I’m really grateful to Mandan Public Schools for giving us alumni the day. I read somewhere that they were surprised by the turnout, and I’m delighted to know that so many people were able to participate in the day.
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As I wandered the halls, I came upon this really cool display. It’s an enormous photo of the space shuttle, and it’s signed by astronaut Jim Buchli, a graduate of Fargo Central High School.
The Space Shuttle plays a part in my Mandan High School experience. When the Challenger exploded on the morning of January 28th, 1986, I was in my Business Law class. I think we had one of those AV carts with a TV on it wheeled into our class, but I don’t remember for sure. I just remember that it was in that classroom that I learned of an unthinkable national tragedy.
Coincidentally, Colonel Buchli is scheduled to be presented with the Roughrider Award tomorrow! That’s a pretty fantastic honor for a guy from North Dakota. I hope this photo finds its way to the new school somehow!
Most of the classrooms were locked, but several of the science rooms were open. One in particular caught my eye. This classroom and I go way, way back. Chemistry, Physics, Advanced Chem…I took every science course offered at the time, more credits than I needed to graduate with a College Prep curriculum. I thoroughly enjoyed high school. I have two funny stories about these classrooms.
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Short post today. This is where I spent much of my time at Mandan High School: the library. I read a lot of car magazines, science magazines, books, and whatever else I could get my hands on in this place.
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I’ve mentioned before that I never intended to photograph or write a “tour of ol’ Mandan High”, and I have not. In fact, for a good portion of my wanderings I put my 100mm macro lens on the camera! Instead, I opted to find and capture interesting sights in my alma mater. Like this photo, for example: it makes a clever play on the Mandan slogan, “Where the west begins.” I like it.
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When I stopped in for the alumni / open house day last week, several of the hallways still contained pallets of bins. The bins contained the contents of the classrooms, items which need to be moved to the new school. But the most interesting part of these hallways: Well, the lockers, of course! After all, we all had one. Four, actually…one per year. Except I had five…
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The old Mandan High School building will be going away. At least, that’s the plan…although, as a Bismarck resident, I have yet to see a school building actually torn down once we’re told that it can no longer house students. They always find a way to reuse it and draw tax money. But enough of that. I figured that if I ever wanted to check out some parts of the school I always wondered about but had no access to, this was my opportunity.
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If you recognize this area of Mandan High School, you did one of two things: sing in the choir or play in the band. I did neither of these things, but I did spend some time here. I even had a band locker, but more on that in another post.
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When I decided to take my camera with for this open house event, I determined I was not going to try to do a tour. First, it would be too much work. Second, I just don’t think it would be interesting – for me or anyone else.
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I’m glad I got to the school early, because I got to visit many places alone before things got crowded. One of those places is the ol’ gymnasium. I played a bit of dodgeball here, and did a lot of stretches.
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