THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 14, 1995 TAG: 9505120251
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
May is always a hectic time for high school seniors.
But for the very first senior class graduating from the brand new Oscar F. Smith High School this month has been especially busy.
Principal Glenn Koonce says things have been a little crazy for Oscar Smith's seniors during the past week.
He said the members of Oscar Smith's class of 1995 are already starting to think of themselves as graduates.
``Yeah, but they don't realize that I still have to graduate them,'' Koonce said.
Well, you can't blame them for getting excited. The beach beckons. Male bastion falls
During construction of the Fun Forest playground last week at Chesapeake City Park, teams of willing volunteers proved the adage that ``Many hands make light work.''
Teams of workers were made up of people of all ages and sexes, but the women seemed especially adept at learning new skills.
Like Rosie the Riveter of World War II fame, hundreds of Chesapeake women who had never before wielded a hand tool became quite handy with hammers, saws, shovels and post-hole diggers.
After an intense 10-minute instruction session, the volunteers received red dots on their name tags designating them to be ``tool experts.''
Many of the female workers were amused that it took them only about 10 minutes to master a skill most males always thought was beyond the grasp of women. In fact, many of the women working on site concluded that males' claim of tool superiority was nothing more than another big con in the battle of the sexes. Sound wars
The Fun Forest project brought out volunteers from everywhere.
The Chesapeake City Park site was crawling with housewives, businessmen, white-collar workers, civic groups and clubs, teachers, construction workers, carpenters, retired people, military personnel, teens and even bikers complete with leather jackets and tattoos.
According to Mary C. Haddad, chairman of the project, all went smoothly. People cooperated, helped each other and worked well together. Even when it started to rain, there were smiles.
The only friction seemed to be musical.
Each group wanted to listen to their own music blaring out of a radio in the gazebo area.
First country and western tunes twanged out, then alternative rock blared over the site, followed by classic rock, beach music and back to country.
Everyone had their own type of music to help make the job go faster. The only type of music that seemed to be missing was easy listening.
- Eric Feber and Susan Smith by CNB