Buchanan High School 1990-1999

Board Members

• David Cangelosi
• William Cameron
• William Carson 
• Jerry Flenar
• William Glossinger
• Mary Beth Larson
• Janet Racht
• Robert Rowen
• Joseph Saratore
• Robert Siekman
• Kay Trull
• Ray Weinberg

Superintendents

• 1987-1993—Mr. Allen Shau
• 1993-2005—Mr. David Casey 

Principals

• 1983-2005—Mr. William McBeth with Mr. Michael Young as assistant

Students

• 1990—104
• 1991—78
• 1992—100
• 1993—98
• 1994—84
• 1995—79
• 1996—79
• 1998—81
• 1998—96
• 1999—104

Timeline

• Channel 1 brought TVs to each classroom with short ads which also brought a bit of controversy in the early 1990s. The new McDonald’s in Buchanan did not bring controversy, however.
• Some of our 1990s BHS grads now teach in Buchanan and elsewhere in the nation.
• Buchanan’s alternative education program began in 1990 and eventually evolved into the Buchanan Virtual Academy.
• During the summer of 1990, Buchanan High School conducted an asbestos abatement.
• Students still carved pumpkins in class with real sharp knives during this decade. That tradition soon ended.
• The North Central report of 1989-90 found that one of the “major assets is its faculty.  The committee reported that at Buchanan students feel that teachers generally care what happens to the students.”
• In June 1992, voters approved a bond issue for the retrofitting of Buchanan High School.  This retrofit project brought $8.2 million of improvements.  Improvements involved behind the walls upgrading plumbing, heating, electrical in addition to ADA compliance and upgrading classrooms with carpet, casework, ceiling tile, and paint. “…the high school has been renewed and is prepared to take students into the 21^st Century.  As it was seventy years ago, the building continues to be ‘a monument to Buchanan and a rich inheritance’ for all students now and into the future.” [THE PINES 1993]

• High school retrofit process began in October of 1992.  It became more apparent of the necessity of a retrofit after the ceiling collapsed in the classroom on the second floor near the library that fall.  Adult education students heard the cracking in the ceiling one late afternoon and successfully rushed to leave before the collapse. All high school and adult education classes were canceled for two days to determine if the building was safe for the remainder of the year. Everything returned to normal for a few months until the retrofit began in earnest in March.

• Just prior to spring break in 1993, the “elementary wing” of classrooms were relocated to other areas.  Small office spaces became classrooms for well over twenty students. The auditorium became a classroom.  The day the P.E. class was to play tennis, the bulldozers came to tear out the tennis courts.  The “elementary wing” was to be finished by June—WRONG.  Smells and dust permeated the air daily, not to mention the noise of workmen’s voices and machinery.  The heating system became problematic with rooms at 55* most of the winter until three weeks before the boiler was shut off for the season.  Then some room temperatures rose to 85* for no apparent reason.  Workmen provided a new education for students with their language and unannounced visits.  “A workman killed a deer with his car on the way to work.  The “dressed deer” was then strung up in a storage semi.  It seemed par for the course.” [Retrofit Memories by teacher Barb Kulwicki] This was not what we wanted for our BUCKS.  Graduation was moved from the football field where grass had been recently sodded.  Thus, graduates were seated on the track, a tradition which remained for years. “Retrofit became a four letter word,” according to our Principal, Bill McBeth. [B. Kulwicki]
• That fall Buchanan High School students and staff moved into Middle School after the decision on September 7 due to incompletion of retrofit.  This gave students a couple of extra days of summer.  More fun was yet to come. High school students attended from 6:30 to 12:30; middle school students attended from 12:45.   High school students and staff exited through the east doors while middle school students and staff entered through the west doors.  Nine hundred students moved all in a matter of minutes.  Cooperation and mutual support became required since teachers shared spaces unfamiliar.  Social Studies classes were taught in the Home Ec. Room with sewing machines, for example. There were no lockers nor lunches for either group but eventually a snack break was included.  Many classes had no books and teachers had no materials or files since all of these items were put in temporary storage in June.  The semi-trucks held those necessities but evidently the materials could not be easily located.  Traffic patterns became extremely problematic with the parking lot logistics at nearby St. Anthony Church managed by Assistant Principal, Mike Young.  There were no after school staff meetings though.  This was to have lasted for one week; two at the most.  Six weeks later…
• OCTOBER 25, 1993. Final occupancy of retrofitted high school occurred after a dusty first faculty meeting in the gym.  Alas, some rooms still were not completed so more movement. Errors in the retrofit became apparent—carpeting, buckling of underlayment, missing casework, missing erasers [yes we had new blackboards but no information on seasoning those blackboards], missing window blinds [never found in semi], missing stalls in bathrooms [plywood boards for that], and dust—oh the dust!  That year the high school principal also fulfilled the duties of middle school principal.
• MARCH 6, 1994—rededication of Buchanan High School with an Open House.  That was on a Sunday; two-thirds of the teachers reported to host the event. “Through it all, over 365 days of turmoil, this staff persevered.  The years of staff solidarity paid off; experienced teachers and staff accomplished the impossible.  Education and learning continued despite all the obstacles retrofit could create.  To the staff of BHS, retrofit IS a four letter word.”  [B. Kulwicki]

