How the Austin High Hall of Honor Began
Excerpt from:
Celebrating Austin High’s 125 Year History
By Brian Schenk and Jenna McEachern, 2007, Edited by Angie Reeve;
Excerpt edited and updated by Sara Stewart, 2017
Celebrating Austin High’s 125 Year History
By Brian Schenk and Jenna McEachern, 2007, Edited by Angie Reeve;
Excerpt edited and updated by Sara Stewart, 2017
The Austin High Lakeside Campus was opened in August 1975. The Seniors and Juniors that year – AHS classes of 76 and 77 – had spent at least one year at the old Rio Grande campus, where Austin High School had operated since 1925. Some of these students – now at the Lakeside – were nostalgic for the “Old Campus.”
Beginning in August 1975, they attended school in a new building. Everything around them was new. There were carpeted halls and many more lockers than had been available before. Science labs were provided with brand-new equipment and the total number of audiovisual machines for teacher use was doubled. It was a beautiful campus. The Lakeside campus even received a 1975 award from the American Institute of Architects – their national “School Bell Award” for outstanding school design.
But the nostalgia still lingered. Their feelings of loss came to a sharp point in the Spring Semester of 1977. The 1977 class was the last to have spent a year or more at the “Old Campus.” Conversations over a lunch table hardened a resolve to “not lose our ties to the past!”
John Schneider, Jr., Rudy Garza, Jr., and Francis Doyle were Senior Class and Student Council officers. Teacher Brian Schenk regularly had lunch in the cafeteria with these leaders, since he was serving as Student Council Advisor at the time. It was not uncommon – in those years – for teachers and students to share a lunch table.
Schneider expressed his dislike for the new campus, saying, “It’s got blue carpet and blue lockers… it just lacks the rustic charm of the old school.”
The other students agreed. Conversations that week began to focus on how to tie the new school to the old. The students discussed a recognition program for Distinguished Alumni, to recognize the graduates who used Austin high as a springboard to success in life. Schenk suggested recognition of “Great Teachers” of the past – and they knew many. Teacher Maurice Price (Language Arts) agreed that an “Honored Faculty” recognition would preserve ties to the past and would be attractive to our Alumni. And then they added a recognition program for “students of today” called the Maroon Society.
They developed the idea of a PLACE to honor these alumni, former faculty and students of today. The place would be called a “Hall of Honor.”
Student Council President John Schneider appointed a “Hall of Honor Student Steering Committee” for the Spring Term of 1977. This Student Council Committee came up with a preliminary plan, which was presented to Principal Jacquelyn McGee in 1978. McGee was a 1946 graduate of the school. She not only agreed to the concept, she offered an 11’ x 66’ area of a hallway along the balcony next to the school office.
Another year was spent in fine-tuning the plan. The first inductions – 4 – were made during Homecoming, 1980, and another induction was held on Dedication Day, 1981, at the end of the school’s Centennial year. In the fall of 1981, the Hall of Honor Steering Committee became an independent organization.
In 2001, the Hall of Honor was relocated to the new Performing Arts Center at the east end of campus. To date, over 150 plaques display our Distinguished Alumni and Honored Faculty who have been recognized in the Hall of Honor. Inductions into the Hall of Honor are held each year on Dedication Day, near the end of the spring semester.
Beginning in August 1975, they attended school in a new building. Everything around them was new. There were carpeted halls and many more lockers than had been available before. Science labs were provided with brand-new equipment and the total number of audiovisual machines for teacher use was doubled. It was a beautiful campus. The Lakeside campus even received a 1975 award from the American Institute of Architects – their national “School Bell Award” for outstanding school design.
But the nostalgia still lingered. Their feelings of loss came to a sharp point in the Spring Semester of 1977. The 1977 class was the last to have spent a year or more at the “Old Campus.” Conversations over a lunch table hardened a resolve to “not lose our ties to the past!”
John Schneider, Jr., Rudy Garza, Jr., and Francis Doyle were Senior Class and Student Council officers. Teacher Brian Schenk regularly had lunch in the cafeteria with these leaders, since he was serving as Student Council Advisor at the time. It was not uncommon – in those years – for teachers and students to share a lunch table.
Schneider expressed his dislike for the new campus, saying, “It’s got blue carpet and blue lockers… it just lacks the rustic charm of the old school.”
The other students agreed. Conversations that week began to focus on how to tie the new school to the old. The students discussed a recognition program for Distinguished Alumni, to recognize the graduates who used Austin high as a springboard to success in life. Schenk suggested recognition of “Great Teachers” of the past – and they knew many. Teacher Maurice Price (Language Arts) agreed that an “Honored Faculty” recognition would preserve ties to the past and would be attractive to our Alumni. And then they added a recognition program for “students of today” called the Maroon Society.
They developed the idea of a PLACE to honor these alumni, former faculty and students of today. The place would be called a “Hall of Honor.”
Student Council President John Schneider appointed a “Hall of Honor Student Steering Committee” for the Spring Term of 1977. This Student Council Committee came up with a preliminary plan, which was presented to Principal Jacquelyn McGee in 1978. McGee was a 1946 graduate of the school. She not only agreed to the concept, she offered an 11’ x 66’ area of a hallway along the balcony next to the school office.
Another year was spent in fine-tuning the plan. The first inductions – 4 – were made during Homecoming, 1980, and another induction was held on Dedication Day, 1981, at the end of the school’s Centennial year. In the fall of 1981, the Hall of Honor Steering Committee became an independent organization.
In 2001, the Hall of Honor was relocated to the new Performing Arts Center at the east end of campus. To date, over 150 plaques display our Distinguished Alumni and Honored Faculty who have been recognized in the Hall of Honor. Inductions into the Hall of Honor are held each year on Dedication Day, near the end of the spring semester.
