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

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opportunities in extra-curricular activities. The school was equipped with all the facilities any school needs. There is a swimming pool, football field, gymnastic equipment and many other accessories that made gym classes a lot easier to bear. The swimming pool made it possible for the school to have a swim team. For a first year team they did very well, both boys and girls. The football team did pretty well this year with a 5-3-2 record, and we beat Hyde Park on Turkey Day for the first time in seven years, by the score of 18-6. Near the end of October the day had come for us to order our high school rings. It was difficult to pick the colors of the rings since we didn’t have our own school colors yet. So we held an election for a new mascot and a new color: Raiders won as the mascot and the colors were green and white. Later in the year there was a volleyball game between the women teachers and the men teachers, and of course the women teachers slaughtered the men teachers with a little help from Mr. Sy who was dressed like a woman. On April 5, Career Awareness Day was held at our school. Seniors from all over the city came to learn more about the careers that they were interested in. The official dedication of West Roxbury High School by Superintendent Marion Fahey was held on May 24, 1977. On May 13, the senior class of 1977 left the school. We then considered ourselves the new seniors of West Roxbury High School. Senior class elections were held and the new officers were Philip Kearney, President; Bernadette Manning, Vice President; Nuncy DeLeo, Secretary; and Angela McDole, Treasurer. SENIORS SENIORS SENIORS, we finally made it. This is the year that we have all waited for. This is the year of all final college preparations. The SAT’s, the achievements, applying for collge and waiting for our letters of acceptance from the colleges of our choice. The football team this year had a rough time, they had only one victory which was against Southie, but they tried their hardest and were a part of every game, only they didn’t come out on top. The Thanksgiving Game came and the team was psyched to win this game no matter what. The first half ended scoreless along with the second half. The coaches and the refereees had a meeting on the field and decided to go into overtime. Each team was given the ball on the ten yard line for four plays. Hyde Park had the ball first and scored on the fourth play. We then got the ball on our ten yard line and also scored but the touchdown was called back. The game was ended with the referees not answering any of the Raider questions: Hyde Park won 8-0. It was a crushing blow for the Raiders along with their coaches and all the West Roxbury fans who had come to cheer them on. A week before the Thanksgiving Day game the girls powderpuff team played Hyde Park powderpuff. Despite the fact that we got killed in the scoring, we still played a cleaner game and that’s what counts. The hockey team didn’t do too well this year again, only winning one game, but it was still fun going to the games and cheering them on. 18

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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

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The girls basketball team was the best in the school this year as far as records go. They made it to the state tournament but at the end they were down by five points. It hurt a lot for the team because they had worked so hard, but they were still the CITY CHAMPS which made them number one in the eyes of their coaches and all the West Roxbury fans. On December 7 the Hudson Bus Co. went on strike; since ninety percent of the school came by bus, we took advantage of the strike and took a three day vacation. During the first four months of school three of the most famous people, who were a part of a lot of people’s lives, passed away. ‘‘Love Me Tender” and ‘‘Hound Dog” will never be the same without Elvis. Christmas will not be the same without Bing, and Guy Lombardo will certainly be missed at the New Years Eve parties in Time Square. On February 6, Boston was hit with the worst storm in the history of the city. The amount of total snow fall in just twenty-four hours was a record breaking twenty-seven inches, with the drifts six feet high. President Carter declared Boston a Federal Disaster Area. Governor Dukakis put a ban on all cars in the city. Where- ever you had to go you had to walk. All businesses closed down for about a week. All schools were closed from Februrary 7-27. It took almost a whole month just to get rid of the snow in the streets, and there was still a whole lot in peoples yards, lawns, sidewalks for a month after. Because of the schools being closed during the storm the Boston School Committee made a decision that the days that were missed must be made up one way or another; first the decision was that they were going to take away our April Vacation but they knew that would never work because nobody would come. So on March 27, we started making up the hours by coming to school fifteen minutes earlier and leaving fifteen minutes later. The year went by so fast we didn’t even realize it. On May 15, we walked through the door of the school for the last time as West Roxbury High School students. Class Day was held in May. We all enjoyed ourselves, reminiscing about the past four years that we had shared together, signing each others yearbook, and just thinking of what a great time the years have been and what it is going to be like not coming to school every morning at quarter of eight and being with all the people we shared so much with. Our Senior Prom was definitely a night, a night we are going to remember forever. It was held at Lantana’s on May 10 featuring “Second Society”. Everyone had a great time and wished it would never end. On Graduation Day we all gathered at Hynes Auditorium as the class of “78” for the last time. It’s after Graduation now and we have all gone our own ways. But we will always remember and treasure OUR high school yfears. The CLASS OF “78” will live forever. 0