Villa Park High School - Odyssey Yearbook (Villa Park, CA)

Page 6 text:

w 'r nw r hw is!--H' 7 AH ae A 5 'I' pq ig 1 Rf? Q

Page 5 text:

'IRQ lN . . Villa Park had not expected it so soon. We were going along through the seventies, and all of a sudden there it was-the 200th Anniversary of the American Revo- lution. With the Vietnam War and the en- suing Communist takeover, the trials of Watergate, the fall of a President, inflation, the energy crunch and the gasoline shortages occupying the attention of the American people, the Bi-Centen- nialcreptup. in the summer of 1975, when some tthough not alll of those problems had been solved or had simply gone awa , the Bi-Centennial made its dfebut. Popping up all over the country were symbols and commemorations of the event: Games, speeches, forums, fairs, grand openingsgcamgpaigns, and parades. lt was tne Bi-Centennial all right, but for Villa Park High School it proved to be much more. The national high school radu- ating class of 1976 was the Targest in US. history. As the recession be- gan to slow and finally to turn around, there were hopes here and there of a reduction in the rate of inflation, of a real generation of eace , and of a lifting of the malaise that had affected society in the lastdecade. The plans, the hopes, the ideas that contribute to the rising need for a celebration were all there. By the end of 1975 it was clear-the Bi-Centennial had come at just the righttime. And so, this is the ODYSSEY, a chronicle not only ofthe year, but of the activities, the learning, the sports and most importantly, the people. This is VlLLA PARK ON PARADE. ,-- H ,,. l ,.

Page 7 text:

For many of Villa Park's students 1976 provided a beginnindg. The sophomores, newly arrive from their junior high schools, were ad- justing to life at high school, secretly testing themselves, seeing certain characteristics and saying, ls that really me? It was clear now, like someone had just turned on the windshield wipers in a pouring rain. 630 Villa Park sen- iors came face to face with the real- ity that soon they would be on their own, out in the 'freal worldf'-as it were. Like the sophomores and jun- iors the had once been, they too were acgusting, and finally, waking up one morning, seeing themselves and saying, Hey, this is me! It was to become a declaration of in- dependence of sorts, a psychologi- cal waking up to the facts, choices and decisions facing them. Throughout Villa Park-in the class- rooms, at the games, wherever stu- dents were found-there was an awakening lof peo le literally shift- ing within their bodiesi getting com- fortable with where they were and deciding what they wanted for the future. -Air av- 411: