Seeing the past, being the future

One of the most important aspects to a freshman’s integration into a high school’s community is his ability to understand the school's heritage and find some aspect of this heritage that he connects with. To understand Lincoln High School, one must understand its history and tradition. Throughout the course of the first semester, we asked our students on a number of occasions to closely examine the cultural, academic and athletic traditions of Lincoln High School both in a historical sense, as well as in the present. By understanding and appreciating their surroundings, they, hopefully, began to develop an understanding of what they might contribute to Lincoln’s heritage.



An overview of the task is as follows:


TASK ONE: Travel through the hallways in the newer addition to A building and carefully examine the many class photographs that line the walls. As you are looking at these photographs consider the following items and what each decade reveals about them:

• What is the class size throughout the decades?
(1910s, 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond)
• How does the complexion of the classes change over the years?• Is there a noticeable difference in male-to-female student ratio?
• Do you notice anything about the staff (teachers, principals, etc.)?
• What about the building itself? Does it appear in any pictures?

Record your observations regarding these class pictures.

TASK TWO: In the midst of these many photographs, you will find a number of glass cases containing numerous artifacts that have great significance to the history and tradition of Lincoln High School. Find these glass display cases. Examine their contents. What do you see?

Record as many objects as you find and can identify within these glass cases.





TASK THREE: Travel to both the vocal music room (in the newer portion of A building) and the band room (in the back of old A building). Look up, look around and record what you see. What does this say about the tradition of music as an art form for the students of Lincoln High School? Further explore the area in the auditorium lobby. What does one see that lines the walls?

Find something in this exploration that you identify with, record it and explain why you connect with this item.




TASK FOUR: Walk the lobby of A building. Peer inside the trophy case. Look behind the Lion in the glass case. Peruse what adorns the walls. Finally, walk into the gymnasium – look up to the ceiling. What do these images say about the athletic traditions of Lincoln High School.

Again, identify one image, item, visual (anything in this area) and discuss why you connected with this image.





TASK FIVE: Walk the long corridor leading from the front lobby to the science wing of A building. What does one find? Look in the display cases. Read the plaques. What does this hallway say about these individuals who have graduated from Lincoln High School?



Once you have done this, take the three flights up to the top floor of C building and examine the display case in the middle of the social studies hallway. How does this connect to what you saw in the front of A building?



Finally, walk out the front doors of the building and turn to your left. Take a moment to visit the granite pillars of the war memorial for fallen graduates of Lincoln high school. Sit down on the benches near the pillars, find something of what you have just seen and discuss in your journal how and why it speaks to you.



Gahanna’s community is not static. It is ever-evolving, changing in the same way that cities, towns, and villages all across America are at the turn of the 21st century. Some of Lincoln High School’s students have lifelong connects to this city, its people and its traditions. But the overwhelming majority of these students do not. Yet they do share one indisputable commonality – they are young, full of life and have dreams, just like all those who came before them. This simple fact gives them the chance to connect with some interest or passion that was shared by someone who came before them and left his/her mark on the history of Lincoln High School.

This task is designed to engage the students with a world around them that they typically ignore on their daily march to class. Often, students fail to realize that those who came before them walked the very same path, feeling many of the very same emotions, experience many of the same joys and sorrows. But those who were willing to heed Thoreau’s advice to not fret at keeping pace with one’s companions, but rather “step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away” are the ones who are able to leave a lasting mark. Hopefully, by creating this spark in a student’s mind, he will begin to develop a beat for his own drums to march to and understand the importance of the path he forges for himself. Maybe then he will realize how all these paths connect and begin to walk in a way that will leave his own mark on the heritage of Lincoln High School.