Columbia High School was completed in 1966; we’re the 2^nd class to graduate. Students were reassigned to Columbia from:

• Southwest DeKalb
• Avondale
• Towers

Of course, there were also those insignificant Pre-Freshmen—8^th Graders—who moved up from the nearby Elementary schools (Columbia, Toney, Wadsworth, Snapfinger, and others). (In those days, you were in elementary school from 1st through 7th grade; after that, you were in high school. Or the military…)

Our school was planned by and built for the DeKalb County GA Board of Education, led by Dr. Jim Cherry.

For us, there were no traditions. We—and those who preceded and have followed us—made our school.

Those Were Strange Times…

What was it like back in 1970? Things were Strange. It didn’t stop us from having fun. Dancing to what we know in our hearts is really hard rock. We dreamed what we felt were large dreams in an increasingly smaller world. We grew up under the shadow of war. The phrase Draft Board was real to us and didn’t mean sudden NFL or NBA riches. An official invitation beginning with “Greetings…” meant that an all–expense–paid trip overseas to a warm climate was in your immediate future. The times got stranger with Watergate, movie stars as President, and the end of the Evil Empire.

 

 

We Were Challenged—

• Our dedication and commitment to our ideals were challenged
• Like our parents and theirs before them, we were challenged by a rapidly, radically changing society
• We were challenged by our parents, and challenged to be parents
• We were challenged to study, live with others, and live with ourselves

We responded and became pilots, programmers, real estate agents, brokers, writers, philosophers, pastors, professors, students, managers, staff, soldiers, sailors, parents.

We Did Our Best

…and we continue to do our best. We earned our diplomas and we’ve worked hard for ourselves and our families. We are no better, and certainly are no worse, than any others who, faced with challenges, rise and meet them.

If you were one of us then, where are you now?