This Saturday, Sept. 16, the 1964-1979 classes of Siloam Springs High School will meet at Camp Siloam. Some 500 people are expected to attend and I hope even more show up. It should be a grand time for reminiscing and meeting up with folks you haven't seen in years or even decades.
Some may wonder, why all the fuss over reunions? Why re-live those years of angst and emotional turmoil with people you may not have liked or even knew well way back then? For many of us, surviving high school and escaping to other regions to start anew was our primary goal. I remember vowing I would never return to Siloam after graduation!
The reasons for attending a high school reunion are many and often complex. There is the curiosity of seeing what became of those kids who ran around the halls. Did the cheerleader you had a crush on do well? Who looks older than me? Do you want to show that you exceeded everyone's expectations and made something of your life?
No doubt there is the element of competiveness. We all had "enemies" in high school. What became of them? Do you want to prove you're better than they are now?
I like to believe the real reason we attend reunions is to show that we've all grown up, can laugh at the things we did and said while in our stupid teen years, and share the bond that, after 40 to 55 years, we are still alive and doing well. We can also remember and celebrate the lives of those who have passed on. We will miss seeing them.
I came to Siloam Springs in August of 1971 and started my freshman year at high school. I was in Arkansas about a week before school started. I knew no one, had no friends. The culture here was much different than in Hobbs, N.M. There, I was popular. I had been on the student council of my junior high school and was elected to be an officer in the 9th grade class. But in Siloam Springs High School, I was starting over. I was no one.
I remember that first week of school in 1971. There was actually a smoking area for students! I saw teachers smoking with the students! Senior boys were hunting down freshmen and "poling" them during recess, basically holding them horizontally and running their groin area into a standing pole. I stayed as close to the principal's office as I could.
I gradually assimilated into the new culture during the next four years. I did make a few friends. Many of the students had been together since elementary school and it was hard to break into those groups that had such close ties.
There was a defining moment for me in that first week at Siloam Springs High. An event was scheduled called "Ice Breaking" which was basically a half-day spent with a group of students picked at random. We had an assigned room and sat in a circle of chairs. A moderator of the group asked questions and each student would answer. The purpose was to try and break up cliques and meet other students with interests common to our own. I only remember one person in my group; a cute blond girl with green eyes and the prettiest smile I had ever seen. Her answers to the questions agreed with mine. The last question asked was "With whom in this group did you become most familiar?" We were told to point at that person, all at the same time. I pointed to her and she pointed to me. I remember thinking that I really, really wanted to know more about her. Unfortunately, our schedules and social circles were such that I lost track of her for a couple of years. Fortunately, that girl became my wife in 1978.
So I will go to the reunion this weekend, even though I didn't know most of those people while in school. That's not the point. I can get to know them now. Four years out of our life is such a short period of time. We all changed for better or worse based on life experiences. That is what we all have in common now.
-- Devin Houston is the president/CEO of Houston Enzymes. Send comments or questions to [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Community on 09/13/2017