A Flash from the Past

Fifty years ago, fresh out of college and newly married, I began my career in education as the chemistry and physics teacher at Hillsdale High School in north-central Ohio. The Hillsdale School District was created in 1961 by the consolidation of the schools in Hayesville and Jeromesville, two small farming towns in Ashland County on old US 30 separated by about 5 miles. The new high school opened in 1965.

The day after the Stauffer Family Reunion (see 7/30/19 Blog Entry), while my wife and daughter were picking out material for a quilt at Country Charm in Jeromesville, our son-in-law and I took a short field trip to see the school. To our surprise, the cheer leading squad was practicing outside the front doors and the building was open. Inside, we were greeted by the head custodian (a night custodian in 1969) who graciously walked us to room 113, opened the door and showed us in.

The apparent major changes were: tables and chair had replaced individual student desks between the oak and soapstone topped lab tables, a white-board had replaced the blackboard in the front of the room, the demonstration slide-rule was no longer hanging in the front of the room, and there was a dedicated cart of lap-top computers in the room. Then there was the familiar aroma of sulfur in the storeroom. It was a trip back in time that generated a lot of good memories.