100 Years Ago: 1920

Ham Sweezy said he didn’t have such a doggone good time at the church ice-cream festival as he might have had. He sat down in a dish of ice-cream and now he has chilblains.

50 Years Ago: 1970

Pounding hammers and cutting saws were heard at Auburn police headquarters. The arrival of a new radio systems, which changed the complex of the radio room, has altered things. Because of the placement of the new equipment, the record files had to be moved. The renovation will result in a new home for the radio system.

25 Years Ago: 1995

Six young people standing in a big hole in the center of the courtyard at Edward Little High School.have been digging, shoveling gravel, carrying cinder blocks and mixing cement. They are building a greenhouse. “More mud!” yells Andy Gurschick, 15, from his place in the hole. In his hand is a trowel encrusted with wet mortar. Gurschick is working hard and enjoying it. “It’s not hard, once you learn the basics. I mean, I just got taught how to do this this morning and now I’m putting up a wall,” he said. Tina Vanasse, ELHS math teacher and coordinator of the greenhouse project, stands on the ground beside the hole and helps students navigate through their tasks. She is excited about the prospect of so many students being involved in a project with so many benefits. “It’s the hands-on learning, it’s a practical application of what we’re trying to teach them in the classroom. It’s a sense of pride, ownership, and belonging in a project. Their kids will come here someday, and they’ll be able to say, ‘Dad worked on that,’ or ‘Mom worked on that part of that,’” Vanasse said. It will be worth between $12,000 and $15,000. Vanasse said it is the students who are bringing life to the project which, when completed, will be a self-sustaining business. During the winter, the students will raise and sell flowers and vegetables to pay for the gas used to keep the structure warm. Some of the profits will also support other school projects, and one quarter of the space will be set aside for the biology department.

The material used in Looking Back is reproduced exactly as it originally appeared, although misspellings and errors may be corrected.