Tuesday, June 29, 2010

X is for XCP !

Sooooo what does that leave for me to write about that has an "X"?


My alma mater of course!

I attended the best Catholic high school in Arizona and my memories of that experience will forever be in my heart and mind. Xavier High School was opened in 1943 with a total of 17 ambitious and pioneering students. Xavier is an all-female private school with a rigorous curriculum that includes everything from aviation and architecture to zoology. There are honors and AP classes taught by a staff with Master's degrees and Ph.D's.
Xavier had the designation of "high school" from 1943 to 1980, and then Xavier became a "college preparatory" after meeting the criteria to qualify for this distinction. When I attended, Xavier was called Xavier High School (XHS), but now it is known as Xavier College Prep (XCP). As I write about Xavier, I will refer to it as XCP because that is the school's official name now.

The first photo shows the entrance to the school which is a bit different from when I was a student. The cross and the name are much higher on the building now because the boys from Brophy (the boy's college prep school not far from XCP) kept stealing the X when I was a student in the 60's.
This is an old school pennant that I found in my high school scrapbook. You can see the school crest on the pennant.
I snapped this next photo from my yearbook so you can see what XCP looked like when I attended. Notice the "high school" wording is lower on the wall. The school has expanded with many new buildings to the west, south and east of the original campus. I would need a tour now because I'm only familiar with the building in this photo.
My 1966 yearbook! I have such warm, fond memories of my high school days, and I would have stayed longer than 4 years if it was permitted!
This is a photo of me (long, dark hair in a flip) at the Sophomore/Senior Tea held on May 4, 1966. My classmate and I are being served by a sophomore.
This photo is from the yearbook and it shows the senior class officers. I'm on the left standing near the lamp shade. I was the secretary of my senior class and I still have some of the minutes that I typed to read at the meetings. Notice our gloves and high heels!
Here is the cover of our events calendar for my senior year. The class officers planned activities and we used the calendar as a reference and guide for our planning.
AHHHHHHHH, yes! Good ol' fashion homecoming! OURS in '65~~O-Our, U-Unlimited, R-Roaring, S-Spirit. XCP girls were cheerleaders for Brophy whose colors were red and white. My senior homecoming was held on October 29, 1965, but I couldn't go because I had pneumonia! Yikes!
Our senior Christmas dance had a Christmas Carousel theme. An invitation is shown below and a teddy bear favor is below the invitation. The dance was held on December 29, 1965, in Scottsdale, AZ.
The next photo shows a program from a Glee Club concert on December 18, 1965.
The shoe with "I kicked in 10" was for an ad campaign for our yearbook. My class ring came in the small envelope and we could only wear our rings at the end of our junior year and all of our senior year.
The Spring Sing program was a singing celebration for the entire student body with each class performing songs or a dance for all to enjoy.
The program on the right was from a show titled "Fashion by the Yard" The Home Economics students modeled the clothing that they made in class during the year.
Paradise Plantation was a program from our Junior/Senior Banquet held May 5, 1966. Since the banquet had a southern theme, our menu consisted of Salad La Louisiana, Southern Fried Chicken, Cotton Balls, Black-eyed Peas, Short'nin' Bread, Magnolia Buds, Planter's Punch and Dixie Delight.
The "Memories" program was from our senior presentation depicting our 4 years of high school. The seniors participated in songs and skits and it concluded with our class singing our class song Climb Every Mountain.
Here is a copy of my invitation to my 20 year high school reunion. You can see the XCP crest below the Brophy crest because we had our reunions together.
This is a copy of my invitation to my 40 year high school reunion which was, again, held with the alums from Brophy.
Here is my 1966 senior photo that was included in the yearbook.
This is a Xavier gator (the alligator is the mascot for XCP) luggage tag. I bought it when my daughter was a student at XCP from 1994-1998. I also bought Christmas angels, XCP dolls, sweatshirts, a stuffed gator, and many other things during her 4 years of high school. Somehow I think that I bought these mementos more for me as a way to reminisce about the good ol' days at XCP.

Well that concludes my paper on the letter "X" and my trip down memory lane. This is linked back to Alphabe-Thursday for the letter "X". Visit Mrs. Matlock here and check out XCP here.

29 comments:

Linda @ A La Carte said...

Oh this was fun! I would have been one of those sophomore's serving you! Loved a look at your High School and lucky you it started with X!!

Unknown said...

It looks like a great place to go to school. Thanks for sharing. I loved the old photos.

Unknown said...

My older sisters graduated at about the same time and I so recognize that hair style. Great X post (Xavier is an awesome saint btw)

Unknown said...

