Slidell High Preps For Milestone

Slidell High preps for milestone
Century is marked in class and out
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
By Tara McLellan

The 2008-09 school year will be a momentous event in the history of Slidell High School as it celebrates its 100th anniversary. “100 Years of Excellence — Traditions Touching Today” is the year’s motto, and a special committee organized to plan the centennial events has come up with ways for alumni to tell their stories and for the community to be involved in the celebration.

What began as a four-room school that served a mostly rural population, and graduated its first four seniors in 1909 has evolved into a student body of nearly 2,000, with 101 classrooms, on a 22-acre site.

“Many kids don’t really know much about the history of our school. The kids will be immersed in history” next year, said Donna Manetta, a member of the centennial celebration committee.

Learning the history of the school will be part of the year’s celebration for students, according to Manetta, who teaches English at the school. “Each month is going to be dedicated to a different decade,” she said. “The students will be able to learn about what was happening at the school during that time, what kind of music they listened to, what world events were happening.”

Alumni are also invited to join in the celebration. “We want to get everyone involved,” Manetta said. “We’re going to have a Centennial Yearbook, a special Centennial Garden, and much more.”

The Centennial Yearbook will feature photographs, stories, and memories from generations of Slidell High graduates. “We are putting the call out to all alumni,” Manetta said. “We want to feature their photos and stories about friends, events, favorite teachers, or what was going on at the time.” Photographs, memorabilia, and written accounts can be brought to Slidell High. The deadline for submission is Aug. 1. Details and sample questionnaire are available at slidellhigh.stpsb.org/100years.

A Centennial Garden is planned to enhance the entrance of the school. It will feature memorial bricks on sale to graduates, friends and family of the school. Each four by eight inch brick will carry a maximum of two lines of text with 18 characters per line.
“The bricks are a great way to celebrate yourself or a loved one, thank a community member or business, or recognize a class or club,” Manetta said. The bricks are $50 each, and are available for purchase until Nov. 1. Brochures and order forms are available at the school or from the school Web site.

Other events lined up for the year include: a Centennial T-shirt and commemorative poster marking the year, a special homecoming pep rally, a celebration gala on March 28, and the recognition of outstanding athletes and teams throughout the school’s history.

Any Slidell High alumnus who was a first-team All-State athlete, an All-American athlete, part of a professional sports roster, a member of a state championship team or runner-up team, or an individual state champion, is asked to contact Slidell High to be honored during the celebration.

“It’s going to be a fun year for everyone,” Manetta said. “We want to celebrate students, alumni, parents, and teachers, visit with old friends, and make new ones.”

Organizers will have a booth for the public to learn more at the Slidell Heritage Fest on July 4 at Heritage Park. Information is also available at slidellhigh.stpsb.org, or call the school at 985-643-2992, or contact Manetta at donna.manetta@stpsb.org.

Published on NOLA.com Wednesday, June 18, 2008 2:34 p.m.
Published in The Times-Picayune Thursday, June 19, 2008

NB:
We have had quite a few emails bounce back because of outdated addresses. I’ve noted those on the “Located Classmates” page. Please send us updates when you change your email address.
And if you have current email addys on anyone flagged on the LC page, please let us know.
Thank you,
Gnanse Nelson

Finally…the reunion pix!!

Congratulations are in order!

Congratulations
to classmates
Pat & Susie (Landry) Coogan
on becoming

(OMG!)

GRANDPARENTS!!!!!!!

Baby’s first picture!!!

Son, when I was your age, we didn’t have MTV!

This just in from another exasperated parent & friend of mine!

THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious

diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with

walking twenty-five miles to school every morning, uphill BOTH

ways; yadda, yadda, yadda! And I remember promising myself that

when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap

like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they’ve got it!

But now that… I’m over the ripe old age of thirty, I can’t help but

look around and notice the youth of today. You’ve got it so easy! I mean,

compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today, you don’t know how good you’ve

got it. I mean, when I was a kid we didn’t have the Internet. If we wanted to

know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up

ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter with a

pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the

mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3’s or Napsters! If you wanted to steal music, you had to

hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had

to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk

over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

We didn’t have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and

somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that’s it! And we didn’t

have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea

who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie,

your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn’t know!!! You had to

pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn’t have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with

high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like

‘Space Invaders’ and ‘Asteroids’ and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a

little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were

no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you

could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster

and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there was no such thing as stadium

seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old

broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn’t see, you were just

screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then, there was only like 15

channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to

use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were

screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and

walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon

Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning! Do you

hear what I’m saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled

little brats!

And we didn’t have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had

to use the stove or go build a frigging fire … imagine that! If we

wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it

over the stove forever like an idiot.

That’s exactly what I’m talking about! You kids today have got it too

easy. You’re spoiled!!!!!!!!!

You guys wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back in 1970!

Oh yea, and a seatbelt was Mom throwing her arm across your chest every

time she hit the brakes.

Regards,

The over 30 Crowd

PS: Happy 11th B’day, Master Ashton!
Love,
Mom

Slidell High School Celebrating 100th Year in 2008!

