The Spirit Lives On
That is the title of a new book I bought today from the Old Maui High School Reunion at Hamakuapoko on Maui. This weekend (9-14-2007 to 9-17-2007) the Friends of Old Maui High School put on a reunion for all the former students, faculty and just about anyone else that had anything to do with the school.
Being of the last freshman class that attended half of the year at the Old Maui High School and the rest of the time at the New Maui High School, I had signed up to attend about a month ago.
Unfortunately having spent the week before the reunion working on Molokai and Lanai and then taking care of grandkids and attending my grandson’s soccer game, I forgot about the Saturday events. I saw an article on the Old Maui High School reunion on the front page of the Maui News and realized I missed the Saturday events, but could attend the Sunday breakfast.
So I grabbed my camera and headed for the Old Maui High School reunion. The breakfast was at 9 am and turned out to be mostly coffee and pastries, so I spent the time taking pictures that can be seen on this site at www.chic-isle.com/chicgallery. I managed to take about 190 pictures in a short while and could have spent the day on it. I wish I had spent more time taking pictures over the years.
I have watched the School go from a green and pretty much manicured campus to a jungle of giant Banyan trees overgrowing my old classrooms and their roots creeping in the windows and crushing through the roof like some alien invaders.
The campus is much cleaner today then in the past, but still has quite a bit of overgrowth and buildings that haven’t been touched in years.
Seeing the old P.E. showers and locker rooms and how small they seem now was strange. Our class was the last freshman class to suffer through initiation and the showers turned out to be a bad hiding place for freshman from our upper classmates.
All and all it was a short day filled with some picture taking. I recognized more of the older folks that were there than would have even known who I was, but being the “baby” of the group that is to be expected.
The Friends of Old Maui High School at Hamakuapoko are continuing to restore the campus and bring back the School that was so much a part of most people growing up on Maui. If you would like any information or want to follow the progress, you can visit their site at www.oldmauihigh.org.
Jim Hall
Class of 1975
