College High School to hold reunion

Located on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University as a lab school for student teachers, College High School of Cape Girardeau was like a small, rural school inside a city. Though some from town did attend, these were only a handful of students. Most of these came from the outlying areas around Cape.

The College High School classes of 1959 to 1965 are planning a reunion from 2 p.m. until midnight on Oct. 5 at the Black Forest Villages, located three miles north of Cape Girardeau. According to alumna Sue Roussel, her class of 1962 and the class of 1960 held a joint reunion 10 and 15 years after graduation and every five years since then. Additional classes keep joining in the event.

"There is always someone new at each reunion that couldn't make it before and others that can't make it this year, so it evens out," Roussel said. "I haven't missed a one, and I don't plan to because it is so much fun."

Before closing in 1986 due to a redesign of the teacher education program at Southeast, College High School's name was changed to University High School. It was also known as Campus High School during the 1960s.

Started with predecessor

The school began as part of a "practice" school system, with grades kindergarten to 12, for students of Southeast's predecessor, the Third District Normal School. According to a book called "From Normal to University: A Century of Service" by Arthur H. Mattingly, leaders of the Normal school established a training school in 1876, but it closed after only four years because expenses were too high and enrollment too low. A successful "model school" was begun again, however, in 1897 under the administration of John S. McGhee. In the days of College High, some area elementary schools sent their secondary students to the lab school because tuition was cheaper there than at Cape or Jackson, according to Dean Allison, director of the university school during the late 1970s.

Parents, including Allison, sent their children to the lab school because it was designed to be a high-quality institution, using the latest techniques and equipment available. There was also a high teacher-to-student ratio, Allison said.

One thing that did not die with the closing of the lab school's academic doors during the 1980s was the University High School Christmas Basketball Tournament. This regional event is still held annually.

In planning their upcoming class reunion, there has been a lot of work involved in tracking down schoolmates, according to Roussel. Some class members they have not been able to locate include:

1959 -- Joann Coffey, Carolyn Dunning, Barbara Green, Carol Kenyon and Gloria King.

1961 -- Judy Tiner.

1962 -- Diane McCoy.

1963 -- Pat Thomas.

1964 -- Nelda Sue Sides.

1965 -- Barry Don Mason.

If anyone has any information on these people, call Sue Roussel at 335-5845, Emma Craig at 334-5353 or Bill Brockmire at 334-8159.

jgosche@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133

Photos courtesy of Kent Library, Southeast Missouri State University

Members of the 1961 College High School Band of Cape Girardeau are among those invited to a school reunion of classes 1959 to 1965 planned for Oct. 5 at the Black Forest Villages.

Crisp Hall, as seen here in the 1950s on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University, was once the home of College High School. According to Lisa Speer, special collections librarian at Southeast's Kent Library, student transcripts of College High School and University High School from the 1920s to 1986, when the school closed, are housed in the library's Special Collections and Archives section.