Third graders at Alpine Elementary School entertained parents, teachers, and members of the community Tuesday with dances that represented each decade since the school was opened in 1953. The performance was part of a luau held to celebrate the end of an era when the school closes its doors for good.
PTA Volunteer Kellie Russell coordinated the performance by each grade to represent different decades in the history of the school, connected by short facts about those years in Alpine.
“It was so much fun to dance with all the kids, time-steptastic! Truly, a positive note to close an era,” Russell said.
Corinne Lewis, who has been a school clerk for 29 years, has been working on archiving the historic items at the school but took time away from the front office to at¬tend the luau and watch the kids perform.
“This is the most fun day, ever,” Lewis said.
Eight-year old Emily Casas agreed as she munched on dessert.
“The best thing about today is that the whole school is having a good time and that the PTA got all this stuff for us and its really fun,” she said.
After the last round of applause was given for the children on stage, parents and community members strolled around the room that was lined with mementos from years past. The clear contrast of faded photo albums from the 1950s seen in proximity to the table of colorful 1990s-era yearbooks suggested how long the school has served the community of Alpine.
Cindy Juszkiewicz has been at the school for more than 10 years. She squinted down at the black-and-white photos that captured her days on campus as “Mrs. J”.
“I was here all the time. All the time. This place has so many memories for me,” Juszkiewicz said.
Trish Hundley agreed, relating how she had come to the event just to find her son’s photo in the albums on the table.
“I met so many lifetime friends here. I’m still friends with moms that I met in kindergarten so many years ago, we still go to lunch together. It wasn’t just a school, it was every¬thing,” said Hundley.
Earlier this year the Alpine Elementary School district board of trustees to close the school to cut expenditure costs.
