the 1987 Stockton Junior Miss Contest, seniors Michael Lynch and Mike Griffits received letters of com- mendation in recognition for their outstanding results on the preliminary Scholatic Aptitude Test, senior Dennis Czech re- ceived a perfect score in the sixth annual Academic Decathlon, first place on the fine arts test, and he tied three times for first on the Social Science, Grammer!Lite- rature and Economics tests, cap- turing an overall award for third in the honors division, and senior Bac Le won two first place awards in the same competition. Sports had a great year by setting the pace to yet again capture the victory cup. ln sports mf' we placed first in the boys varsity basketball, first in girls varsity volleyball, first in varsity cross country fboys and girlsj, first in wrestling, second in varsity wat- erpolo, and second in frosh! soph soccer. Other groups also captured numerous awards in competi- tions. The Honor Band placed in three consecutive band reviews which included first in the East Union!Manteca Band Review, first in the Santa Cruz Band Review, and second place in the percussion section at Antioch. The drama department re- ceived a special judges award for superior ensemble and acting as well as a silver medal for per- formance, credited to Christina Wall, for its production of 'Cammer Gurton's Needle. The same performance helped them sweep the competition winning three out of a possible four awards. They include best performance, by Wall, best scen- ery and costumes, and best pro- duction. The drill team returned to the state competition in San Jose after five years and captured second place in large military .M ,ui f 5.4. .tt . if . - . XV f if I Z Q . 3 -2 1 Q 'W 5 . - at

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A.. Q4 2 4. Senior Shawna Smith shares her feelings of liberty on Victory Week. , 5. Freshmen eagerly await the tone of the bell. 6. Hoping to position his head right, ' senior John Landa follows a Johnson's 1 photographer's instructions. as 3 S S3 gf ,W 1 Q . X: f, if 6 f f Y Classes Division 183

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lrill and they also won first place ri the Lodi Grape Festival Par- ide. The vocalists won numerous awards at the California Music Educators Association competi- ion at California State University it Stanislaus. The awards were given to seniors Linda Towle, llherrie Sutter, and Lynette Dor- fille for superior solos. Superior luet awards were given to fresh- nan Jenny Greer with Towle, ind Greer with Dorville. Although the students seemed lo be excelling in several areas, he faculty and administration lecided to punish the senior :lass graduation. One of the major topics of the fear delt with the location, time, ind date of the ceremony. Be- :ause of last year's hugging, ennis-ball-throwing, rowdy Se- iior Class, the new idea was for graduation to be at held at Tokay Jn Saturday morning. Other :hoices were at Tokay on Friday iight or at the Grape Bowl Saturday morning. Another issue that pitted stu- dent opinions against those of teachers and aministrators was delt with finding an acceptable solution to the students' antics during Victory Week. Also, the events of the Victory Parade may alter future ones. Before the parade, several juniors egged and later destroyed the freshman float. Onlookers were not as interested, and the lack of partic- ipation caused the administration to decide against a parade next year. The student government and alumni fought to save the parade and other activities. By trying to come up with alternatives in order to help things run more smoothly. Yet another tragic occurance took place during Victory Week. Senior Sean Gorley died as a result of injuries suffered in a single-car accident. At half time of the football game, friends of Gorley gave their sentiments while students, parents, teachers, and administrators wiped away tears and held lit candles in remembrance. Not only was Tokay touched with the sadness of losing some- one special, Lodi High later suffered as greatly with the loss of Mark Wheatly, Associated Stu- dents president. Tokay students sympathized and understood what their rivals were going through. When, at the LodifTokay basketball game, Lodi's principal was pre- sented with flowers from us, he said ,.. Tokay showed nothing butclassf' While students have exper- ienced conflict, changes, and tragedy, they excelled in sports, academics, and activities. All of these events helped add di- mensions to student life. by Kathryn Kiszlowski l. Senior Christopher Wall goes up for a shot in the Lodi-Tokay game. The varsity team went on to place first in SJAA. 2. Smoking section visitors like sophomore Kevin Scherer and senior Chris Cancel had to seek new smoking grounds after a bill was passed to abolish such areas on campus. 3. Lodi city councilman James Pinkerton attended a meeting put on by the Student Government to improve the school's image but refused to give an apology for his boo-boo. Student Life Essay 185