The open house itself will be held from 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. and participants will not have to pay an entry fee. The event is being organized by a variety of committees who will each be contributing in different ways to making the event the best experience possible for all who attend. These committees are temporary groups formed specifically for the event. The Visual Climate Committee, a group dedicated to making east more attractive and appealing were the ones who originally came up with the idea for an open house. “Someone said it was the 50th year,” recalls Mr. Maoury the current principal at East. “So a few of us started looking into it and we said it would be cool to do something to recognize it.”
Mr. Maoury is one of the four co-chairs who will help put the event into motion. The other members being Mrs. Lennhart a math teacher at East and an East alumni, Mrs. Malfaro a counselor at East and an East Alumni, and Mrs. Monzo an English teacher who has worked at East for many years and had her kids graduate from East. The co-chairs have helped collaborate with other committees to assign a job for each of them. Of these jobs, the Hospitality Committee will ensure people feel welcomed, the Entertainment Committee who will be responsible for putting together student-run performances, the Historical Committee and the Human Resource committee will help get artifacts to display as well as gather East alumni, the Student Engagement Committee which (surprisingly) aims to create engagement with the open house and East history, and finally the Visual Climate Committee to display artifacts. Students at East will spend the week leading up to the open house celebrating East with themed days like Dress Like the 70s Day.
The night itself will start with an opening ceremony in the auditorium by East dignitaries from local government and school board. Throughout the night there will also be performances by Jazz Band, Choir, and more, so people are encouraged to check into the auditorium while they are exploring. Blueprints of the buildings, the dedication document, and yearbooks from the first few years are some of the artifacts people can expect to find around the building.
Around fifteen panels of different years and artifacts from many different areas will be in one hallway for people to see. The purpose of these panels is to highlight not just the founding of East, but the many periods of its 50 year history. “Think of it as a visual yearbook of 50 years of stuff,” says Mr. Maoury.
Students at BASH who attended East should check their school email for a form sent by the BASH Messenger on January 7th. The form asks students for any memories they think are worth sharing from their time.
A final message from Mr. Maoury urges anyone who knows to help out: “spread the word [to] older siblings and their parents. Please ask any people who have gone through East . . . it helps paint a complete picture of what happened at Middle School East.”
