Blue, white: You know!

Hail to the blue and white

In all its radiant splendor

Hail to the school we love

Our hearts to thee we render

Praise and honor, true devotion

Each we give with deep emotion

Ever of our lives a portion

Alma Mater Hail!

Well, this is it.  Senior homecoming.  Where the pride of being a Wampus Cat can show shamelessly.  Since the old school is being torn down at the end of this year, the 2011 homecoming theme was “kickin it old school.”  To be honest, I did roll my eyes a little when the phrase was first mentioned.  Just another group of old teachers thinking they understand the lingo the kids are all saying these days.  But then I started thinking. 

The unique pods of our school, which have stood since 1969 are now coming down.  A new school is being erected in front.  The new building is a massive three story red brick, and completely run on current technology.  An AT&T tower is even being built out back for easier wifi access.  The establishment out front seems to very well overshadow the brown alien like pods behind it.  But does it actually?  Well, the white walls have been stained a yellow gray color and the ceiling tiles are flaking apart.  The wooden lockers squeak on their hinges and the discolored floor tiles are crumbling.  The locks on the bathroom doors have long rusted away and the students have now gotten used to the dimmed florescent lights and strange odor coming from the walls. 

But the hallways are still alive with Wampus Cat spirit just as they have been for 40 years.  The sharpie signatures and engraved illustrations in the locker doors give identity to the long lost graduates of Conway High.  The pictures of past homecoming queens lining the attendance office show the four decades of Conway’s beauty and grace.  While the old gym lacks air conditioning and proper sanitation, the trophy cases and record boards come alive with the accomplishments of the past Conway athletes.  What many think is just a hollow part of the floor in the library is actually covering the famous pit where hundreds of students relaxed and read.  Generations of Conway children, parents, and even grandparents have learned in the same classrooms. 

Over the years, walls between classrooms, coverings over the sidewalks, and even two more buildings have been built.  The old school has listened to the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix and saw the counterculture movement of the sixties and seventies.  It witnessed the big hair and neon colors of the eighties and listened to boy bands and watched the grunge look and white keds grace the halls of the nineties.  Recently, it has witnessed the birth of gangster rap and the innovation of cell phones and ipods.  However, the changing of the times has not bruised the pride of the blue and white.  Every home football game, John McConnell Stadium seats fill up with fans of all nature, many being Conway High alumni.  Graduation after graduation has occurred from CHS and the old school has seen it all.

But now the building has run its course and a new one is taking its place.  At the end of this year, bull dozers and wrecking balls will dismantle the building and make room for something newer.  But for this year, the old Conway High School still stands proud and if you walk the halls alone and listen really closely, you can almost hear the deafening roar of the mighty Wampus Cat.