JimBlackBooks.com
1990 - 1999
The "Big Building"
My first memories were from elementary school when we would get to walk over to the big building to watch the high school present their One Act Plays and variety shows. I remember feeling so excited sitting there watching everything that was happening on that stage!
By the fifth grade, we were in junior high and FINALLY in the big building! We thought we were something in those two rooms on the first floor! 6th-8th grade we got to have classes on the second floor—moving on up! I remember watching the upper classmen roaming the halls in between classes, thinking how I couldn't wait to be where they are! We had open campus for lunch back then and junior high was let out about 15 minutes before the high school kids. As soon as that lunch bell rang, we would run as fast as we could down the street to Curtis' to get in line for the "good food" before the high-schoolers with cars beat us to it.
So many memories from high school. I had the best time during those four years. I was never one of the popular kids, but I was okay with that. I was friends with everyone and I enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to stress about being popular. I was able to have a high school experience from a well rounded, yet neutral view. I wasn't the best student I could have been, but more has stuck with me after all these years than I could ever imagine . . . and not just from the educational side.
I could possibly write forever about all the memories I have from my time at ACHS. My friends were, and still are, like family to me. We have so many memories of our years together. Good and bad, the loyalty and love stays strong. Mr. Gray's eccentric teaching methods and chalk mark on his forehead, Mrs. Campbell's bringing out my love of literature and the arts, Coach Wolf's amazing US History class, and Mrs. Bowles' (who is to this day, my second mom) Home-EC classes and that loud cackling laugh of hers. They are just a few of the many people and memories I carry with me.
My favorite place on campus was the auditorium. I always thought that if you stood on that stage and listened really hard, you could hear the stories of all the years past in the whispers in the folds of the stage curtain, the creaks of the old stage floors, and all those names scribbled on the dressing room walls. To me, it was a sacred place. Participating in OAP was one of the best things I ever did. I was able to step outside of myself and all my insecurities and become another person who made people laugh and smile.
My love for the theater has never stopped. I just wish my life would slow down enough for me to have the time to get involved in community theater programs. Instead, I have used my experience to further my career. I have had the nerve to stand on stages as part of the Paul Mitchell team and do hair shows in front of hundreds of people. I have taught workshops and have given many presentations to the hair industry all the while calming my nerves by telling myself "All the world's a stage . . . MY stage."
The memories are endless. As sad as it is to think of the demolition, nothing will ever take away what lives in me to this day. Everything that happened in my years there has shaped me into who I am today, and I will forever be grateful to that "Big Building."
Cammi (Hargis) Parks - Class of 1991
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There are a lot of memories that I have from ACHS. From Coach Davis's Texas History class, Coach Wood's hunter safety class and letting us shoot guns, and Coach Hadderton hitting us in the back of the head with his ring as he walked down to his desk before class. And let’s not forget me and Mike Wilson dead-legging each other in 8th grade history which we still talk about to this day. That was all in junior high.
Then there was high School. What journey!! From Coach Wolf's World History with World War II projects to the Golden age of Greece and Mr. Gray and all of his saying and special way of teaching. I will never forget the day he got his chair!!! Me and Scott as seniors trying to sneak out of Mr. McCowan's class first thing in the morning and Scott making it and me getting caught. Toward the end of class Scott came back with apple turnovers and all was good.
I have shared a few stories of my adventures at ACHS, but I will tell you about my first day there and the first day of my senior year. Now I had been going to Holliday since kindergarten, but then we moved across the fence into the Archer ISD. However, my mom was working for Holliday ISD driving a bus for Holliday so my brother and I got to stay in school there. Mom eventually quit at the end of my sixth grade year, and so the following year he and I began school at Archer City.
So the first day I get off the bus and see all of these kids and not knowing any of them except for one. The funny thing is that I never could find him on that day. So the first thing I notice when I get off the bus is this cannon and I remember thinking, Are you kidding? They got cannon. That is cool. The second thing was that the building had windows. When I was at Holliday there were no windows, so when I got to Archer and there was windows it was like, This place is great! You have to remember that Holliday and Archer were huge rivals back then and still are. At the time I was not aware of the Archer and Windthorst rivalry. I am now off the bus walking up to this building only knowing one other person other than my brother who at the time was at the elementary building, and as I walk up to the school I see all these names on the sidewalk. I had never heard of these people much less ever seen a school that had a walk of fame. So on the first day at a new school I walked both sidewalks and looked at all the names. At the end of the day my friend that lived next to me (who is the only person I knew at the time) asked me what I was doing. I said, “Just checking out the names.”
My senior year I register for Mrs. Campbell’s class and she immediately assigns us homework. On the first day of school we meet as a senior class at the front of the building. She tells us to look at the names on the sidewalks that we have to walk up and down since we attend ACHS. As I was looking at those names I could not help but think about my first day there. Only this time I was told what those names meant. She had told us to think about our time in high school and what it meant to be a going to Archer. Those names were of men and women who had helped build our school as well as the community. Some of those names were relatives of people in my class. It took me six years to finally find out what I had been wondering since the day I had first gotten to Archer. The assignment, if I am remembering correctly, was to reflect on our time in high school and what we thought was to come of our last year.
The one thing I can tell you for sure that is I helped build the extension onto the weight room my senior year and it is still standing. It was a General Construction class project that year in Coach McCowan's class. There are so many stories to tell about the building and the fact that it was a nuclear fallout shelter which was news to me at the time.
I’ll always remember classes in the old building, school pictures in front of it and in it, decorating it for football games, running laps in the old gym, and even sneaking out of it. Even when it’s gone it will always hold a special place in the hearts of those of us lucky enough to live there.
Toby Williams - Class of 1991
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I (along with classmates) have a good memory of our Coach coming into class, only to see that we had moved his classroom, desk and all outside. There is also a yearbook photo that was taken about it. The “Coach" we pulled the prank on is now the ACHS principal!
ReBecca (Rickett) Wikert – Class of 1994
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Smell. It's the sense most closely linked to memory. For me, I will always love the way the building smelled...like old books. I'm a shameless book sniffer. I remember the first time I got to go in the "big building" was for my 3 older siblings' open house. I couldn't wait until it was my turn to walk those halls and smell that building all day. After I graduated, the building underwent some changes. I was so worried about the integrity of the school's scent. Would it smell like fresh paint and new construction materials??? Thankfully nothing changed except the aesthetics. I know the tearing down of the school has broken many hearts. I am sad to see it go as well, but the beautiful memories still remain. My hope for future generations is that they will love the new ACHS as much as past graduates love the old one. And it won't hurt if it smells like old books. :)
Amelia Mooney Brackett - Class of 1995
