Homecoming week and school memories

        It’s homecoming week at Montezuma. And it’s one of my favorite school activities to participate in as a community journalist.
         I’ve covered homecomings at Montezuma, BGM, Grinnell, English Valleys, HLV and a few others.
       There’s always plenty of fun activities going on at Montezuma including Lip Sync where students, teachers and parents perform skits to the cheers of a couple hundred students in the school auditorium.
      And Thursday night of Homecoming Week is Braves Night, where the king and queen are chosen and Darrell Brand, a former teacher, principal and school administrator, who is in his 80s, returns to pump up the crowd with the always popular Breakdown routine.
        And then of course there is the big game on Friday night.
        All the fun reminds me of back in the day when I was in middle and high school in the 1970s. 
       I may be outgoing and talkative these days, especially to total strangers, but when I was younger, I was much more quiet. I know, it’s hard to imagine J.O. being quiet at anything.
       I never considered myself popular in my teen years and wasn’t too involved in school activities either. I didn’t play sports, outside of a brief stint in ninth grade track and field, where I ran the mile.
       I did go out for football my sophomore year, but kept falling down while running spring drills and was sent home to try a different activity. Back in the day, in Oklahoma, high schools held spring practices like colleges do today.
      I do recall in middle school, or junior high as it was called in the 1970s, I participated in a skit in an assemble. I was a pretend motorcycle, complete with sound effects, and one of my classmates rode on my back as we crawled across the stage. It was a disaster and embarrassment!
       In middle school, I took woodworking and metals class. Oklahoma history was my favorite class during those early years. I also learned to type on an electric typewriter in ninth grade.
        There were no computers or cell phones back in the day, so I sometimes got in trouble for talking in class. I guess I wasn’t always quiet.
       In high school, I learned the printing trade through a vocational education program. I also took auto mechanics, where I got to work on my car. I never sang in the choir or played a band instrument. I did enjoy learning all about the human body.
        I had a handful of friends through the years I enjoyed hanging around with and sometimes got in trouble, but for the most part, I was a pretty good kid.
         When I was a junior, I took a drafting class. This was an old-fashioned class where I drew plans for a two-story house on a drafting board. The teacher didn’t care for me too much and said I talked too much. He once reported me to the dean of boys, who promptly called my mom to complain about my behavior.
        After sharing his thoughts, my mom told the dean that he should spend more time working on the students outside smoking between class and not worrying if I’m talking in class. I will always appreciate my mom’s love and willingness to stand up for me when she thought I was wronged.
         My advice to students these days - no matter your background, family, school involvement, what other people think and so on, you have the ability and talent to do great things in this world.
         No matter what career path you choose, give it your best, keep on dreaming, keep on beliveing and show up on time.
           But for now, enjoy school and enjoy homecoming week.
           Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day.