— Aroostook County —
The building that housed Central Aroostook High School — it has since been replaced by a new one — was one of those old Maine high schools that had rung to the voices of generations of young people. The stair treads and banisters were worn with the passage of untold numbers of feet and hands, and the floors had been reduced to bare wood with the passage of time. In more than one sense it spoke to a time long past, as did my second floor classroom, which most teachers would envy today because it had its own huge closet complete with a work area where I could spread out papers and teaching materials for easy access. While there was no support staff — the principal, Bill Yerxa, doubled as guidance teacher — the faculty for the most part had years of experience that more than made up for what some today would declare a glaring deficiency. Two teachers had just returned from earning graduate degrees in their respective fields: Jim Coolong in mathematics at the University of San Diego, and Sal Perry in science at Tuskeegee Institute. In addition, a number of teachers had devoted most of their lives to serving the educational needs of the area, and knew and understood students
SCOVIL APARTMENTS Presque Isle, Fort Fairfield Mars Hill and Bridgewater P.O. Box 220 • Blaine, Maine 04734
425-3192
Phone the office for information
SCOVIL Building Supply, Inc.
in a way that few teachers do today. This latter group included Stan Strombach, a man known and respected across the state for his dedication as a teacher, and the agriculture teacher who everyone simply referred to as “Whit.” Today’s teachers rely heavily on audiovisual materials. Previous Central Aroostook High School English teachers had done little to develop this resource — for which I was grateful — but had rather devoted what funds had been allocated to them for the purchase of teaching materials to acquiring anthologies, a wide variety of classic and modern literary works, vocabulary books and what was once a staple in English classrooms across the country, Warriner’s Handbook of English. In fact, it was due to the wealth of reading materials that I could make a variety of assignments, one of which produced a rather useful classroom learning experience. One of my students was an exceptionally bright young man by the name of Rodney Lawrence. Rodney, being bright, liked to show off at times. One day when students were asking me what certain books were about so that they could pick one for a report, someone asked about a work by James Baldwin. Rod-
425-3192
4 Libby Rd. • Blaine, ME
17
ney piped up and said he knew all about Baldwin because they were close relatives. After Rodney had gone on about Baldwin for a bit, I blandly commented that he was a Black who wrote about the Black experience in America. This incident resulted in a unit on attitudes among Blacks and whites as expressed in such books as To Kill a Mockingbird. Another student who stands out in my mind was a brilliant young actress by the name of Sharon Barnes, who had the lead in the one-act play we did — Synge’s Riders to the Sea. I have seen professional productions of the play in which Sharon could easily have taken over as lead. At times I still wonder if she ever realized her potential. I spent the bulk of my teaching career in the mid-coast region. At times I came in contact with people associated with Central Aroostook High School, which made me look back on my first year of teaching with nostalgia for times past. Only those who went there or to schools like it as students, or who taught there or in schools like it forty or more years ago, can begin to comment as to whether education has changed for the better.❖ Other businesses from this area are featured in the color section.
Open Mon.-Wed. 11am-9pm Thurs.-Sat. 11am-11pm
• Bountiful Burgers • Prime Rib Special Every Saturday • Happy Hour 5pm-6pm Monday thru Friday 710 Main St. • Presque Isle, Me
764-5400
Aroostook’s Finest Supermarket Owned and Operated by the Graves Family for over 75 Years!
207-769-2181
HUBER ENGINEERED WOOD, LLC
Dalton Scovil, Prop.
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D iscove r Ma ine
Your Hosts: Danny & Sandy Collins
Celebrating 25 Years EASTON, MAINE
207-488-2051