• Due to retrofit the fall saw split sessions with the middle school.  Thus many things were missing from traditional fall classes activities such as pep rallies and dances resulting in a “dwindling” of school spirit and the Buck identity changed.  Between the spring and fall of 1993, students experienced more than three months of confusion and classes.

• As a result of the retrofit, the auto shop relocated to the location of the former machine shop, mechanical drawing and foundry classes.
• 1994-95—Population of Buchanan 4,992; BHS students number 415 with 79 Seniors; teachers number 33; 96 students drive to school daily; library has 10,676 books; BHS has 137 doors and 337 windows, 56 clocks, 636 lockers, 105 computers and 231 trophies and plaques!  WHEW—Who knew?
• Buchanan Community Schools passed a technology millage in 1995.  Thus, Buchanan High School got its first computer lab with 25 stations and a laser printer.

• More changes occurred when Buchanan High School adopted a new 4X4 Block Schedule for the 1996-1997 school year. This new schedule allowed students to earn 32 credits resulting in more elective opportunities. “The purpose is to increase offerings to students and to decrease the amount of homework and interruptions in a school day.  Classes will last 84 minutes and there will be no study halls.  …What the future holds for Buchanan remains to be seen.” [THE PINES 1996]
• The class of 1997 graduating class experienced the retrofit with split sessions, the first state endorsement testing with new graduation requirements including Law and Public Speaking for Seniors, and a totally new daily schedule with only four classes per day. Their class learned to adapt.
• During the 1990s, BHS housed high school students, plus adult education until 1996 and enrichment from early mornings until past 9 p.m.  In addition, on weekends, the school opened for many months for youth basketball, floor hockey, plus adult league basketball and even volleyball.
• During the late 1990s, some students went to Andrews University to the Math Science Center for half of their day.

Courses Offered –Partial List

• ACP Advanced College Project with Indiana University—Honors History—began 1999
• African American Studies
• Art
• Auto Mechanics
• Auto Trade 1
• Auto Trade 2
• Band 
• Biology
• Calculus
• Canadian Studies
• Chemistry
• Choir
• Computers, aka KAT
• Consumer Ed.
• Coop
• Economics
• English 10
• English 11
• English 12
• English 9
• European Studies
• Family Living with mock wedding
• Field Biology
• Foods and Nutrition
• French classes—end of the French Era 1994
• Government
• Health  
• Honors English Composition
• Human Geography
• Intro to Business
• KAT [aka computer added technology?] 
• Korean 1
• Korean 2
• Korean 3
• Latin
• Latin American Studies
• Law
• Law and Public Speaking
• Life Management
• Math Science Center
• Michigan History
• Mythology
• Nobel Prize Authors
• Non-Western World
• Office aides
• Parent Child Development
• Personal Living
• Physical Geography
• Physics
• Pre-Calculus
• Shared Time [Cooperative Learning/Jobs]
• Small Engine Class
• Social and Minority Studies
• Social Movement and Change
• Spanish 1
• Spanish 2
• Spanish 3
• Spanish 4
• Spanish Culture
• Speech
• Speech
• Teacher aides at high school and elementary
• Teacher aides in high school and elementary
• Tech Ed. class
• Transportation Tech.
• Typing 
• Wood Shop 
• Vocational classes at other schools
  • Computers
  • Culinary
  • Printing 
  • Building Trades
  • Electronics

