Back last month I published a post of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 space mission which sent men to the moon for the very first time in history. Owensboro, Kentucky was making history itself by building a space-age Jr. high school. It was named after the Apollo 11 space mission. It was named Apollo Jr. High School. It is in the Daviess County school system in Kentucky. Daviess County Jr. High was becoming crowded so the Daviess County Board of Education decided to construct another Jr. High School. It was designed differently from previous schools. It was designed to accommodate the new team teaching concept where teachers would combine their classes together and teach their students.
Apollo was built to house large unobstructed classrooms which would accommodate the new teaching method. The classrooms didn't have walls to separate one class from another. Instead chalkboard dividers were used to separate the classrooms. The building was a steel frame building. It consisted of two full circles and two half-moon circles. The design was different and unique. It was divided into areas A, B, and C. The "A" area housed the physical education complex, band, shop, etc. The "B" section included the kitchen, home economics department, and art. The "C" section was the academic department. The science, math, language, business, social studies, the library, and the foreign language classrooms were in that section.
There were also numerous electives that students could take such as journalism, creative writing, French, Spanish, German, photography, drama, speech, and chorus, to name a few. The half-moon area contained the administrative offices. The total cost to build the school was $1,261,855.00. The building area size was 87,000 square feet. The first day of classes was on August 29, 1969. Back then the school year started later. It started toward the end of August or the first of September. The dedication of the school was on February 18, 1970. Dr. F. Story Musgrave was the dedication speaker. He worked for NASA.
Since that time numerous changes have been made to Apollo. Starting with the 1972-73 school, it was changed to a high school and a new middle school was built. The Jr. high school grades were now referred to as "middle" instead of "Jr. high". Jr. high had grades 7-9. Middle school had grades 6-8. Both of the half-moon circles were filled in to make them two full circles. Apollo had its first graduating class in 1974. Over the years construction was done internally to convert some of the open space into closed classrooms which had walls. The exterior of the school remained the same until the 1987-88 school year when the Daviess County Board of Education decided to expand the school and add new classroom space to it. In front of the school was built a rectangular- shaped addition which housed the new administrative offices and it contained a hallway called the "domed area." A new rectangular-shaped gymnasium was built in the back of the building. All of the school's basketball games would be held in the new gymnasium. The new complex also contained classrooms as well such as health, weightlifting, etc. A few years ago anothe rectangular shaped addition was created which was the auxilary gym. Wrestling classes are held there. The old gymanism and stage was converted into an auditorium and special services classes. Also, there's been constructed a football field, a baseball field, and tennis courts for those that participate in sports.
Over the years Apollo has been very competitive statewide in a number of feats. The school's academic team has fared well statewide a number of years. Apollo's chorus class has competed in a number of statewide competitions. The boys basketball team has participated in the state tournament approximately nine times. The last basketball team that reached state was the runner-up champion in 2006. The girls basketball team has reached state a number of times as well. Apollo has had sports stars such as Rex Chapman who later played basketball for the University of Kentucky and the Phoenix Suns, Natalie Powers and Laurie Townsend, who both played basketball at Western Kentucky University. Both Chapman and Powers were the top scorers for Apollo. Brad Wilkerson played baseball and graduated from Apollo. He later played Major League Baseball for the Florida Marlins. Apollo has had a number of great athletes over the years.
Over the years many Apollo alumni have traveled on in life and have achieved great things. Jeff Jones who played on the 1978 Apollo basketball team that reached state, graduated from the University of Virginia and later was head basketball coach there. The valedictorian in my class is now a chief financial officer at Hammond and Associates in St. Louis, Missouri. Many of the alumni have become teachers, lawyers, prosecutors, doctors, businessmen, and the list continues. Apollo celebrated its 40th anniversary this year. Apollo has just started its 41st school year, with many more yet to come. The Apollo tradition cotinues.
No comments:
Post a Comment