NAMPA, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
With its doors slated to close by the end of May, dozens of West Middle School alumni came by the school to say farewell.
West is one of four schools that face closure at the end of the semester. Centennial, Snake River and Greenhurst elementaries will also close, following a district decision to counter facility maintenance costs and shrinking enrollment.
This summer, West’s building will be updated to host alternative schools Nampa Academy and Union School.
At Saturday’s reunion, alumni wandered the halls, revisiting memories.
Others advertised what year they graduated, searching for classmates from years prior.
“It would be nice to meet somebody from the years I was here, but I don’t see anybody,” alumnus Mark Vickey said.
Vickey grew up down the street from West and attended the school when it opened in 1972.
Vickey recalled a time he got in trouble for throwing a snowball. Back then, the school practiced corporal punishment, so despite the transgression being small, Vickey was taken to the principal’s office for physical punishment.
The principal had Vickey bend over while the vice principal took a paddle in his hands.
“He said, ‘You’re going to get a swat. ... Stand over there, bend down and grab your ankles,’” Vickey recalled.
When the vice principal reared up to spank Vickey, he instead accidentally hit the principal who stood behind him.
“Of course, that made me laugh. Of course, I got a harder swat because of it,” Vickey said. “I didn’t ever get any other swats.”
Vickey maintained that the punishment was unfair for just tossing a snowball.
Also at Saturday’s reunion, yearbooks were spread across tables in the school cafeteria holding decades of West’s history. Black-and-white copies went as far back as the ‘70s.
In one edition from 2001, the yearbook staff asked students, “What is it about a boy that gets your attention?”
“If they’re muscular, popular and think in a good way,” a seventh-grader answered. “If they’re popular then you’ll know more people. If they think in a good way they won’t be nasty. They’ll think about their choices.”
Another page asked students about their A/B block schedule, something that was brand new at the time.
Currently, district staff and students are anticipating a switch in schedule. Schools will run on six-period-based trimesters beginning in the fall, getting rid of the block schedule that has been in place for over 20 years.
Madeline Fear and Ken Swan, alumni who attended West in the 2010s, sat at a lunch table, flipping through a yearbook. They laughed as they spotted photos of their teen-aged selves.
The pair will be missing more than one school come the summer, having attended Centennial Elementary before making it to West.
Looking back to middle school, Fear recalled Swan joking around in science class, making her laugh so hard that she spat out her water.
“Then he (the teacher) pulled me into the hallway and I got in so much trouble, and I was like, ‘Dude, I can’t breathe right now,’” Fear recounted. “He had just had enough of our antics.”
Fear said she still has many friends from her days at West. She remembers middle school as an easier time, with students learning to navigate life.
“You’re leaving elementary so you’re not a kid, but you aren’t in high school yet, so you’re not an adult,” Fear said. “You still are all kinda kids together, just trying to get through it.”
Registrar Kathy Overstreet and Bookkeeper Cathy Ash both played a role in putting together the reunion. They said the idea first came from Vice Principal Drew Hellwege, and took off from there.
The two have a longstanding connection to the middle school besides working there. Overstreet and Ash’s children grew up together, attending West at similar times.
Ash described the school as being built by the community, making it difficult to let go.
“We picked out the colors, we picked out the carpets and we designed things,” she said. “And it’s just — we have to leave it behind. It’s going to be so hard.”
In the process of the school’s closure, Overstreet has felt especially sympathetic toward those who had spent their entire careers at West.
Ultimately she found that what makes the school special is the people.
“It’s not necessarily the education but it’s those connections,” Overstreet said. “Because we have a special group of kids here.”
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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