I attended Hillside elementary school for most of my grade school years. I remember it being a fairly nice school, well ventilated and lighted with lots of windows. The teachers were all nice to me, since I was one of their better students.
I remember the long walk to school every morning. It was less than a mile from home, so it wasn’t too bad of a trip. I walked to school each morning, attended class, generally walked home for lunch, attended class in the afternoon, and, finally, walked home at the end of a long, hard school day.
On nice, warm summer days this walk was very pleasant, especially if I happened to spy an unsupervised sprinkler. I’d look around carefully to make sure nobody was watching, especially mom, who frowned on such things, take off my shoes and run through the water. I really used to enjoy getting thoroughly soaked!
San Bernardino was known for it’s Santa Ana winds, which were very strong. On the days when these winds were blowing, the walk to school was not very pleasant. The wind was cold, and my thin jacket didn’t do much to keep me warm. On those days, I would generally eat lunch at school, even though I hated cafeteria food.
I clearly remember two special events sponsored by the school for the benefit of its students: the science fair, which I attended twice, and the student Olympics.
The science fair was very exciting to me. I loved everything about science, and was clamoring to show everybody what wonders I had learned. So I built an interesting exhibit consisting of a cow skull (lord knows where I got that from) surrounded by little boxes containing various interesting objects. These objects ranged from bits of moss to the bones of animals to insects. It was actually pretty impressive, and I won first place.
The student Olympics were a different story. I have never been much interested in sports, and this was no exception. I went, grudgingly, and participated in several events, including the potato sack race, broad jump and sock throw. I thought it was all pretty silly, but managed to have a good time in spite of myself.
Unless otherwise noted, all photos and text is Copyright © Richard G Lowe, Jr.