ORIGINALLY WRITTEN JOEL KLAASSEN
This year’s Hillsboro High School graduating class was the 100th to receive diplomas. It kind of snuck up on us or I think we would have made a bigger deal of it.
If each class averaged 50 students, that would make about 5,000 of us who hold the distinction of being an HHS grad. I have always been proud to be included as part of that group.
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The annual HHS All-School Reunion this past Saturday night-and every Saturday of Memorial Day weekend since 2000-was one of the finest I have attended.
The size of the group may have been a little smaller than previous years, but it allowed for holding the event in the commons, which is air-conditioned. And that was big considering it was above 90 degrees outside.
Unified School District 410 superintendent Gordon Mohn did a superb job as emcee. He had researched each class that was holding a reunion divisible by five and took us down memory lane by pointing out many highlights of each class during the years it was in school. Then he gave each of those classes some time to share one story about the class.
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As each group communicated its memories, I realized I am old enough to remember most of the people, students and teachers alike who were mentioned.
The class of 1981, the 75th class to graduate, spoke of using an acetylene torch to heat up the pliers handles in vo-ag class, while the class of 1956 told of their antics in physics class, where corks popped out of test tubes leaving water dripping from the ceiling.
It’s not too early to plan on coming for next year’s reunion.
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I was lucky enough to tag along with my wife to an early tour of the new Hillsboro Family Aquatic Center on Sunday prior to the big opening on Memorial Day.
Who wouldn’t want to be a kid again after seeing all it has to offer. The big water slide is most impressive and you can see a great deal from up there. It opens 51 years after the pool opened in Memorial Park in 1955-which was brand new the year we moved to town from Minnesota.
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We have been planning a big family time during the Marion County Fair in August. Grandsons Alex and Louis are chomping at the bit to take it all in. And they are especially pumped about coming to swim in the new pool and experience the water slide.
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I don’t know how or why I received The Taxpayers Network 50 State Comparisons book, but found it to be quite interesting. It ranks states in about 60 categories.
Kansas ranks first in only one category-and that was wheat production, which would seem to be a good thing. We are also high at No. 4 in state and local government employees per 10,000 residents-at 657-which would seem to be a not-so-good thing.
Also interesting to me was that we spend $75 per capita in state lottery sales, paling in comparison to Rhode Island at $1,518 per capita.
