July 16, 2010
As my high school’s 20th reunion is this weekend, I started reflecting on just what a long, strange trip it was for me during my formative years in the public education system. How truly little time I seem to have spent at any one school. No, I wasn’t as bad as the stereotypical military child who would up and move whenever their parent got reassigned. But just the same, I never seemed to spend more than a few years at any one school. But despite that seeming handicap, I still made some friends that I have to this day. Granted, some have come in and out of my life, but that’s partially expected.
Let’s take the way-back machine way back to the summer of 1977. Star Wars had been in theaters and making a box office killing and I got a little postcard addressed to Master Luis Rocha from Mrs. McCarthy at Carver Elementary School. It said how she was so looking forward to having me in her class that coming September. It was the first piece of mail that ever came addressed to me and I’m pretty sure I have it somewhere in my box of memories. I was pretty excited too! Up until then, the only kids I knew in the neighborhood were mostly my cousins, the Williams’ family down the street and little Stevie Schumacher who lived next door to them. That little bastard had everything.
So on my first day of school, my mom walked me to Mrs. McCarthy’s class and I was pretty much one of the first kids to show up that morning. A trait that would follow me to this day… She welcomed me in and showed me the way to my own little cubby that had my very own box of crayons and jar of paste. You can imagine how excited I was, a NEW box of crayons that I didn’t have to share with my little brother?! I was in heaven! My mom stood at the door to the classroom and said she was going to be heading home. O.k., bye! I’ll see you later! As other kids arrived in class that day, I was surprised at how many of them were crying as they held on to their moms for dear life. This was something I had been looking forward to all summer and they’re crying because they have to come here? We’ve got our own private swing set and monkey bars, there’s arts and crafts and look, crayons! How come you’re crying?
I can only remember a few of the kids who were in that class with me. Kaipo Kaiwiwi, I apologize if I butchered his spelling. Wes Swedlow, Alicia Rice, Christina Escobedo… That seems so long ago… I guess 33 years is a long time.
After kindergarten, my first grade teacher was Mrs. Porter and then I had Mrs. Muira for 2nd grade. Now, a little odd thing happened between 1st and 2nd. Apparently, I had been excelling enough in my classes that Mrs. Porter must have approached my principal, Mrs. Delp and through some pulling of strings, Mrs. Delp enrolled myself and another kid, David Bendorf, into a summer camp type of program, Pegasus, it was called. When I got to Mrs. Muira’s class that fall, I learned that David had been sent to Patton Elementary to be in their MGM program. Yes, that’s what it was called back then and no, it had nothing to do with films. It was the precursor to what’s now the GATE program.
About halfway through the 2nd grade, on my birthday, of all days, I was told that I was going to be bussed over to Patton as well to join David in the MGM class. I was surprised and happy though I wasn’t really sure what it meant at the time.
The next morning, I came to school earlier than before and waited patiently for the bus to arrive. This was going to be my first trip on a school bus that wasn’t heading on a field trip. Yeah, I was a little nervous but what the hell, right? I boarded the bus and I was on my way.
When the bus pulled up to the school I was nervous with anticipation and had to ask for directions on how to get to the office. Can you imagine how things are so different now? How many parents would let their child go off to their first day at a new school by themselves? Let alone ride the school bus for the first time? Yet here I was, all of 8 years old and heading to the school office to check in and find out where I was supposed to go.
I was lead to my new class and saw David was already there. Good, at least there’s one person I know. I wish I could remember the name of the teacher but I can’t. She was a larger woman, safe to say heavyset. But beyond that, not much more I could tell you. I was only in the class for a few months until Summer break anyway.
Over the course of the next 4 years, I got to be friends with the kids in my GATE class and most of them I still remember to this day. Casey Moor, Tonya Lochner, Veronica Wheeler(or Weaver?) David, of course. Wes Swedlow would join my class for the 3rd grade. Darron Tanioka, Daniel Anselmi, June Kim, Bobby Wright, Ryan Smith, Sheryl Mann, Elizabeth Armstrong, Dennis Malin, Jim Reider, Linda Nguyen… Nicole Lanyon and Billy Zeppenfeldt came a few years later. It was easy to remember everyone since we were all in the same class throughout. At least until it came time to move on to Jr. High. Since I had been bussed to Patton, when we were ready to go on from there, a small group of us were sent to Alamitos, since we lived in that part of the district, while the larger portion of the class went to Bell and then Pacifica…
I distinctly remember my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Weber, telling me just before the Alamitos school counselor met with us, that I needed my parents to make sure I got into an advanced math class. Pre-algebra or even algebra if they’d let me. One thing you have to know at this time was that, I actually enjoyed math. I mean, I was really into problem solving and could work out long formulas in my head. What had been difficult problems for the rest of the class back then, I was doing in a few minutes. It always frustrated Mrs. Weber that I never took home any homework. Mostly because I finished it in class as soon as she had assigned it. So, she asked me to tell my parents to make sure I was challenged when I got to Alamitos and I told my mom that… She dropped the ball and I was enrolled into intermediate level math, pretty much what amounted to general ed. It drove me nuts. For the time I was at Alamitos and even my freshman year algebra class at Rancho, it was all a slow review of what I had been doing in 5th and 6th grade. I pretty much quit trying at that point. I became bored…
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