My older sisters graduated at about the same time and I so recognize that hair style. Great X post (Xavier is an awesome saint btw)

Jenny said...

How fun!

I carefully scanned ahead to see if there were pictures of rulers. Thank heavens there weren't so I could walk down memory lane with you without hunching over in fear!

What a wonderful post.

I loved sharing your memories with you. What a lovely lady...

I really enjoyed all your X-cellent photos.

This was such a fun stop this week!

Thank you for helping to make this meme X-stra special!

A+

Viki said...

How fun this was. Thanks for taking us down your memory lane. This year has been 40 years since I graduated. My, where has time gone, ha.

Brenda said...

Great post! Thanks for sharing your memories.

Jo said...

What a wonderful post ... i love that you shared such wonderful memories!

GardenOfDaisies said...

We have matching Xavier posts! :-) You have lots of wonderful high school memories! I like that you still live near enough for your daughter to go to the same school you did. AMDG...Jesuit motto.

Pondside said...

What lovely memories you've shared! That hair is SO familiar - we had the same stylist!

Mary said...

What a fun post~ love the gloves and heels! You have beautiful "Marlo Thomas/That Girl" Hair!

Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler said...

That's so sad that you got pneumonia on such a big day! Boo. I bet they don't have many "plantation paradise" parties these days! LOL.

Coralie Cederna Johnson said...

What a wonderful presentation of your beloved Xavier school and your high school days! I enjoyed every single photo and word...thanks for sharing!
Coralie

Terra said...

Hey, I actually by yesterday and had a hard time leaving a comment so I came back today hoping for better luck, because I loved all your wonderful memories and your Senior Picture - BEAUTIFUL! Very nice X post!

Maggie said...

I loved reading your X post today, as your life as a teen was so very different from what an English girl like me would have experienced.
Fascinating, the flip, the gloves the afternoon teas, so lovely.
Thanks for a great read.
Maggie

Cynthia said...

What a beautiful school...such luck that it started with "X"! St. Francis Xavier is one of my favorites saints ;^)

Thanks for sharing all your memories!

Tina said...

How wonderful to see your collection of memorabilia! I wish my memories of high school were as pleasant as yours...but that's so not the case...Great X post!

laterg8r said...

i love the pics of you at the tea, you are all dressed so well :D

RNSANE said...

I had such fun looking at the past with your X post. I didn't save much of anything from my high school years but you certainly have wonderful memories. I waxed nostalgic looking at all yours! I'm a big older than you - I finished nursing school at Charity in New Orleans in 1965.



At 65, I've done it! My poetry book - Life's Journey by Carmen Henesy - is out on Amazon!
( Poems about the things that have been important to me in my journey through life, some humorous, some sad, some that may have meaning to you as well )
http://www.amazon.com/Lifes-Journey-1-Carmen-Henesy/dp/1451547366/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274652997&sr=1-1

cj Schlottman said...

What a sweet stroll down memory lane. I graduated from high school in 1966 also, and though I didn't attend a parochial school, I think those of us who came along at the height of the Baby Boom share a sense of kinship. I had that "Flip" hairdo myself! Thanks for sharing.

cj

Colleen said...

What a blast from the past! GREAT POST! Even though K and I graduated twelve years ago, I am sure the changes between now and then would be extraordinary!!! Always changing, always wonderful!

Christy said...

I loved this post. I wish I had attended an all girls school - might have paid more attention to my school work!
Is the school named after St. Francis Xavier? He is one of my favorite saints, I have even been to the castle in which he was born.

Jacque said...

OMG...this too me back to my HS days!! Everything seemed so familar--even the flip hair-do! I loved this post. Thanks for sharing your school and your memories today!

Have a great Happy and Safe 4th of July!

The Muse said...

You are absolutely beautiful!
What an extraordinary smile :)

Ra Ra for your alma mater...!
I bet you had a great time reminiscing.

please come visit me at:
http://adivashammer.com/
Where I too joined in the X-
EXTRAVAGANZA :)
Isn't Ms Jenny's class the most fun?

H said...

What a good school you attended. It obviously meant a lot to you and isn't that the way it should be?! Interesting post :)

kayellen said...

oh my goodness!! I love this:)

love the memories~~~

xoxo
Happy 4th too!

Kay Ellen

Cheryl said...

I didn't even know Scottdale existed in 1965! This was a great trip down your memory lane. Thanks for sharing what it was like then.

Diana said...

Wow this was great. Your high school experience sounded like a picture perfect one. And the fact that you still have all of those mementos is proof of the wonderful time that you spent there. What a nice walk down memory lane! Love Di ♥

PERMANENT POSIES said...

I thought I would let you know that your Y post is not coming up on your link. Yikes...ha