William Howard Taft was sworn in as president of the United States. A predecessor of the GMC truck was the first such vehicle to make it to the top of Pike’s Peak. And the first class of seniors graduated from Slidell High School.
The school was the only public high school to serve the area until 1965 when Salmen High School was created. Tonight’s football game against Salmen, a friendly cross-town rival, will kickoff a year of festivities to celebrate the centennial.
 A diploma belonging to Lena Ezell George, one of four seniors in Slidell High'€™s first graduating class of 1908-1909, hangs in the school office. (Staff Photo by Anne Lautzenheiser) |
Manetta, class of 1974, has a son and daughter currently enrolled at Slidell, making for three generations of her family to attend the school. Her father graduated in 1947, and she counts dozens of friends and fellow teachers with similar histories.
History will play a big part in the celebration. A memory book, compiled by Margie Packer of the SHS 50-Year-Club, contains stories from 70 past graduates, dating back to 1929. While there are many common threads, including fashion trends and teenage pranks, almost all talk of the influence of a teacher.
Manetta and other members of the centennial committee began planning the celebration nearly a year ago. In addition to the memory book, to be sold for $5 each, a centennial garden will be installed in front of the school, sowed with flowering plants and trees and lined with wooden decks and benches, as well as a performance area.
Envisioned as place where students and community members will be able to gather for various events or quiet contemplation, the garden will also contain a memorial brick circle, to remember those that have been a part of the school’s history. Available through Nov. 14, individual bricks may be purchased for $50, and engraved to honor a current graduate or alumnus, thank a community member, or remember a loved one.
Manetta says there are lots of surprises in store for tonight’s game, including special guests and musical entertainment, though she is keeping mum about the details to build the suspense. Many other special events are planned over the next several months. A series of mini-documentaries has been compiled and will be broadcast over the school’s closed-circuit television system. The school plans to spotlight a different decade each month, and on Oct. 31 students will be asked to dress in the style of past decades in a friendly competition.
The contest will be one of the school’s Mark Events, a program started in 1983 as a way to build school spirit and stimulate creativity.
Star school athletes from years past will also be recognized at each home football game in a pre-game ceremony. Manetta is asking citizens to help spread the word to those former athletic standouts who may have scattered across the country.
“We will make them an honorary team captain for that game, no matter what their sport,” she said. “Baseball, swimming, football, it can be anything.”
Manetta noted there are certain criteria to be met. Any SHS alumnus who was a 1st Team All-State or All-American athlete, member of a state championship or state runner-up team, an individual state champion, or part of a professional sports roster, is invited to participate.
In addition to the centennial bricks and memory book, a commemorative T-shirt and poster are also available for purchase. Featuring the centennial theme, “Tradition Touching Today,” they are $10 each, and designed by student Kaieaisha Ussin, whose artwork was chosen in a contest held earlier this spring.
Though the recent fire that destroyed the stadium press box at the school might have darkened the school’s celebration, Manetta says the SHS spirit goes far beyond a physical structure.
“We’re not a press box or a stadium or any part of this building,” she said. “The people that will be in those seats tonight, that’s what Slidell High is.”
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