OAK RIDGE SCHOOLS MARK 125TH ANNIVERSARY

As milestones go in our part of the nation, anything over 100 years old is considered significant, whether it's your grandmother or or one of our local institutions.

So it is fitting that the Oak Ridge School District spent a good part of Friday marking its 125 years of service to an area of northern Cape Girardeau County.

In the language of celebrations that mark the passing of time, the Oak Ridge event is its quasquicentennial. That's a big word almost big enough to embrace the festivities to mark the event, including a parade and a school assembly.

Based on records at the school, the Oak Ridge district appears to have the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi River. Claims like this frequently are challenged. But at a recent meeting of the Missouri School Boards Association, no one contested Oak Ridge's place in history. Perhaps there were public high schools before Oak Ridge, but they aren't around now.

While being the district with the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi gives a sense of history, it also points to the district's long years of service to education and to the molding of young minds for generations.

Friday's celebration wasn't all looking to the past. A major indication of the small district's effort to be in the forefront of education is the recently completed Early Childhood Learning Center.

The district received a $100,000 grant through the Missouri Preschool Project last year. The grant is for salaries, equipment and supplies for a pre-kindergarten curriculum for children 3 to 5 years old. Private donations also have played a big part in the new center's development.

Oak Ridge was one of the first district's in the state to participate in the effort to establish school programs for pre-kindergarten children. Every indication of the program's first year is that it is a success. There are 17 children enrolled in the center, which has space for a maximum of 20 children. The formal ribbon cutting for the center was Friday afternoon.

In addition to students, teachers, staff and administrators, Friday's celebration also was for parents and alumni of the school district. In honor of the occasion, the weather was perfect with a sunny fall day and mild temperatures. That's the way every quasquicentennial should be.

To all those who consider Oak Ridge to be home, congratulations on your fine school district, and may it have many more productive years of educating young people.