West Roxbury High School - West Roxbury Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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Roslindale High School “Where most of us started high school” 16 J

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I | fU £ ■ ■ seniors 15

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class history In September, 1974, we entered Roslindale High School as freshmen. We arrived in the school kind of scared of what was ahead of us. The upperclassmen looked down on us as babies, since it was the first year that freshmen were in high school instead of junior high. Segregation had been a problem in the city for years, so Judge Arthur Garrity made a decision that schools should all be racially balanced. Phase I of his desegregation plan came into effect in our freshman year. Both black and white students were bused to different schools all over the city. Tension was high in all schools, buses were stoned, fights and riots were happening in schools, Boston Police had to call in additional help to keep things under control. As the year went by the tension decreased in our school, but in a lot of schools around the city there were still fights and riots happening. The football team wasn’t such a big success that year; they tried their hardest but didn’t do too well, and they ended with a 1-7-1 record. There were many activities throughout the year. There was a fifties dance where everyone dressed in their long skirts, bobbysocks, leathers, T-shirts, Ponytails and D.A.s and gathered in the gym and danced ail afternoon to Jailhouse Rock and Rock Around the Clock, etc. At the end of the year we held our annual Highlights where the members of the school and community displayed their talents. Sophomore year started off a bit shaky like the year before, but then things seemed to calm down. Blacks and whites got along better, but there was still uneasiness. Everyone was joining clubs, and the spirit of the school seemed to pick up since the year before. All sports teams did well that year. The football team ended with an 8-2 season, beating Southie for the first time in twenty-six years, and the hockey team made it to the city tournament. In October the Teachers Union went on strike, which gave the students an unexpected week vacation. We didn’t mind at all; we’d take all the days off we could get. In the spring we had a carnival in the gym, a teacher-student basketball game, and a T-shirt day where everyone with spirit wore T-shirts. Near the end of April rumors started that Roslindale High would be closed for renovating. We all hoped and prayed for the next couple of months that it wouldn’t be, we had all grown to love the school, it had become a big part of everyone’s life. But by the end of the year the rumor was a fact: Rossie High would be closed. As Juniors we will be attending the new West Roxbury High School. Our junior year started off with the anticipation of being the busiest year of high school, academically. Good grades and the PSAT’s were the first concern of all college bound juniors. Being in the new school gave the students many more 17