Finding Their Way in the New High School

A new school year brought a completely unfamiliar building to hundreds of Shamokin Area High School students on September 4, 1975. News-Item reporter Pattie Mihalik found that the usual reunion with friends had given way to another task: finding the right homeroom before the bell. Some students arrived at 7:30, half an hour before the doors opened, eager for their first look inside.

That eagerness did not make the building easy to learn. Students complained that halls resembled one another and that rooms and corridors needed clearer markings. Combination locks added another obstacle. Freshman Gloria Jean Shiko felt overwhelmed by the school's size and expected that she would need a few weeks before she could relax and enjoy it. The headline's suggestion that students were lost caught the mood of those first-day interviews, not a description of every pupil.

There were also things to celebrate. Students welcomed the swimming pool and air conditioning. Terry Boblick, an avid swimmer, looked forward to joining the swim team. Ivy Ernest noticed how quiet the carpeting made the school feel. The same features that distinguished the new building could be exciting and strange at once.

Teachers were learning the place too. Joseph Pell, a veteran of twenty-six years in teaching, compared the adjustment to moving from a small town to Philadelphia and being expected to learn the new surroundings in a day. He asked for time to become familiar with the building's many areas.

Principal Malvin Paul took the confusion in stride. He pointed to having the band, gymnasium, and pool under one roof and anticipated a short settling-in period. For students and teachers, the first day was the beginning of learning how to use the new school.