Inside this Issue... Teachers Bid Farewell to Seniors - Features page 2 Ripken’s Arctic Expedition - Features page 3 Senior Privileges - Opinion/Editorial page 5 May-June 2013 Artist of the Month: Emily Capistrant - Arts and Entertainment page 12 The Official Student Publication of Centennial High School The Last Hurrah A Five-City District River in Anoka County. Called Lovell School featured a stove in Joe Bourdage the Manomin District, the school the middle of the room where Editor-in-Chief served students in Anoka, Blaine, students could place their lunches Fridley, Grow (now Andover), so that they wouldn’t freeze during When classes began in the fall Ramsey Township, and part of the harsh Minnesotan winters. of 2012, the various schools of Mounds View, reaching sixteen The teacher salary at the new Dis- Independent School District 12 students by 1855. trict 48 school was $38 per month, counted 6,421 students drawn French-speaking Centerville which included the expectation of from its five-community area and was not a part of this district, regular janitorial work. beyond. One hundred fifty-nine however. Realizing its own need To the east in Centerville, the years earlier, in 1853, the first ves- for an educational system, school city spent $2,500 in 1901 to build tiges of the modern, multi-cam- began session in the home of a two-story school with four pus school district began with a F.X. LaValle in 1854. As it grew, rooms on the modern Centerville mere sixteen pupils gathered from it moved into the basement of St. Elementary School site. Until a large swath of the county. The Genevieve’s Church, and later a 1930 students typically arrived to story of the growth of Centennial building on the shores of Center- the school via horse-drawn sleigh from a single room in a Center- ville Lake, where school was held or “mud bus.” ville home to a highly-ranked until 1882. The early efforts of By 1917 the Centerville school suburban school system is one of the Centerville settlers marked the was offering high school courses hardship, cooperation, budgetary beginning of what would become, and serving hot lunches to its stu- concerns, consolidation, commu- 102 years after the founding of dents. In the same year, Districts nity action, and tragedy. By means LaValle’s school, the Centennial 46 and 58 were consolidated, and of the taxpayer and the teacher, district. the whole Centerville area became the five-pointed Centennial star Meanwhile, in what would known as District 5. emerged to fit the educational become Circle Pines, District 48 Tragedy struck the Lovell needs of three communities and opened in 1880 with a school held school on April 10, 1929, when a The Centennial High School campus as it appeared in the early parts of two more. in the kitchen on John Golden’s tornado ripped through the area In part two of this special In- farm west of “Little Sandy,” the and completely demolished the 1960s, with Centennial Elementary (bottom), the senior high building scriptions report, I present to you a lake that would later bear his building. Debris was sent flying as (middle) and junior high school (top). brief report of the history of the family name. Frances Golden far as Forest Lake, where as late Photo courtesy of Circle Pines: A Place to Work and Play Centennial School District. became the first teacher, and by as the 1940s desks with the names with thirteen more coming three bank money to be later reim- 1894, the school had moved to of students carved into them were years later in 1955. bursed by the federal government. District Beginnings: 1853-1900 the Lovell site at the intersection still being found in area lakes and Meanwhile in District 5, the When Districts 5 and 48 were of Lexington Avenue and Lovell swamps. Classes were held tem- population was growing. In 1937 brought together as District 240 in In 1849, one year after Wiscon- Road, across the street from porarily in area farms as District the Works Progress Adminis- 1956, it was clear that new infra- sin attained statehood, Min- where Dunn Brothers Coffee and 48 constructed a new $3,500 one- tration, a New Deal program structure was needed for the large nesota became its own territory, Subway are today. The one-room room school on the site. designed to put the unemployed new district. encompassing the area north of schoolhouse boasted twelve After World War II as the to work, commissioned the con- Iowa along its modern borders students. communities of Circle Pines and struction of a kitchen, lunchroom Centennial Emerges: 1956-1965 and extending all the way to the For the first fifty years of its his- Lexington were developing, the and gymnasium under the school. Missouri River in the Dakotas. tory, the Centennial school district Lovell school began again to fall Various additions brought the Until 1951, most students in With that newfound status settlers truly embodied the one-room behind. As late as 1946 the school school to a total of eight rooms, District 48 had received their high moved into the area, first filling schoolhouse tradition. still had only one room, and it did but by 1940 the school was send- school education at Anoka High emerging industrial centers such as not hire a second teacher until ing its high school-aged students School. When that school blocked St. Anthony and St. Paul and later Lovell and Centerville: 1948. The expanding population to White Bear Lake. access due to overcapacity, stu- the outlying communities. 1900-1956 necessitated a $31,000 addition Hard times hit both Districts 5 dents went to Columbia Heights Long before Greenberry Cham- to open a three-room school set and 48 in the 1950s as they con- High School for a year and later bers arrived with his family in In 1900 the Lovell-site school- to open in 1949. This too did not solidated other districts and faced Marshall High School in Minne- Blaine after the Civil War, a school house was deemed inadequate, meet demand, so more space was an overflow of students. District apolis. By 1956, Marshall offi- district had emerged to fit the and a new school was built on the rented out in local churches. Eight 48 resorted to paying its teachers cials had the same complaints as needs of the area east of the Rum site. Still only one room, the new more rooms were added in 1952, with warrant checks, or borrowed Anoka, and the new district made plans for its own on-site campus. The School Board and voters approved a $700,000 bond for a new twenty-eight room junior high and senior high school by a vote of 775 to 67 in October 1956. A later vote added seven- teen more rooms to the original plan. In December of the follow- ing year, South East Anoka High School opened on the old Green- berry Chambers farm site, serving grades 7-10. Also in 1957, the state changed its nomenclature for district names, and the district Left: The original one-room Lovell school, circa 1892. Left: Photo courtesy of Anoka County: 150 Years of Anoka County History Story continues of page 2 by Shannon Stockhausen Right: The two-story Centerville school built in 1901, circa the 1920s. Above: Photo courtesy of Centennial School District Features 2 Farewell Class of 2013 Lizzie Andrews Assoicate Editor-in-Chief It’s finally here. The end of the here at Centennial was able to school year. The hard work has touch the lives of her students. paid off and the sun has come “I had a student that was having out. a problem comprehending what It’s the end of the line for our she was reading. I suggested she Class of 2013. They have done read the Chicken Soup books… their time. 12 years of it in the and it gave her the confidence halls of Centennial High School. she needed to pass the reading Every student has built rela- requirement for graduation. The tionships with their peers around look on her face was priceless,” them as well as the staff who took said Ms. Miller. their time sharing their knowledge. It’s not just the students who The work each student has put grow through their experience at in has not gone unnoticed. Centennial, but also the teachers Seniors show leadership in the “Arrive Alive” demonstration in April. Ms. Miller, the study hall teacher who have been touched by their ers. With this group of kids, the into light at CHS. they had at games, be it hockey, was able to see many seniors go time with the senior class. school was able to put together “It has been great to see how football, basketball, or soccer through her classroom. She saw “I think there are many strong Arrive Alive for drunk driving and [the class of 2013] has come makes it clear how proud they them work hard on their home- leaders in this class and I have texting while driving awareness. together and leaned on one are to be part of Centennial High work to keep up with classes and high hopes that they will succeed They were also able to bring atten- another,” said Ms. Siler, school School. she witnessed them being them- in their future goals,” said Ms. tion to the bullying problem that counselor. “I admire many of them for selves, taking a break from the Rehnelt, school counselor. appears in all high schools. With Seniors this year have really their school spirit, especially for hectic life of an upperclassmen.