5 w w w.wildcattales.com @PSHSpub Volume 69 Iss o, TX 7507 n a l P ue 11 ool h c S May h g i H 27, 2 ior n 015 e S o n a Pl
COMMEMORATING THE PAST
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By Gabe LaBounty
Wildcats reflect upon Plano’s 40 year anniversary
s one class departs from the cherished walls of this school, their memories pass with them. Students hardly notice the intricate details and stories that converged into creating this campus. These halls will have supported thousands of students and nurtured their careers for 40 years this August. The way our school used to be prior to its current home only survives in memories and trophy cases. The school has occupied several buildings, but it’s previous home was a mostly square memorial to public school education. The building still stands, now functioning as Williams Junior High School. By the early ‘70s, the school had outgrown its space and clamored for a larger home and purpose, much like the seniors it graduated every year. Economics teacher Mary-Jo Lewis taught at Plano when the school was located on 17th Street, and understood the district’s desire for a larger space to teach its growing population. “It was a very compact school,” Lewis said. “You would walk out of your room and there was the library. It was nothing like having multiple buildings. The restrooms were close by, the cafeteria was smaller, and there was no off campus lunch.” While the old building functioned for 12 years, it was not without flaws. Those flaws still affect the school, even in a new home. One of these quirks was a PA system, which the current campus lacks. According to Lewis, there was a debate about having a PA system after its failures at the old school. “One time at the old school the principal came on the PA and announced that a ‘certain group’ of people should come out in the halls,” Lewis said. “Two seconds later, he realized his mistake and commanded the teachers to get the students back in class. He did not realize his announcement called about 300 kids out of class. Instead of calling upon a certain room, the PA system would call for something in the office and it came out over the school.”
FITTING IN
No one has had a larger impact on this school more than Dr. Doyle Dean, who was the principal for 24 years. While he was originally at Williams Junior High in 1975, Dean remembers the state of the district which built our campus. “When the school opened, the biggest complaint was that it was way out in the country,” Dean said. “People asked why they didn’t build it downtown. The committee realized that wasn’t the direction Plano was growing in. When it was opened there weren’t houses across the street, some kids would park over there and get stuck in the mud. It was out in the country and not in the middle of town.” Mary Gribble was a part of the first graduating class to spend both years at the school. According to Gribble, the transition from the old campus to the new one was a challenge. “I liked the old high school because of the tradition and really wasn’t too excited about the new one at first,” Gribble said. “I felt comfortable at the old school and maybe the new one felt overwhelming to me at first, but it became home and a nice place to finish off my last two years of high school. I felt lucky that I was a part of the junior class to attend the massive new senior high.” The changing nature of the school kept some traditions alive, but not others. For example, after every football game the school used to host a dance inside the cafeteria. “The dance was well attended and was always a big thing,” Dean said. “Over the next few years students would stop coming. Eventually the dance died out and we stopped having it.” However, according to Lewis, some of the strongest traditions at Plano were accidents that survived the times.
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Photo from 1976 Planonian
Photo by Gabe LaBounty
Before and after shots of the fine arts center show the differences of the years. When Dean retired, the school decided to rename the building the Doyle Dean Performance Center. According to Dean, this came as a surprise to him. “It’s interesting that they named a Fine Arts building after me because I was never in any fine arts classes,” Dean said. “The closest I came was in 6th grade when my teacher had us play a sweet potato like instrument and we had that practice twice a week.”
Students journey through special education program
By MaryClare Colombo Housed in a hallway in A building, the special education program’s “I pretty much just hang out with my friends and students learn how to transition into the adult world. do a lot of stuff,” Wright said. “We go to job sites Enrollment in the program varies from year to year. Some students for career. We go to Kroger and we go to Coach have Down syndrome -- others have autism. Some are higher functioning Zea’s popcorn shop, Legends Popcorn. We stock the and some have a multitude of behavior problems. Some are more shelves.” independent than others. On the other hand, senior James DeLeon takes all Senior Trevor Wright has primarily been in special education classes general education classes but is on the modified plan, since elementary school. allowing him to get teachers’ notes, use notes on tests, and have a lighter work load. “It helps me a lot because I can still get my work done and I can still pass,” DeLeon said. “It’s just not doing the same amount of work the other kids are doing. It relieves me.” Wright has epilepsy, causing him to have seizures. He takes medicine to control his seizures, and has them less frequently than he used to. Until age seven, Wright had 3 to 5 seizures a month. His doctor kept changing his medicine until they found one that worked. This past year, Wright went nine months without having a seizure. “It feels like you’re flopping like a fish out of water,” Wright said. “It feels really bad because I feel Photo by MaryClare Colombo really sore after all my seizures.” Wright and DeLeon hold tags that identifies their disability. “My favorite part DeLeon has Asperger’s syndrome, which was of the special ed program is making new friends,” Wright said. “I love coming previously believed to be high functioning Autism to school.”
Spectrum Disorder. He was diagnosed with autism at age five and at age 11, it was concluded it was Asperger’s. “One of the main symptoms that people use is severe trouble with social situations,” DeLeon said. “People with Asperger’s tend to take jokes and sarcasm literally. They can be socially awkward. It does give me some advantages, like having a good memory.” Each of William Winrow’s special education classes have about six or seven students, and aides to help the students. They branch off into stations after learning new material, depending on the student’s independence and how much they can comprehend. Worksheets reinforce what they learn. The schoolwork is presented at a kindergarten to eighth grade level. “I think all of them are able to learn but they all learn in different ways,” Winrow said. “You have visual learners, hands on learners, kids who do better with puzzles or cutting, kids that read well, and kids with photographic memories. It’s similar to general ed children -- some of us just do things better than others. You have to find their gift.”
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