Most people have never heard of Conemaugh Valley. It's a AAAA school in western Pennsylvania, averaging about 65 students per graduating class. But if you went to CV - whether you loved it or hated it - you'll remember these ten things about being a Conemaugh Valley Blue Jay.
1. You survived the garbage can obstacle courses.
You knew the weather was bad when the ceiling started leaking (even on the first floor?!), and the best choice for dealing with it? Just setting a huge garbage can under the leak and calling it a day (at least until everyone left and they could actually get up there to try to do something). So then the study body spent the day trying to avoid running straight into one.
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2. You sprinted to your car to beat the buses.
The worst fate you could endure as a student driver was Mr. Stackhouse waving your car down as you tried to leave the parking lot before the buses were loaded. You never wanted to get stuck behind them as they left school because you knew you would follow at least one your entire commute home. So the only thing you could do was sprint out of the building the second the dismissal bell rang (or slightly before, if you had Mr. Marshall eighth period) so that you could throw your things in your car and leave.
3. You had teachers that went to school with your parents/had your parents in class.
Like most CV students, I'm a second-generation alum - my mom graduated from CV as well. Parent-teacher conference night was always a several hour affair while Mom caught up with Mr. Moran (aka the reason she passed high school math) or while we had to marvel at the fact that "Jake's [Mr. Jacoby's] classroom is now a weight room. Can you believe it?!" I'll never forget Mrs. Mihlacki calling me by my mom's maiden name all quarter because I apparently acted like her.
4. Mr. Stackhouse paired you up for a "planetarium death match" and a future marriage in the same class period.
Mr. Stackhouse has taught Earth & Space for what feels like forever, and something that has always been consistent are his "planetarium death matches" and his marriage predictions. A "planetarium death match" is far less sinister than it sounds: he told two people that were arguing that the only way to solve their problem was to fight to the death in the planetarium in his classroom, and then they would laugh and the argument would generally end. And his marriage predictions? I don't think any of them have worked out yet. Hey Corey Kal, why aren't we married yet?
5. You had the "Beiter Power Hour."
The Beiters, for anyone who doesn't know, are a husband and wife that teach math and science, respectively. Juniors and seniors tended to take Trigonometry and Physics at the same time (with Mr. and Mrs. Beiter taught), and they were always scheduled back-to-back, thus "the Beiter Power Hour." They were two of the coolest teachers you could have at CV because they were so passionate about what they taught. Even if you hated math and science, you had to appreciate how much they loved being teachers.
6. You sat in the gross auditorium seats.
Original to the school (built in 1962), these seats were frayed, disgusting, broken, and orange. Why? No one knows - our school colors are blue and white. You knew you weren't going to fall asleep in study hall or during an assembly because the seats were so uncomfortable. Although, I must admit, I recently went back to the school and sat in the new chairs, and the nostalgic side of me missed the familiar orange fabric with questionable stains. (But the rest of me was very happy to not be sitting in questionable stains.)
7. You didn't really know anybody in one specific stereotype.
Something that has blown my mind since coming to college is that people genuinely had these stereotypes, and these stereotypes did not overlap or mix. What?! At CV, the "jocks" were in all of the advanced/college-in-high school classes, right alongside the "nerds" (even the "band nerds," like myself). You could pretty much be whatever you wanted to be at CV - there was no social construct that said if you were a "band kid" you couldn't play a sport or anything like that. And we all looked out for each other. For example, if you wanted to talk smack about the band, you had to answer to the football team. At most schools, the football team looks down on the band, but not at CV. They made requests for songs at games, danced at the pep rallies, and even supported us at our "family night" performance after their practice.
8. You got study hall passes every day of your life.
Mrs. McBreen? Mr. Bixel? You were always out of study hall going somewhere or doing something. If you could get out of study hall, you were there. On any day you would rather be on the computer's in Mrs. McBreen's classroom or sit in on junior high concert band class than sit in silence in the cafeteria. What would you even do there? Homework?!
9. You dreaded the attendance line.
If you missed a day of school, you knew what was waiting for you: the attendance line, aka Ms. Fabo determining if your permission slip was legit or not. If it was, you got a white slip that all your teachers had to sign in order to give you your missed work (read: you threw it away as soon as you got it). If it wasn't, you got a blue slip and no teachers could give you your work because it was an "unexcused absence." The line stretched the length of the high school lobby and took forever to move at all, especially the day after senior skip day.
10. You had "The Sheves" for anything and everything.
A living legend. Armed with her traditional Diet Coke and Snickers, you'll never forget Ms. Shever. She taught at CV for many years, and when she retired, she just never stopped coming back, and now she works as a substitute. A week of class wasn't complete without having Ms. Shever in at least one of your classes. (And who could forget the time when they didn't have anyone for her to sub for, so they gave her a desk in the hall and made her the "hall monitor"?)
People complain about CV, and it did have its pitfalls, but ultimately, I believe it was a great place in which to grow up, and it helped make me into the person I am today. The benefit of going to a small school is really getting to know your teachers and fellow classmates, and I don't think I would have half of these memories if CV had been a huge school. I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as I did.
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