A few weeks ago, our Friday Flashback featured the Staples High School Class of 1988 video yearbook.
It was a fascinating look back, to a time of computers in classrooms, but no laptops or cell phones; of hair and clothes styles which are both out of date today, yet also quite familiar; and a school building that no longer exists — except the auditorium, gym, fieldhouse and pool still do.
Here are 3 more videos from that era.
Whether you went to Staples in the ’80s and ’90s, or not; whether you were an adult or teenager then, or not yet born — click on and enjoy!
And if you’ve got some insights into how things have changed — or not — in school since the late last century, click “Comments” below.
The Staples Class of 1987:
The Staples Class of 1995:
Click here for the Class of 1997.
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It was a bit of a shock to hear that the school is gone! I was in the class of ’68, and attended my Jr. year of ”65′-
66. It was an amazing year, and I later lived all around the world. It was such a blessing to experience that one year in Westport!
A new school was built on the site of the old one, between 2003-05. It’s good-looking, and quite functional. But much of the charm of the old one is gone.
I grew up on High Point Road, like you, on a lot adjoining the school back in the days of separate buildings. We spent many hours with our bicycles there pretending we were in college and one part was Cambridge and one part Boston. I actually did go to undergraduate college in Boston, but at Northeastern rather than Harvard or MIT–didn’t study hard enough but blame it on our dog which I was allergic to and the allergy pills made me perpetually tired. The dog cost me getting into Harvard 🙂
One of the stupid things I notice are the “blackboards.” When I started school in Westport at Greens Farms (though in 2nd grade I was at Green’s Farms Church due to overcrowding) the blackboards were literally black(and the desks had a hole for bottles of ink). At Burr Farms and Long Lots the boards were green. Nowadays schools have white boards and teachers use dry erase markers instead of chalk.
At Columbia the chemistry lecture hall, featured in numerous movies, had numerous blackboards on pulleys, Of course the professors there now mostly use slides .