The previous item reminded me of my first couple of weeks at the brand spankin’ new Elco school.

Compared to the the Richland school where I had been going since third grade, it was huge. At Richland there were five classrooms for the six elementary grades, so grades three through five were split and shared among the existing teachers. 

The high school situation was a bit better. Richland handled the students who were in the Business track of Eastern Lebanon County schools, while I think Myerstown, which had a much larger school handled the students in the Academic track. I’m not sure about the Newmanstown and Schaefferstown schools.

Anyway the newly built Elco school seemed huge to me by comparison to Richland’s. We were supplied with maps of the layout, but I was certain that I was going to get lost. It took several days before I had internalized the layout, and then I felt a bit foolish because it all seemed so clear.

But the new school had facilities that simply hadn’t existed in Richland. Like gyms, for example. And a real shop for shop class. You know, that’s where they sent the boys to build things with power tools when the girls were in the home economics room learning how to cook and clean house. Things were different then.

There was a cafeteria, as we were there for the whole day. No more hour and fifteen minutes for going home for lunch.

There was a library. And while it paled in comparison to real libraries, it did contain thousands of books. And periodicals. 

Two other things that would loom large in my future. A PA system and an auditorium.

One question that I don’t think occurred to me at the time. Was I going to get a good education at these new facilities?