THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994 TAG: 9406110070
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JANIE BRYANT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940612 LENGTH: Long
Some of the battles rage on.
{REST} But the first graduating class of the new Woodrow Wilson High School has brought a little harmony to the clash of alma maters.
The class of '94 is an eclectic group of teenagers who have learned that sometimes adjusting to change can be more valuable than holding on to tradition.
``They came into the building resenting each other, but once they got there, they realized they weren't each other's enemy,'' said Kathy Parker, president of the Parent-Teacher-Student Association.
``They just melded together,'' said Parker. ``It's the parents who pitched the fit more than the kids.''
Not that it was all ease for the students either.
Parker's nephew, Jason Jernigan, has theoretically attended three different high schools since his freshman year. Two years ago when Cradock closed, he was among students moved to Manor. Last fall, the combined Cradock and Manor students made still more room for the influx of Wilson students who lost their building, but saved their identity.
Jernigan has changed his class ring twice already and needs to change it again. But aside from that, he has few complaints.
``I look back now, and I see some of the good times that I had at Manor,'' Jernigan said. ``Overall I had a good experience with it. I'm not coming out mad because the schools merged.
``I figured everything was going to be OK at the end of the first semester when I was a junior . . . probably because I made a lot of friends quickly, and I made the honor roll.''
One of the things Jernigan noticed quickly was that a larger group of students seemed to place importance on academics.
``Everybody at Manor took AP (Advanced Placement) classes,'' he said.
Being smart became the cool thing, he said.
Most of Jernigan's friends today are Manor students because they were the ones in his classes.
Although many people expected groups to form along the lines of school alliances, the only thing he saw was cliques getting wider to include like-minded students from other schools.
The lines were drawn along typical high school lines, including preference in fashion and music. The preppie group from Manor merged with the preppie group from Cradock. And the hard rock group from each school did the same.
Tabetha Davis, an honor student from Manor, saw the same thing.
``You see your group from the other school, and you kind of hook up. and the cliques kind of get bigger,'' she said.
``Grunge got real big, especially when Wilson came over,'' she said of the group of students interested in alternative progressive music, flannel-wear and basically ``making a statement.''
\ Of course, there are still symbols of old school loyalties.
Kenneth Porter, the senior class adviser, noticed that a few students had found a way to wear their old school colors for the class cap and gown photo.
``I knew there was a tradition they wanted to show,'' he said. ``I didn't say anything. I told them when we march for graduation and assemblies it is going to be the class of Wilson High School.
``They understand I let them have that space,'' he said. ``I think they needed that.''
``Although we are graduating as Wilson High School, the actual piece of paper will have the high school that they wanted on it,'' said Wallace Watson, senior guidance counselor.
Among the new Wilson's first graduating class, only 111 students opted to have Wilson on their diplomas. About 100 chose to have Manor diplomas. And about 30 seniors want Cradock.
``I was just trying to get my education,'' Rhonda Brown said. ``Like I told my friends, I don't care what the name of the school is as long as I get my paper saying I graduate.''
Brown, who read the Cradock history at the senior assembly, remembers she didn't always feel that way.
``At the time . . . I was upset, because I loved Cradock,'' she recalled. ``I thought I'd never like anybody from Manor. I thought they were snobs.
``This year it seemed like our class year went by fast,'' she said. ``We all came together.
And like Jernigan, Brown said she saw her grades actually go up once she got to the new school.
``I adjusted well because of the teachers and stuff,'' she said. ``At Cradock, I was always getting into trouble and stuff. Now I'm graduating with a 3.0.''
\ Shivawn Moore, the citywide Student Cooperative Association president, was among Wilson students who changed buildings for their last high school year.
Although the name and nickname transferred, the students who moved from the old Wilson High on Willett Drive still had their share of adjustment, Moore believes.
``We had to come and adapt to their ways, and their atmosphere and traditions,'' she said.
About half her friends at the old Wilson were moved to the renamed Manor. The other half moved to I.C. Norcom.
``I knew that I would have to start all over and meet new people,'' she said.
What she didn't know was how easy it would be. Besides, she found she liked the new building.
``I liked the commons area,'' she said. ``There was more space to congregate during lunch.''
Takiya Smith, who presented Wilson's class history at the senior assembly, agrees.
``It's pretty cool up here,'' said Smith. ``It's a lot quieter than the old Wilson.''
Cheryl Griggs started at Manor High School and has never had to change buildings. The most difficult adjustment for her friends, she said, was giving up the school's name to Wilson.
``We wanted Manor to be Manor and stay the way it was,'' the honor student said.
``Now that it's all done . . . everyone is kind of united. It doesn't matter which school you came from anymore,'' Griggs said. ``We've made friends our high school career wouldn't have been complete without.''
\ When James Carver, the school's band director, wrote the new Wilson High School alma mater, he took the emphasis of both Manor's and Wilson's alma mater and merged them into one.
That wasn't the only time he used music to try to bring unity to the school.
``During our pep rallies . . . the band came in and kind of boosted up the kids. We played songs that would echo back and forth the words `Wilson High School.' ''
``Being the first year of a newly formed school, there was no tradition,'' Tabetha Davis said. ``It was different.''
Davis, who ranked among the top five graduates, still believes that, in the long run, throwing all those students together might have been a good learning experience.
``You might not like it right now,'' she said. ``There's like the politics of the closing of the school. But when you go to college, you'll kind of be ready.
``There will be people from other areas . . . and you just have to learn to get along,'' she said.
``That's kind of how it is.''
{KEYWORDS} CLASS OF 1994 GRADUATION
by CNB