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From a post card commemorating its
dedication, September 21. 1955
(view of
original frontage on Brower Ave.) |
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―
Bobby Rydell,
1960
Click
on the blue panel above to listen |
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As
we continue our technological time travel, our cyber-  ,
if you will, and move from life in America and life in its
suburbs, in general, when we were growing up, we now drop
anchor  in port
Oceanside and zero in on life
in the halls, classrooms and other areas of our own Oceanside High School.
OHS was, in
fact, the center of our world for three years. (It seems like a
blink now, but back then, it didn't.) In those three years, we were
molded, sheltered and nurtured together until
graduation day in 1960, when we
were finally cast out in every direction to make it on our own, like
birds leaving the nest. |
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Photo from Spindrift, 1962 ed. |
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| A typical class in session.
Photo from Spindrift, 1959
ed.
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How many classmates in this photo can you name? |
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Two classmates (l. to
r., Don Dininno and George Langdon) busy at work in auto shop |
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Cover of dedication ceremony program booklet, September
21, 1955.
Notice
the artful detail above the entrance,
three
relief sculptures of a lamp set upon a book, each an ancient symbol of learning
that also appears in our school
seal, immediately below. Only two of these sculptures now survive and are
relegated to a closed courtyard.
Click here
for more from the dedication ceremony program booklet. |
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Our library when it first opened in
the 1955-'56 school year
Photo from Spindrift, 1956
ed.
Can you still see that
prissy little Miss Morrissey behind the desk? |
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Our auditorium during the first
school year (1955-'56) in the then brand new building
Photo from Spindrift, 1956
ed. |
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Page from the Oceanside High School
Sailor's Handbook* (larger than actual size)
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Issued to
students upon entering high school as sophomores, updated annually, as
necessary, and "provided by your Board of Education in order that
you may have readily available information which will be of service in
planning your high school career more successfully." Pretty lofty
claims for a rule book full of "thou shalt nots." (I guess
that's OK if "more successfully" means "without detention.") |
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Below, your
1960 Sailors Association Inc.
proudly presents the original floor plan of our school, as it was during our high school years
(also from our school's September 1955 dedication ceremony program
booklet and reproduced in our
Sailor's Handbook).
Looks smaller than it seemed at the time, doesn't it?
(It remained that way only until 1963, when its first expansion
construction occurred, and its stately front entrance overseen by the lamps
of learning mounted over the doors was forever obscured.) |
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Photo from
Spindrift, 1962 ed. |
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Original design of our school grounds with athletic fields (Source:
dedication ceremony program booklet, September 21, 1955) |
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Click here for more cool stuff from the
Sailor's Handbook. |
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Do you remember what time our school days
were over
every day, when the last bell rang, and "you finally lay your burden down"?
It was
2:36
p.m.
In
fact, here is the schedule for our entire school day, according to the
1959-1960 edition of our
Sailor's Handbook:
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1st Period ..............
8:15
2nd Period
.............
9:03
3rd Period
.............. 9:51
4th Period
............ 10:39
5th Period
...... 11:27
am
6th Period
............
12:15
7th
Period
.............. 1:03
8th
Period
.............. 1:51
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9:00 am
9:48 am
10:-36 am
11:24 am
12:12 pm
1:00 pm
1:48 pm
2:36 pm |
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So besides studying "American
history and practical math" and otherwise getting a first-rate formal
education, what went on from 1957 to 1960 in those classrooms and hallowed halls (while we were racing around to get from one class to the next in
only three minutes)?
High school was for us, as it is for all kids, much more than just an
education. In fact, the education can almost be viewed as
secondary. It was a daily social event of incredible importance. No
matter what else we did outside of school, for those years, it was, in fact, the
epicenter of our young lives.
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On the pages linked below, you can
revisit the rich array of sports, theater arts, music and other
extracurricular program activities that we availed ourselves of,
programs that taught us teamwork, leadership, sportsmanship,
community service and a host of practical skills to prepare us for the real
world, and that filled our school days and kept us off the streets of
our little town, and of the others nearby that were just like it. And
if that wasn’t enough, we had sororities, fraternities and what were called
"social" or "social and athletic" clubs to strengthen our bonds of
friendship for our lifetimes ―
and many of us also held jobs after school. |
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Posted on an OHS online
alumni message board on the
worldwide
web on August 31, 1999, by a near contemporary of ours from the
class of 1961 of another, unidentified,
New York State high school |
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To proceed
with your
 ,
and continue to rock, roll, read and reminisce, click on
any or all of the following: |
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Copyright
© 2000-2022 by Howard B. Levy and
1960 Sailors
Association
Inc. All rights reserved.
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