Student Activities

• After Prom began in 1991 and lasted much of the decade.
• All Stars with high school role models working with elementary students via trading cards and visits to the elementary schools for lunch.
• Art Club and SOUP BOWLS [later EMPTY BOWLS] began on March 3, 1995, in conjunction with RAM LOVE
• Band with summer band camp, parades, games, trips, and concerts 
• Black Student Association began in 1989-90 but disappeared in 1993-94

• Blood Drives the entire decade

• Buckhorn ended in this decade
• Buchanan News Network—BNN for daily video announcements in 1997-98
• Canadian Exchange continued throughout the 1990s with students going to the Toronto metro area
• Channel One—daily news for students with TV installation in 1991
• Close Up continued throughout the 1990s
• Concert Choir
• Ecology Club began in 1990-91 and the following year students assisted in cleanup of McCoy reek for the first time which became a senior law project for many and continued for years; celebration of Earth Day
• Equestrians 
• Exchange Students made our school richer
• Fifth Grade Camp Counselors
• French Club
• Future Problem Solvers
• Homecoming–powder puff football, parade, snake dance, bonfire, King and Queen with their court, class competition, days of the week ending with maroon and white day, plus outdoor pep rally
• K.I.D.S—Kids in Domestic Situations—support group for young parents in Buchanan High School
• Mock Weddings were part of the Home Economics program during this decade
• Musical—in 1990-91 BHS was first high school in nation to perform INTO THE WOODS
• National Honor Society
• National Merit Honor Students 
• Pep Band
• Pep Rallies
• Plays
• Prom [200 attended in 1991] 
• Quiz Bowl which became Academic Challenge in 1996-97
• Redbud Chorale
• Rotary Student of the Month
• SADD
• Special Olympic Volunteers
• Student Representative Assembly became Student Council in 1997-98
• Spanish Club with donkey basketball game an annual event
• Spanish Honor Society

• Student Representative Assembly
• Talent Show
• The Pines
• Winterfest—silent girl day, 50s day, favorite cartoon characters, kiss the pig contest, pep rally with the Winterfest court
• Winter Guard
• Veterans Day guest speakers brought in by our American Legion
• Youth Advisory Council [YAC]
• Athletics
  • Baseball—Varsity, JV with Buck Classic
  • Boys’ Basketball—Varsity, JV,  and Freshmen
  • Boys’ Cross Country–Michael Smedley State Champion; Regional title for team
  • Boys’ Track—Michael Smedley State Champion in mile with 21 participants in 1997; Buck Classic
  • Cheerleading—Varsity, JV
  • Football—Varsity, JV, Freshmen
  • Girls’ basketball—Varsity, JV—1990-91 Lakeland Conference Champions, State Champions over Detroit Country Day [42-34] and  a 27-1 record; 1991-2—District Title                                                                                                                                                                           
  • Girls’ Cross Country—Megan Smedley State Champion
  • Girls’ Track—1990 second in state; 35 participants in 1997; Buck Classic
  • Girls’ Tennis began in the fall of 1997
  • Golf
  • Soccer—1991, 1998, 1999, 2000 District Titles
  • Softball—1991-2—Lakeland Title; Buck Classic
  • Tennis—Varsity, JV [coed]—spring training at Del Ray Beach
  • Volleyball—Varsity, JV—district title in 1993-4                                                       
  • Wrestling