From: www.thesttammanynews.com

By Anne Lautzenheiser Wednesday, January 2, 2008 9:08 AM CST Faculty and staff at Slidell High School are searching for alumni as they begin planning for the school’s 100th anniversary celebration. “We’d like to have alumni representative from each class contribute their input,” said Donna Kahl Manetta, Class of ’74 and a co-coordinator of the anniversary committee. “The 50-Year Club has been instrumental to our plans, but we need to hear from graduates of 1958 and forward.” The school opened in 1908, and the first class to graduate the following spring consisted of just four members. The diploma of one, Lena Ezell George, hangs in the front office. Until the late 1950s, SHS was the only public high school in Slidell. The 50-Year Club is a group of SHS alumni, each who graduated 50 or more years ago. Christina Wiebelt, director of the Communications Academy, has begun filming interviews with some of its members for a series of mini-documentaries. Manetta, who also teaches senior English, hopes to have a video to honor each decade of the school’s history. Interlaced with the personal histories will be snippets of current events and trends of the time. Beginning in September 2008, they will play the videos on several monitors located around the school. The committee is also looking for old photos to use in the 2008-2009 SAGA, the school yearbook. The yearbook theme will be “Tradition Touching Today” and will explore how the experiences of past graduates may influence those of the future. Also coordinating the anniversary committee with Manetta is Tracy Sollberger Krieger, class of ’73 and a teacher of gifted and advanced placement English. The parents of both women attended SHS, something that is not uncommon among the student body. “There are a lot of third and fourth generations that have gone to school here, and not a lot of schools can say that,” said Krieger. “It really fosters a sense of continuity and family.” Manetta and Krieger say the yearlong celebration will culminate in a special gathering for all alumni in the spring of 2009, but specific details are not in place yet. They hope more alumni will come forward to be part of the planning process and will welcome all input. The next anniversary committee meeting is set for Jan. 9, 2008. Those interested in participating should call 643-2992, or send an e-mail to dmanetta@stpsb.org.

Happy New Year, Class of ’82

http://www.youtube.com/v/2NmdFgFyhnk&rel=1

Slidell High School Turns 100!

 

Centennial plans in works at Slidell High

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

By Kathleen Modenbach

Contributing writer  

Slidell High then and now is the approach of the school’s administration, faculty, students and alumni as they mark the 100th anniversary of the school’s opening in 2007-08, and prepare to celebrate the 100th graduating class in 2008-09.

An ambitious program of gathering oral histories, photographs and memories of Slidell High alumni will be presented over the course of the Centennial celebration as student learn about their school as well as the history of Slidell.

Slidell High senior Ericka Jenkins can’t imagine going to school by boat and train during World War I, not to mention getting home at midnight because soldiers had priority for the trains. Stories like these, told by Slidell High 50 Year Club members, are part of ongoing activities being planned as the Slidell school marks its centennial year.

“I learned so much about Slidell and its history. I had no idea that students ‘back in the day’ had to take boats and trains to get to school,” Jenkins said.

Senior Ashlie Lewis agrees, adding, “the interviews really made me realize how much we take for granted.”

Donna Manetta, Slidell High Centennial chair, said Slidell High opened in 1908 with a junior class. This year is the school’s centennial year, but the 2008-09 class will be the school’s 100th graduating class. Besides the oral histories filmed by the school’s Communication Academy under Christy Wiebelt, other planned events include highlighting each decade at Slidell High with happenings at the school, historical world events and music of the period.

Manetta and the Centennial Committee are working to compile the history of the school, from which she, her father and grandfather graduated. In a letter to Slidell High alumni, Manetta said “it is fitting and important to recognize the spirit and endeavors of those who have graduated from Slidell High.”

Slidell High Principal William Percy said the 50 Year Club is made up of alumni who graduated from the school 50 years ago or more. “They’re a pretty active club in Slidell and have had a relationship with the school for the last several years.”

Students from the school’s Communication Academy have been compiling an oral history of the school, interviewing 50 Year Club members along with other alumni who have had an impact on the community, he said. The students have been asking questions about Slidell then and now.

Percy said [the son of] L.V. McGinty, former Slidell High principal from 1936-1976, and his wife were in Slidell recently and were interviewed by the students. Many of these interviews and other centennial projects will be shared at various school activities during the course of the year, according to Percy.

Other activities include an open invitation for former Slidell High band members from any year to play with the Tiger band. Also, 50-year graduates will be honored with passes to major events, including sports, plays and music concerts. Finally, all alumni will be celebrated at a special gathering in the spring of 2009.

Susan Summers, Slidell High yearbook sponsor, is asking for candid then-and-now pictures of Slidell High graduates with children or grandchildren presently attending the school. The Saga yearbook staff will take the student pictures and pose them in a picture similar to ones the parents and grandparents had in their yearbooks. These will be used in a special centennial issue of the Saga yearbook, covering 100 years of change at the school.

Summers is also interested in hearing graduates’ stories or copying their old pictures. Contact her at ssummers@stpsb.org for more information.

To share a memory from time at Slidell High, contact Christy Wiebelt at cwiebelt@stpsb.org.

The school welcomes any ideas or suggestions about centennial activities. Contact Slidell High at (985) 643-2992 or e-mail one of the faculty alumni: Donna Kahl Manetta, dmanetta@stpsb.org or Tracy Sollberger Krieger, tkrieger@stpsb.org or Joshua St. Cyr, jst.cyr@stpsb.org.

“Slidell High School has a rich heritage, and we most definitely want to honor that Tiger Pride,” Manetta said.  

Published on NOLA.com Wednesday, December 12, 2007 12:16 p.m.

Published in The Times-Picayune Thursday, December 13, 2007
***

Season’s Greetings

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

to the

Slidell High – Class of 82!

Shhhh…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiger tiiiiiiiiiired. Tiger sleeeeeeeeeeeep.

 Will post all the reunion details later.

“http://www.youtube.com/v/9seZeFc6ms0”  – (For Joey Chauffe & Rodney McKelroy!)

Our Class Project

Please take a moment to review the “Class Project – East St. Tammany Habitat For Humanity” page to the right.