Out with the old and in with the new, West Springfield was lucky enough to open a new high school in 2014. As a graduate that split their senior year in both schools I was sad it see the old school come down even though I was excited for the new and improved one. Here are 51 things we can't forget...
1. The Upper Gym: where all of the most intense gym classes look place.
2. The Basement: you probably had one class down there your entire four years.
3. The Freshman Bathrooms: the place you would go to read the doors for gossip.
4. The Gym Lobby: if you were a gym rat, this was your hangout.
5. The Wrap Line: when it came to lunch time everyone would race down the stairs and across the school to be first in line.
6. Metal Shop and Wood Shop: you only knew where these classes were if you took them.
7. When the class of 2014 made it on the High School Confessions twitter page for a riot/food fight.
8. School Runs: every track runner remembers the ever dreaded school run.
9. Ceiling Tiles: sitting in the terrier house paying attention in class as you dodged a falling ceiling tile now and again.
10. Student Painted Murals: who doesn't want to go down the stairs and see a mural of different cheeses and the Beatles in one building.
11. Mr. Miltz: enough said.
12. Rainy Days: many buckets in the hallways trying to catch all of the rainwater pouring from the ceilings.
13. Internal Suspension: the white room with a couple of desks and no windows, where no one spoke of what happened in there.
14. The Red Staircase: it was so much easier to slide down the banister than walk down the stairs.
15. The swim cap stuck on the pool wall: many don't know why it was there, but it was ... forever.
16. The Band Room: if you played an instrument or if you were in drama club that's where you could be found.
17. Big Cookies: when you walked into the lunchroom to smell the aroma of freshly baked cookies and seeing them next to the lunch ladies it instantly made your day better.
18. Sneaking out to lunch: none of the doors locked so sneaking out of the door closest to the student parking lot was just too easy.
19. Sneaking into school: it was just as easy to text a friend to let you into one of the many doors without cameras so you could avoid being late.
20. Mr. Haas: he would chase you down the hallway and if you didn't have a hall pass you ran.
21. Seeing Todd every morning: if you were late or not you would walk by Todd, and when you were late you would think of the best reasons of why you needed a late pass to class.
22. Mr.Beauchesne: he was always so fashionable.
23. 217: if you went there you were in trouble.
24. Hall of flags: the first thing you would see as you walked down the hallway in the mornings.
25. The Old Auditorium: we could fit the whole school in the auditorium just for fun.
26. Senior Lounge: back in the '70s when you could sit and watch “Leave it to Beaver” reruns fully equip with the latest and greatest couches, chairs, and the ever so popular ping pong table.
27. The Bomb Shelter: the urban legend of WSHS.
28. The Girls Locker Room: full of so much character and life, there was a room for every sport and we were very protective.
29. The Boys Locker Room: ew … it made the girls locker room look like the Taj Mahal.
30. The Old Clark Field: we had only the best gravel track, scary bleachers, and the dog house (Class of 2010).
31. Pep Rallies: the pep rallies in the old high school were a time where each class would compete against each other to be the best at many different activities, per usual the seniors always won.
32. The Weight Room: either a hit or a miss, you loved it or you didn't. Either way it smelled like 100 years of sweaty athletes.
33. Mr. Bateman: One of the most serious gym student teachers ever to set foot on school grounds.
34. The “ID Policy:” looking back we probably should have just sucked it up and wore our ID’s like good student ... but what fun was that!
35. Hallway Sign-In: it was much easier to go up and down different flights of stairs to avoid having to sign in at the desks placed around the school, except the gym lobby if you were wondering the halls what was the place to hang out.
36. Clark Field Parking Lot: you knew when it was the seniors last day when you would see freshly painted graffiti in the parking lot.
37. Blue Rocks: we still have a few but not as many huge blue boulders as before.
38. The Hill: every student athlete knows that the hike to Clark field was insane when you had to walk up the paved road that was as steep as most Everest in your cleats.
39. The Guidance Office: one of the best hiding places in school when you didn't feel like going to class ... and they had jolly ranchers.
40. Upper Parking Lot: the student athlete hang out after school.
41. Summer Clinic: when you would start the day off by running the hill and end the day with gates making you do inclined crunches on pop field hill.
42. Pop Field: where during captain's practices the most legendary games of World Cup took place (Soccer Seniors 2010).
43. Tennis Courts: the best place to hit tennis balls into piper road
44. Pumpkin Chunkin: when the announcement came over the intercom to move your car out of the student parking lot or it will be hit by flying pumpkins you knew it was that time of the year again.
45. Four Corners: with the smell of smoke attributed to the back of the building near the shop classes with easy access out of the school.
46. The Upper Library: I'm not sure if there were ever books up there but it was the best place to chill.
47. The Heavy Doors: all the exterior doors weighed a million pounds, and could do damage if someone was accidentally hit in the head with one (you know who you are).
48. The Lanyard Game: running around a ripping off people's ID’s and collecting them as a game. If you somehow got Mr.Haas’s ID you were the winner (Tim McMahon).
49. The White Board: every athlete would look to the whole board for information about practices, games, picture day info. You name it, it was on the board.
50. The Nurse's Office: the only place you could go and be excused from class to take a nap.
51. The walls were filled with many memories and no matter what the condition of the school was, we loved it there.
