What do I remember about Stadium?
Wow, this might take awhile.
I remember walking down the stairs from classes and seeing the beauty of the bay, and wondering what Stadium would have been like as a private home;
I remember hearing my footsteps in the corridor, late in the evening, as I rushed to pick-up my choir dress that I had forgotten, and needed for a concert--that was a frightening experience to say the least;
I remember coming back my senior year and not seeing my, nor my twin's, senior picture in my senior yearbook, that was devastating, to say the least--and no one seemed to have cared enough to do anything about it, as we were camp counselors that year;
I remember not wanting to take Biology, how much I disliked the idea of dissecting anything. Luckily my identical twin agreed to allow me to sit in her Biology class for three days, (only the students knew), while she sat in my literacy class. I loved the Biology class, and she, in the process of trying to help me, flunked a very important exam of mine in my literacy class.
As I sit here in New Jersey, I can, honestly, say that I still have fond memories of Stadium High School, so many that it would take me awhile to jot them all down. But I leave you with my fondest memory of the stadium:
On a crisp spring morning, around 6:30 a.m., I would leash up my dog, and we would walk down to the football field. Sometimes I would hear racial slurs, yelled from windows, as I neared the stadium--and sometimes I would face loose Cujo looking dogs that owners would, deliberately, let out of their homes to harass me and my dog. But once I reached the stadium, it was heaven. I would sit down on one of the concrete stairs and I'd stretch, look up at all the stairs behind me, take a deep breath, and then I'd run the stairs, without stopping.
To this day, I have not had such an opportunity to run and enjoy such a view as that of the bay and the school--that view, back in 1980, prior to leaving for college, was short of awesome.
In the past 25 years, since I left Stadium, I have had the unique opportunity of traveling to Sweden, Denmark, London, Switzerland, Africa, and Mexico. And I have yet to see, or visit, a castle as great as Stadium's.
In closing, I thank you for allowing me to reflect on the importance of the castle and our home town.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Janell Richison-Lemma
Memories@CelebrateStadium.com
CelebrateStadium.com
