Q&A: What was the high school's first year like?

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Updated 9:10 PM Saturday, June 6, 2009

Five questions, Springfield High School’s first year:

1. What went right?

2. If you could make one change, what would it be?

3. What was the best moment?

4. What was the worst, or most challenging, moment?

5. Where do you see the school in five years?

Greg Newland , associate athletic director

1. “The former North and South athletes put the past traditions of those schools behind them and competed as one. ...”

2. “I would like to have had at the high school what we had at North and South, as far as facilities are concerned. Nothing new, just what we had.”

3. “There were several. Beating Centerville in football was great, and the crowds for the first home boys basketball game and the first football game. What was best for me was the attendance for the opening nights of each team, and the anticipation that went with that. We got to unveil the new Springfield Wildcats.”

4. “The biggest challenge was the consolidation of the equipment and supplies of two athletic departments. ... Mark (Stoll) and I really thought this would be a three-year project. Year one has been positive in every way, but we still have issues hanging over us.”

5. “I see Springfield High School in five years really being a united high school. Once the (current) seventh-graders go through the high school, those new middle school students will only know Springfield High School, and the old North and South division will finally be put to sleep. ...”

Rick Robertson, physical education teacher, head football coach

1. “ We had growing pains, but it wasn’t gloom and doom and chaos. ... From a football standpoint, we got kids who started to believe in what we were doing and believing in each other, and started to play as a team. ...”

2. “ The one starting time is going to help. There are teachers who I have no ideas who they are because of the staggered start and end times . ... There are kids who I don’t know ... because of that. The one start and end time is going to help build participation in clubs and sports. It’s going to build identity and unity, and I think the faculty will feel that they’re all in this together.”

3. “The win over Centerville. We had a great week of practice and our kids truly felt they could truly do it. Finally, everything clicked. They believed in each other and believed they could do it. We went in there believing we could do it.”

4. “The worst was dealing with the perception of the so-called 'brawl.’ It put our kids and our program in a little bit of a bad light. It wasn’t a brawl. And Trey (DePriest) became the fall guy just because he was the only one who could be named because he was the only one who had a consequence. That was bitter. ...”

5. We’ll have some continuity. We have a superintendent and a principal who are going to be around a while. The staff can put all the pieces together and make it the place that everyone hopes it could be.”

D’Andrea Smith, humanities senior, volleyball and basketball athlete

1. “What went right was how we consolidated. We were more as one. There wasn’t as much confrontation between the two schools (North and South) as I expected.”

2. “The four small schools. They were more complicated than they thought they were going to be. That’s what caused problems (attendance and confrontations).”

3. “The best moment was knowing my volleyball team had the best record in the school. And, I scored the first basket on the first shot in the first game at the new gym. It was the first 3-pointer.”

4. “One of the most challenging things was not hanging out with my friends and losing some of them because we don’t talk much anymore. Meeting new people was challenging, too. I started all over in my last year of school.”

5. “Springfield will be better than it was this year, more organized and easier to cope with because you’ll be coming from middle school and going straight to high school. The sports will be better in the future.”

Greg Newland

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