ALMA MATER
Proudly stands our dear old Pacolet
Faithful, strong and true.
May her banners fly forever,
All the long years through!
Dear Old Pacolet, how we love you;
You're our joy and pride.
Never shall we fail to serve you;
You will be our guide.
Pacolet, Pacolet, proud old Pacolet,
You'll forever reign;
In our hearts and in our memories,
You'll remain supreme.
Thoughts on the closing of Pacolet High School.
"MAY HER BANNERS FLY FOREVER"
Pacolet High School is no
more. Alas, even though her Alma Mater proudly declared her banners would
be eternal, they fly no more. Her banners have been furled, her colors
struck and the last note sounded. Even all of her buildings now have
been torn down. After almost 50 years of loyal community service, it is gone
forever.
Pacolet High School - The name has a ring of familiarity
and affection that still strikes most of its graduates. Some forty
or fifty years later, the name still has emotional overtones.
Probably to most people a high school is just a
high school. Indeed, it seemed like that to many Pacolet students
while they were in attendance. But yet, when they graduate and get the
broader perspective of age and experience and distance the true uniqueness
of Pacolet High School begins to emerge.
It’s hard to define really, the thing that
makes a school a special and sacred kind of place. All schools generally
have the same type material things. Pacolet possibly lacked some material
things that many other schools had.
But in things of the spirit Pacolet had a
great abundance. The core of this was probably the people that were drawn
to it as teachers and principals and superintendents and janitors and secretaries
and lunch room workers and maintenance personnel. There seemed to be a
feeling among most all of these people that what they were doing was important
and with direct bearing on the future of many lives. And so it was.
This spirit was subtly, passed along to the students and gave the student
body a sense of purpose.
Not that the students and staff were lacking in
a sense of humor or even a sense of hysteria sometimes. But underneath,
most every one seemed to sense that they were all engaged in serious
business and generally behaved accordingly.
As a building is built brick by brick, so was Pacolet
High School built by the unheralded and often unnoticed acts of hundreds
of teachers and students. Now it’s gone. The traditions and classes and
Halloween carnivals and sports and gym classes all have passed.
But have they really disappeared? Schools
are sacred places and affect the lives of the people passing through them
in much the same way as churches.
So it seems then that maybe the sacraments
and catechisms learned at the altar of Pacolet High School are passed
along in more remote places, and all of its dedicated peoples were its
priests and bishops and apostles.
