By Beth Mechum
Staff Writer
Many of the seniors at Carrboro High School have a bet on how long it will take guidance counselor Mary Gratch to cry at graduation.If any among them wagered on a week before, it’s time to cash in.
When asked to think of stories about her “babies,†the class of 2009, there were no actual teardrops, but the tears welling up more than clouded Gratch’s vision. She then composed herself long enough to talk about what the first-ever graduating class of Carrboro High School means to her, to the school, to each other and to the town of Carrboro.
From protestors to leaders
All involved admit the first year, 2007-08, wasn’t an easy one for Carrboro High, and the word most commonly used is “tough.†Students were moved from Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill High School, and not all of them were pleased about it.
Gratch said all the logistics of registering and transferring credits were handled with ease, but there were parts of the move that administrators couldn’t prepare for.
“We didn’t fully predict the emotional component of switching and this being a much smaller school,†Gratch said. “The students arrived and they reacted to things; they said it was more like a middle school.â€
Seventy cameras were placed around the school, turning and watching the students’ every move. Such technology will be installed in all new schools, for safety purposes, but the students weren’t happy with what they perceived as a Big Brother effect.
Class sizes were smaller and rules more rigid than those to which the transferred students were accustomed, and the biggest issue of all was that hats were forbidden inside the school.
“The first principal established a rule of not wearing hats, which became emblematic of the oppression of this new school,†Gratch said. “We really started in a tough way, and the kids said they hated it and wanted to go back.â€
Kelly Batten replaced Jeff Thomas as principal in April 2008, and the students were treated with a more relaxed atmosphere, one in which they felt they had a say in what happened at the school.
“It was definitely a tough transition coming from an established school that had all these traditions and legacies,†senior Kristina Witcher said. But she said she was given leadership opportunities that she felt she wouldn’t have gotten at CHHS, her former school.
“It’s been a unique opportunity and its going to be fun to come back in a few years to see the things that we’ve started from scratch because there was nothing before us,†she said.
Some of those traditions include those in athletics, where Witcher was a star cross country runner and was a big part of helping the team grow in its first two years.
Senior Nick Swartzwelder was another leader in the athletic arena as goalie of the lacrosse team.
There weren’t even enough people to form a lacrosse team in the beginning and Swartzwelder had to beg his athletically inclined friends to come out for the team. Gratch laughed when she remembered watching some of the guys toss the ball around during lunch and thinking they had a long way to go before they could truly compete.
But the players supported each other and, after what Swartzwelder called a particularly stressful first season for him, the Jaguars made the playoffs this year.
Gratch and Batten both also commented on all the leadership roles available for students, especially for those in the graduating class, who were the oldest kids in school as juniors.
“It was really unique for that group to be able to do it two years in a row like that,†Batten said. And he said those leadership opportunities really helped the students when it came to applying for colleges.
Identity
As the first class to ever graduate from CHS, the class of 2009 has been able to set its mark and contribute to the identity of the school. It’s hard to peg down just what that identity is, but it’s clear the students feel like they’ve been a big part of shaping a purple-and-white tradition.
Batten sees the identity not only in what students have accomplished in school, but in what sort of things the students will accomplish when they leave.
He loves reading the bulletin board that says where each person will be after they graduate, and is especially excited that they will tell those they meet that they graduated from Carrboro.
The seniors do appreciate the responsibilities they’ve been given, but their eyes really light up when talking about Senior Week and the traditions they’ve started, and how jealous the juniors seem to be.
Senior Week involved school-sponsored events such as a Senior Breakfast and an awards ceremony. The seniors organized a beach day, filling the common area with sand and playing beach music at lunchtime, to the surprise of the other students. They filled the school with 2,009 balloons, started a rave in all the classrooms and created a wheels day where seniors wore roller blades, rode scooters and biked around the school.
The juniors are already talking about how to top them, but the seniors are skeptical it can be done.
The town
Gratch and Batten both say they feel like the town has welcomed the town’s first high school with open arms and they look forward to reciprocating that hospitality.
“We’re starting to strike that balance between things we need to do as a school in terms of what the school board wants of us and the school system wants of us, but then to say we are part of the fabric of the town of Carrboro, and trying to really capitalize on that more and more as we go along,†Batten said.
Carrboro High purple can be seen in many local businesses and the board of alderman is so pleased with the first graduating class, they proclaimed June 7-13 “Class of 2009 Week.â€
After the senior breakfast, the Carrboro police department blocked off roads so the seniors could ride their decorated cars back to school on time, and the students were amazed at all the cheering from folks in town during what they deemed their “parade.â€
Gratch said she can already tell the difference CHS has made:
“I think with Carrboro, it’s a community where people choose to be here because they want neighborhoods and relationships and the sense of community, and our students are now a big part of that.â€
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