A special reunion tour

Jan Bartsch of the Ellendale Geneva High School Class of 1974 organized a special tour for her class's fiftieth reunion the afternoon of Saturday, September 7. Though the district has been New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva (NRHEG) since 1993, the group in attendance on Sept. 7 graduated from a school which had been Ellendale-Geneva since 1961.

 

The tour was led by none other than NRHEG superintendent Michael Meihak, who announced, “I can take anyone anywhere they want to go today; all you have to do is ask. Nothing is off limits.”

 

Among the observations the former students shared was how different the school building in Ellendale looks today compared to 1974. There have been building additions, security updates, and, of course, computers, science, advanced interactive television screens, and the possibility of “remote” learning.

 

Slowly taking in the scene, there were musings from everyone, “The front office wasn’t here; it was down on the east side.” Another statement from an awestruck former student was, “The library wasn’t here; it was down to the east of the old entrance.” Upon viewing the new library–which is considerably larger than the old one–one participant commented, “Geez, I thought the old library was huge back then, but I was wrong; it wasn’t as big as this.” Another observation was, “I wonder what it would be like to go to school now with all the computers and stuff. I can’t even imagine.”

 

Organizer Bartsch said of the former students on the tour, “About 20 of us RSVP’d, but it doesn’t look like all of them are going to show up today, and that’s fine.” There were 58 students in the graduating class of 1974, 50 of whom are still living. Class member Jan Dobberstein found an original classroom all the older students remembered being in. After a long discussion among them, they were able to remember the teacher for the class they had back then, Harvey Zicafoos. Even after all this time, they spoke of him as “Mr. Zicafoos.”

 

In that classroom, all of the energetic, former students were nice enough to sit in the desks to pose for a picture. None of them had a difficult time getting into or out of the desks, almost as if it was muscle memory. That is their story, and they are all sticking to it!

 

On their way out, some group members asked their tour guide about updates to security because they have grandchildren attending the school. Said Meihak, “We are getting a new air-conditioning system, new cameras and a new PA system next year. The students are our first priority and they always will be.”