Friday, June 10, 2011

1977 Admiral King Sheepskin

The article in the Morning Journal about the Lorain High School Class of 2011 being allowed to select which high school they wanted on their diploma (Admiral King, Southview or Lorain High) made me go and dig mine out of storage. It had been years since I had seen it.

Courtesy of Morning Journal website
The Admiral King version that the graduates could select is actually pretty nice, with the school crest on it. (See photo at left.) Mine has a large, nondescript school board logo on it instead.

I hate to say it, but I agree with the letter to the editor in which the letter writer didn't like the idea of giving the graduates the choice. The two former high schools simply don't exist any more – why is the school board pretending that they do now?

As someone who cares about history and accuracy, I just don't think it's right.

Anyway, one thing that I do like about my diploma is the nice rendering of the school building that is on the left hand side of the diploma.

While studying the rendering, I began to walk the hallways again in my mind. I guess you never forget the layout of your high school, since it was such a big part of your life.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Dan. I graduated from King in 1979 with your brother. I too, like you, had not looked at my diploma in more than 30 years. After reading your post, I got it out of a packed away box. I then, like you, started thinking back in time. No matter what the school is called, or the diploma may say, the 2011 graduates will never know the school that we did.

Lisa said...

When I saw the article about the diploma choice, I wondered if choosing one of the non-existent schools would come back to haunt the graduates at some point. What if they apply for a job that requires a copy of their diploma? The employer checks up on it, talks to someone who isn't familiar with the history of the district, and comes away thinking that the applicant lied about graduating from high school.