The Class of 1975 Southwest High School 40 Year Reunion

October 03, 2015 • Leave a Comment

I recently had the opportunity to capture the Southwest High School Class of 1975 40 year reunion* and it was nostalgic to say the least!

Some of these classmates had not seen each other or walked through the halls of their school in 40 years. It was so neat to witness the memories flooding back for them and some of the emotions they were experiencing were palpable to say the least.

We started the day with a meet up to walk through what was formerly known as Southwest High School and is now The Central Visual and Performing Arts ROTC school. As we walked into the halls of their memories from long ago, I was immediately asked to join two gentleman…on the roof...for a reenactment of their more rebellious days. You could actually see the spot that had been washed clean of their ~~graffiti~~ paint job.

I heard so many great stories about “the good ‘ole days” as I walked through the halls with them. I found out where students old homerooms were, who was part of the band, how everyone distinctly remembered the statues in the courtyard area that still stand today.

Others commemorated the day with photo op reenactments from the yearbook that is now 40 years old.

Walking through, I was told which hallway floors were the same but lacquered over due to the probable asbestos below, how the lockers that now look dated were the “new” lockers 40 years ago, which signs and quotes on the wall originated from way back when, and even cooler relics of the past like the painted floor signs that said, “Out of Bounds”. The floors had been painted in various locations to let students know they were not allowed past these points without a hall pass and if they were to go past, they would face consequences if caught. My curiosity has me wondering if they use this method today at CVPA :)

I listened to stories of who dated who, who passed love notes through the locker slits, who met in French class, who had which teacher, and how much time they had between classes. There was reminiscing about loosely supervised class trips, as well as teenagers bolting from and subsequently getting caught by the authorities. One of the craziest things I learned was that they had a dedicated smoking room for students. Yes, seriously. Imagine that in this day in age! Needless to say, the smoking room has been transformed into something else.

While the school has a new name and purpose nowadays, it hasn’t lost it’s luster to these former students who will always lovingly refer to it as Southwest High School.

Later that night was the actual reunion at St. Margaret Mary Alocqoue and the stories kept flooding in. It actually made me feel nostalgic about my own high school days.

Seeing these former classmates all in one room together gave a sense of a tight knit community that just belonged together.

For most of these classmates, it was like not a day had gone by and nothing had changed in the last 40 years — with the exception of their hairstyles and clothes, of course! They jumped right into laughter, stories, and remembering all their times together.

They even had THREE former teachers attend the reunion! How cool is that?!

They managed to get an impressive amount of groups together — students who went to grade school AND high school together, those who played on the same hockey teams, poms, those who worked at Ponderosa and White Castle, a couple guys who all went to kindergarten together, and even a group of “alley kids” — kids who spent their days playing in the alleys. And to that, I can relate. I grew up in South City and I, myself, was an “alley kid”. As the night wore on, it became clear to me that his reunion didn’t just span the 40 years gone by since high school! For some of these friends, it was like a life reunion.

They hugged, they laughed, they ate, they drank, they danced. I can only hope that when my 40th high school reunion comes along that it is half as fun as this was! I found myself smiling all night long looking on at all these people enjoying and rekindling old friendships. Congrats to the committee for pulling off such a fun night for a bunch of rebels, classmates, childhood friends, and just all around good people!