A hundred years ago, Sparrows Point High was housed with an elementary school in a 12-classroom building, opened to educate the steel-mill community.
Now that building, and the company town, is long gone. But the students, faculty and staff at today's Sparrows Point High in Baltimore County say the school's spirit and sense of history remain strong in its 100th year, even as it has adapted to changing times. The Edgemere school is to officially celebrate this milestone with a centennial festival Saturday; and a dinner was held Friday night.
"This is a very different place, in a very positive way," said Principal Rob SantaCroce. "There's a lot of pride, a lot of community. ... It's still the same neighborhood it was 20, 30, 50 years ago."
But not the same school. SantaCroce and others describe Sparrows Point's evolution: What used to be a place students typically passed through on their way to jobs at the mill is now home to an environmental science magnet program and a school from which 80 percent to 85 percent of graduates go on to two- or four-year colleges.
The tucked-away quality of the peninsula in southeastern Baltimore County, however, has helped preserve the surrounding community - often described as Mayberry-like - over the years. Sparrows Point is one of the county's smaller high schools.
"People just stay here," said Elmer J. Hall, a Sparrows Point native who has written books on the area. Hall and his wife, Clara, were the Class Couple in 1960, he said, and his class was the first to spend all four years at the North Point Road building, which opened in 1956.
In honor of the school's anniversary, students spent several days in April weeding and planting flowers and shrubs in what is to be called Centennial Garden, said Melissa Kellerman, chairwoman of the science department and organizer of the planting. Several students have also prepared items for a time capsule, which they plan to present Saturday.
"It's a big deal for our school," said 12th-grader Megan Polanowski, a historian on the student council, who had to think up ideas for what to put in the capsule, such as a mixed CD of this year's music, a cell phone and a student drawing created for the occasion.
"It's going to be an exciting day," said Abigail Ramkalawan, an 11th-grader who is among the students who plan to give tours of the school Saturday.
