For one, they started out with a guilt trip: "With so many successful alumni, one would imagine Dreher’s Foundation would be well endowed. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. During your years at Dreher, the faculty and staff worked diligently to provide you with the education and guidance necessary to help you succeed in life." Did they?? I don't remember too many teachers dedicated to my success... maybe my calculus teacher because she had a record number of 5s on the AP exam so she had to keep up her reputation. Honestly don't think she cared too much about me as an individual. Maybe Mrs. Brown, my AP Economics teacher, but I think she just liked me because David and I were awesome at economics so we could help her out during the lessons (I cut her some slack though, it was her first year teaching AP Economics and it was thrown on her at the last minute). Hmmm... and honestly I can't think of too many other teachers from high school. Dr. Kaminski hated me and failed my papers because I was Lauren's sister. Oh, and remember the fat and terribly depressed Ms. Ryan?? Anyone else out there had her as a teacher? Wait, what about Mrs. Carll-Williamson?! I'm pretty sure she was an alcoholic. Oh, and then that time Mrs. Lee failed my final dance project for "stealing" choreography even though she didn't tell me until after the performance and she saw us dancing every day for a whole semester. OH MY GOSH and don't get me started on that time I had in-school suspension (thanks Mrs. Stricklin!) for going home during lunch to get dance clothes (we had a very strictly CLOSED campus, it even had a metal fence around it... which was rumored to have cost a couple million dollars).
Oh, and my all-time favorite moment from a beloved Dreher chemistry teacher: Mr. Nance, who once told a Muslim girl to take off her "doo-rag" because it was not allowed in school (which at the time did not affect me as it does now, but I cringe every time I think about standing next to her when he tried to make her remove her veil....)
But I digress. I continued on with the email after that pathetic attempt to make me feel all warm and squishy about my high school days on to the ways the Dreher Foundation has truly served the high school and its students in such important ways. For example, they have used donations by:
1. Purchasing the electronic marquee on Millwood Avenue (I've never seen this, but I don't imagine it's that important to the educational success of Dreher students)
2. Hosting a reception for alumni artists celebrating their donation of 14 pieces to the permanent collection
3. Hosting an All Class Reunion inviting former students to reconnect with their past (I'm still in therapy to forget my past, I have no desire to reconnect)
Ok, and this is where the e-mail got so pathetically pathetic. Ways your oh-so-needed donation will be used:
1. To purchase a presentation podium for the auditorium
2. To reestablish the Wall of Past Presidents
and my personal favorite...
3. To repair the broken arm on the dolphin fountain
How could you not donate to fix the broken arm on the dolphin fountain!?
Alas... no Dreher, I don't particularly want to donate to your foundation. Remember how that time you let the state championship basketball team sit on the plush armchairs on the front of the stage but the state champion Academic Decathlon team was relegated to the hard metal chairs in the back where no one could even see us? Remember the time I did not make cheerleading captain because someone's mother was on the board of something? Oh, and don't get me started on that time Kristin won the Miss Blue Devil pageant because her mom worked for the district. Oh, and remember how our school principal herself even disliked me for dating her favorite male student? Dreher High School. I'm not too fond of you. You and your formerly-infested-with-asbestos self.
I do love a few things about Dreher: Coach DuBard. Ms. Boone (is she even still alive? I loved that woman. She got me out of being late soooooo many times). Our drama department rocked something awesome too. I wish I had skipped the cheerleading and stuck with the school plays with crazy Ms. Arvay and the Abbott sisters. Some of the best times of my high school experience were during my drama phase.
This is the first picture that comes up for Dreher High School in Google images:
I know this picture is a little grotesque... but another aspect I hated about high school included the friendly pro-life Christian groups that harassed us girls as we walked into school a few mornings a week. I completely forgot about this until now.
A school with a broken dolphin fountain is indeed a failure.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I had the same thoughts when I read the email. I feel my success was due to a handful of exceptional teachers (Murphy, Markham, Bolin) and a lot of personal effort. I am still a tiny bit bitter about being ignored when I earned National Merit Scholar, because I was the only one (eight the previous year). Also, being overlooked for the Robert C. Byrd nomination in favor of a pair of students from more connected families. The nomination should have been based on SAT score and GPA, like most other high schools. Forget Miss Blue Devil, they cost me $6,000. The administration was useless, especially guidance.
Still, we came out relatively unscathed, right?
Maybe the problem is that your family wasn't better connected. Surely then, your high school experiences would have been MUCH better. JK. I had a blast in high school and remember lots of great teachers, maybe you and Lauren should have gone to school with me.... :)
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