Brown Road Essay 2/20/15

Anna Kleis

Professor Zabalbeascoa

FYSH: Text and the City HON 110-303

20 February 2015

Lowell High School: An Unexpected Journey

            If it weren’t for my personal tour guide—a recent graduate of Lowell High School and a long-time resident of the town—and the frequent banners with “LHS” printed on them, I would think I was entering another college campus. Lowell High School promotes its existence in an almost overwhelming manner, spreading itself over three impressive buildings in downtown Lowell.

            Merely seeing the buildings that are Lowell High School from a distance warmed me up immediately.  My walk from the Inn and Conference Center’s shuttle stop proved to be a treacherous one; incessant gusts of wind carrying bone-chilling snowflakes attacked my once warm, now frozen self. The walk through downtown Lowell alone, disregarding the biting temperatures and wind chills, endangered the safety of my limbs from superficial wounds. Clear spots on the pavement were sparse, and even those were tricky because of the transparent ice that made itself welcome where it wanted on the sidewalk. I offered a silent “thank you” to the downtown business employees for braving the weather and shoveling their areas so that they would not lose out on valuable business. I cursed what are the 2015 New England temperaments on the way to my destination, realizing that this would only make Mother Nature more upset (which it did, by the way).

            By the end of my trek to Lowell High, I was grateful to be not frozen alive and moments away from where I would obtain the bulk of information from my visit. I was motivated to walk through the halls of this high school like any high school student, past, present, and future, would have done. After all, “every road tells a story of a particular historical period, of a place and people” (Conover). Or in this case, every high school hallway tells a unique story.

Before I even arrived in Lowell to be attending college, I was warned by virtually everyone I conversed with to avoid the actual city at all costs. I was to remain only on campus and not go wandering off in order to see what else Lowell had to offer. Therefore, I was compelled to possess very low expectations for this city that I am going to call home for the next four years. Why would those who are supposed to offer me helpful advice harshly degrade the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, the place containing the education that will compose my future? I wondered what made them think through this provincial mind of theirs and how I could prove them wrong. By going to the high school, I desired to imagine myself walking a mile in one of its students’ shoes. I felt the need to simulate their everyday encounters and experiences.

            Established in 1831, Lowell High School is the second-largest public high school in Massachusetts. Fostering partnerships with Middlesex Community College and UMass Lowell has helped them shape their rich tradition of creating leaders in all walks of life, from “politics to the pulpit, from business to the arts, from academia to sports, from the military to medicine” (lhs.lowell.k12.ma.us/about). All 4,000 students at Lowell High School pride themselves in their tremendous ethnic diversity. Paul Tsongas, a former U.S Senator and presidential candidate received his high school education where I was standing. Author Jack Kerouac and U.S Congressman, now Chancellor of UMass Lowell, Marty Meehan attended similar classes to those currently at Lowell High. With a comprehensive schedule and array of programs that help boost students’ academic skills, Lowell High is committed to assisting all students, “those bound for college, the workforce or the military” and fortifying their futures.

            As I headed up the brown slush-covered sidewalk by the school, I passed a group of what seemed to be juniors or seniors recollecting their day and discussing where downtown they were going to grab something to eat. They were a mixed group of individuals in terms of diversity; they appeared to be a representative sample of the entire high school. A faculty member brushed by me, appearing as though she was in a rush to retreat to a place other than her place of work. Parents parked their cars as close to the curb as the compiled snow and slush would let them, their right blinkers working at a rhythmic pace to signal other cars that they would be waiting there for some time. Finally, I glanced over at my friend, who just graduated from the school in the spring, to see her reminiscing about her days spent here. She let a quick smile form itself on her face and then looked over at me, not saying anything but basically letting me know, “Well, this is it.” After this brief moment outside, my friend and I sought warmth in the school, so we entered the building to explore the generic locker-lined hallways and comfortable classrooms.

            Now, I know that this experience of mine was like any mundane, after-school observation, however, it did trigger plenty of memories for my friend. “This school gave me a really good and diversified education,” exclaimed my friend, Ashley Pham, who praised the school for its academics. It fit the typical high school reality for her. She is proud of her school being “the first co-ed public school in the country and very historic,” naming the numerous well-known individuals who attended the school. Another recent graduate of the memorable high school, Amara Sok, was very fortunate to obtain her education there because of the free, dual-enrollment program offered that permits high school students to take college-level classes at Middlesex Community College. Amara admits that the classes were difficult and “very time-consuming because they were taught by college professors and were structured the same exact way regular college-level classes are structured.” Nonetheless, both Ashley and Amara would not have wanted to spend their high school years at a place other than Lowell. They exhibited immense pride when talking about their former school, often getting sidetracked and delving into a memory that they had in some particular classroom or part of the school.

            Currently, the school is split into three different buildings. Two of those buildings are designated to the sophomores, juniors and seniors, and a tunnel that extends over one of Lowell’s ever-abundant canals connects them. Then, there is one building specifically for the freshman, called the Freshman Academy. This building for the freshman seems to ease the transition into high school and cultivate a better sense of confidence for the newcomers. Both the upperclassmen and freshmen are encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities varying from “sports to clubs, which are really easy to create on your own” says Ashley. Thirty varsity sports compose Lowell High’s athletic sector, with everyone from freshman level to varsity level able to compete, making up a total of sixty-eight teams (lhs.lowell.k12.ma.us/about). It is apparent that this country’s first co-ed public school bolsters any kind of student possessing any kind of ability and paves the way to a bright future.

            Because my friend and I were aware of what the walk back to the shuttle stop from the high school held in store for us, we prepared ourselves for the numbing wind chills and the poorly cleared sidewalks. We stopped at downtown’s Dunkin Donuts for a hot chocolate, a poor attempt at defrosting our insides considering the beverage would be too hot to drink until we were inside the shuttle. I expressed my gratitude for Ashley and her helpfulness in giving me a physical and emotional tour of her former school. Her kindness aided me in gathering the information I needed to acquaint myself with Lowell High School and it’s history. Discussing this place’s past and present triggered thoughts about it’s future. What exactly lies ahead for Lowell High School? When I asked Ashley this question, she could not think of anything measureable. After a long pause of what seemed to be her commemoration of the past, she shrugged her shoulders and asserted, “I don’t know, but definitely something or someone unique.”

Word count: 1331