West Mecklenburg High School - Tomahawk Yearbook (Charlotte, NC)

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28 Students learn customs, culture Representing the school as a foreign exchange stu- dent, Brenda Cannon lived for eight weeks with Eva Meyer and her family in Borga, Finland, where she learned about the customs of the Finnish people. According to Brenda she learned enough of the language to get by. During her stay she went to Helsinki and to the Artic Circle. Of the food, Brenda stated she liked most of it, and her favorite was hapankorpuja (a sour bread). Attending the school as foreign exchange student was Klaus Kristensen from Denmark. He became in- volved in school activities after arriving in August and served as the foreign exchange editor on the Bow and Arrow. ABOVE: Brenda Cannon and her Finnish sister enjoy a lunch of bread, butter, sausage, and yogurt. RIGHT: Stealing a moment from their daily routine, Brenda and Eva read in a sunny meadow. Klaus Kristensen speaks of life in Den- mark at a meeting of the West Charlotte Rotary Club.

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Underclassmen receive school assignment in August With Judge James B. McMillan spin- ning the wheel of fortune for the entire school system, sophomores and juniors did not know until early in August where they would be attending school. West was to lose in the total enrollment and in teacher allotment. All incoming underclassmen had to be guided over the campus, since many juniors had previously attended other area high schools. Sophomores and new students became familiar with the school at an open house held the day before school began. With the opening of school on August 26, students had to leave behind those “crazy, lazy days of summer.” Some had spent their vacation working, many at Carowinds theme park. Others had represented the school at Boys’ State, Girls’ State, Governor’s School, and at conferences. Several accompa- nied Mrs. Jean Avery on atrip to Disney World and on a Carribean cruise. Students, working, learning, and sharing, soon settled into their daily routine and began to cope with studies. For the first few weeks, they made out what seemed to be countless copies of their schedules. The sophomores also had pictures made for their I.D. cards; they needed them to check out books in the library. Mi, David Motley soon discovers that his hectic daily schedule often requires an Eliccigalolola Mar) o» ABOVE LEFT: Mike Stilwell, Jill Butler, and Stephanie Best wait to have |.D. pictures made. LEFT: With the expenses of a new year, the purchase of a parking sticker was not a happy one.

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Landmark ‘tumbles down,’ ending era, challenges On November 4 a landmark, which had stood for approximately twenty- four years, came “tumbling down.” This was the tower erected when the school was built in 1950 to store the water supply for the student body. The tower had long been out of use be- cause the region had changed over the years from a rural one to a metropolitan area, and the school had been put on city water. No longer would the structure offer a challenge to students wanting to climb it to paint their class year on it. In some A . instances over the years, several suc- Faculty members Eddie McCarver, Fred ceeded. With the removal of the tower, Kessler, Donnie Lemmond, Brooks an era ended as changes continued to | Piercy watch the tower “tumble down.” alter the appearance of the campus. ss agnor Sos UN