My hometown is building two new middle school buildings to replace the two current ones that were built in 1923. It is time for new buildings and has taken probably 10 or 15 years to finally get it started. However one casualty in the process is the school board is retiring the mascots in the name of district unity. Here is my tribute to the Glenwood Junior High Eagles.
Here is a short video of the Glenwood fight song which happens to go to the tune of the Northwestern University fight song. I recreated the lyrics from memory – yes I still remember them some 28 years later – so any errors are mine. Enjoy!
Back in 8th grade I was elected homeroom representative to our Junior High School student council at Glenwood in a contentious vote. I was up against the smartest girl in the class. Her name was Jill B. She had been on Student Council in 7th grade and fully expected to be re-elected.
I should note we were put in homerooms based on the first letter of our last names. So during my 3 years in Junior High all the A’s to J’s (I believe) were in the same homeroom.
I didn’t like the fact that no one stepped forward to run against her and she seemed a bit smug about it all – like she deserved it. So I raised my hand to volunteer.
We each had to give a speech to say why we should be elected and although Jill was smart, she wasn’t good in off the cuff speaking. I found out I was. The teacher had us stand out in the hall while the vote was taken then shortly were called back in.
To my surprise I won. I think it might have had something to do with her smugness and the fact there were more boys than girls in the class.
Student Council’s main job was to host school events like dances and movie nights. I got to run the popcorn machine which was fun and I had to clean it up at the end of the night – which wasn’t fun.
We would hire a DJ to come in for the dances. Being a school there were some songs he wasn’t allowed to play like “Cocaine” by Eric Clapton, “The Stroke” by Billy Squire, and “Don’t Try Suicide” by Queen but other songs were fine.
One song I remember that got a lot of play that year was “Urgent” by Foreigner. So whenever I hear the song it takes me back to those dances at Glenwood and the smell of popcorn.
