April 13, 2004 > Hillview Crest Celebrates 50th Anniversary

It was a Friday night and the music was rockin' the Multi-purpose room at Hillview Crest School in the New Haven Unified School District. Heavy metal, hip hop and rap were banished as the 50's came alive with Joe Turner's, Shake, Rattle & Roll; Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets; Jerry Lee Lewis talking about a Whole Lot of Shaken' Goin' On; Chuck Berry singing Johnny B. Goode; That'll Be the Day by Buddy Holley and the Crickets and, of course, The King - Elvis Presley with Hound Dog. D.J. for the evening, Bob McGinnis of Caesar Chavez School was setting the pace and spinning the vinyl (okay, maybe CD's). A rotating glitter ball sent patterns of light throughout the room as blue jeans, pedal pushers, petticoats and Poodle Skirts were in evidence and bobby sox were in fashion again. It all began when Principal Brenda Lloyd, who joined Hillview Crest in 1992 as Assistant Principal and became the Principal in 1998, walked by a school plaque and noticed that the school would be turning 50 years old this year.

She thought that such an auspicious occasion should be celebrated and Interim Superintendent Susan Speakman agreed. Recruiting "wonder parents," Natalie Haney and Julie Kirkpatrick and Assistant Principal Tracie Noriega, the party was on! Food, class pictures of previous graduates and teachers including some parents of current students and testimonials by graduates celebrated the love by the community for this venerable school. It has plenty of life left in it as current students will attest. The following week, Principal Lloyd treated students who had participated in the Books for Bucks program to Root Beer Floats! Rock on Hillview Crest Huskies!