1979: 6th Grade Memories- The GATE Meeting and My First Real Crush

Episode 20 

1979: 6^th Grade Memories

The GATE Meeting and My First Real Crush

Sometime during the month of October, I'd just taken a seat in my 7th period class when the intercom came on. "We'd like for the following students to report to the library as soon as this announcement is over:" Then the voice continued to name the students who were to go to the library for God knows what. When I heard my name announced as one of the students, I thought, Oh Lord, what could this be about? I didn't feel like I was in trouble or anything like that, because they were calling out the names of the students who were in my advanced classes, but one could never be too sure. As soon as the intercom shut off, I got up and basically went next door to the library. There were a couple of women whom I didn't know standing there and they, after asking what my name was, motioned for me to sit at one of the long tables in front of them. I sat down and gradually other students started coming in and sitting down. Again, these were mostly my classmates who were in my advanced classes and who I had not gotten to know yet, and there were a few 7th graders also present. I sat there really being to myself and not really looking at or talking to anyone when something happened that would affect me for the rest of my years at Judson.

Before we get to that, let me state what the meeting was all about. The ladies, Mrs. Foster (one of my classmates' mother) and Mrs. Jackson (our librarian) explained to us that we were the first members of a program called the Gifted and Talented Enrichment program, or GATE, for short. To quote from our school newspaper at the time, "The purpose of GATE is to provide challenges and enrichment for participating students. To become a member of the GATE program, students must be recommended by their teachers, have above average scores in all areas, and possess a willingness to complete all projects. GATE students are currently studying ways to improve study habits, examining career opportunities, and are entering a writing contest (we are?). There are approximately 30 students involved in the GATE program (at the time)." Mrs. Foster, Mrs. Jackson, Mrs. Motley, Mrs. E.J. Johnson, Mrs. Starr, Mrs. Henderson, and Mr. Parr were our sponsors. All of these teachers either taught math or English, or served in the capacity of a librarian or counselor. Obviously, I'd been recommended by my teachers (Mrs. Henderson and Mrs. Starr) due my grades for the 1st six weeks. I'd made all A's on my report card and 1 B. I wound up making the honor roll for the six weeks, and didn't even know what that actually meant at the time, since I'd never had that in elementary school. And now, here I am sitting in the first ever GATE meeting, and wondering if I belong in here or not. I looked around and saw more than a few blank faces, and I thought, well, at least I'm not the only one not sure what this is all about. Later on, once we started doing different activities and being introduced to new inventions and concepts (such as computers and VCRs), I really started appreciating being picked to be a part of GATE. In fact, one might say if not for GATE, I might not have ever come close to my future destiny.

More on that later. Let me get back to another major event in my life which occurred at this particular meeting. As I stated, I was sitting there minding my own business when someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind. I turned around and saw the prettiest girl I'd ever seen in my life up to that point. They say you instantly know it when you fall in love (or get a serious crush) with someone for the very first time (you see fireworks and you get hot and all that), and they're right- The first time I saw Angela, who was in the 7th grade at the time, I liked her a WHOLE lot. In the past, I liked a girl named Tracey when I was in kindergarten, and when I was in the first and second grades, I liked Deyavor, but those were me just being a little kid and liking them as friends. But THIS was different; this was more than just liking somebody- this was extremely being attracted to somebody to the point of being in love. I had never felt this way about any girl before and it caught me by surprise. I mean, I didn't go to school thinking, I'm going to find me a girlfriend or fall in love with the first person I see. I was still interested in sports, playing with toys, riding my bicycle, catching frogs, etc. And as far as girls went, I had never looked at any as anything other than friends (or enemies) or noticed their appearance. Angela changed all that. The very first thing I noticed about her was how pretty she was, how long her hair was, her cute face, pretty eyes, and nice smile. I'd never noticed those things about girls before then. Then after she tapped me on the shoulder and got my attention, she spoke in a friendly voice and said, "Hi Cedric. My mother knows your mother."

HOW did she know my name?? Who was she?? Who was her mother?? Where did she come from?? Why? What? How? So many questions- and so, after she said what she said and smiled at me, I did what I would mostly do for the next couple of years whenever I was around Angela: I'd turn red, smile like a fool, and mumble or say something stupid, or say nothing. Most of the time, anyway, that's what I’d do. This day in time I said something like, “okay”, and quickly turned back around sweating bullets. I wanted so bad to ask her her name, but I was too shy to even talk to her.

The rest of the meeting went by quickly, and I wasn’t too focused on what was being said by Mrs. Foster and Mrs. Jackson anyhow, considering I’d just met the girl of my dreams for the very first time. I couldn’t wait to get on the bus and ride home so I could ask my momma who this girl was whose mother she knew. But if only I had a name to go by! I thought I heard one of the kids call her Angela, but I wasn’t sure. For once, I was glad when the 3:30 bell rang, so I could go run and jump on the bus, which still was the consistent negative highlight of the day, but I just wanted to hurry up and get home.

Once I got home, I asked my mom rather casually did she know any of the mothers of my classmates or somebody close to me in age. “Well that depends on who you are talking about,” she said. Then I told her of the GATE meeting I had gone to and how the only other person who was my skin-color had tapped me on the shoulder and said that her mother knew my mother. I told her that I think her name is Angela. “Oh, I know who you are talking about,” Momma said. “You know her mother, too- She used to teach you.” I was like, Huh? The only people I could think of was Mrs. Moore and Mrs. Eckhardt, and I knew it couldn’t be one of them. My mom continued, “Mrs. Stanmore- don’t you remember Mrs. Stanmore who used to help teach you in the first grade?”

Mrs. Stanmore! I had totally forgotten about her! She and Mrs. Nelson (who ironically was the secretary at Judson at this time) were my teacher aides who used to help us when I was in the first grade at East Ward (Everhart). I remembered how pretty she was and I thought she was a teenager, if not a grown woman (because she was so young-looking). Which she obviously was back then since Angela was older than me. I almost couldn’t believe that Angela was her daughter, and that she also had a son who was in the same grade as my sister. I thought to myself, I can see where Angela got her looks from then. But I still wondered how did Angela know me and who I was, unless it was her mom who told her. Or could it have been someone else? Why did I react that way towards her? I’d never reacted like that before- Was this what they call, love at first sight?

1979: 6th Grade Memories: Judson or Foster?

Episode 19 - 6^th grade Memories: Judson or Foster?

I’d met Keith Taylor during the summer prior to the beginning of the 6^th grade. He and I took part in the Longview Public Library summer activities, and we’d become pretty good friends. He had already known he was going to be going to Judson, while I was sure I was going to Foster. He had told me, “You don’t want to go there- they have fights everyday, they break into your locker and steal all of your things, and they give out homework every single day!” I never did ask him how did he know that, but when we parted that summer, I was thinking I wouldn’t see him again for three years. Well, I wound up at Judson, and I was happy that at least I’d be attending school with Keith, even though we only had PE together. And I was happy I wasn’t going to the school where he said all of those terrible things happened.

Well, after school started and I’d been riding the bus for awhile, and after seeing all of the wonderful homework I was getting in almost every class except for PE and Choir, and after I’d had my locker broken into twice and lost two combination locks, I wondered whether or not I was at the right school- because it sure didn’t feel like it. If Foster was as bad as everyone claimed it to be, then Judson must’ve been just a step above hell in comparison. One thing that cannot be overstated and something I’ve thought about more and more as the years have gone by is the fact that a lot of black kids back then were ANGRY, with a capital A- angry because they had to switch schools for no reason other than integration and fixing the black-white ratio. What made it worse was that white kids were not having to move and switch schools, just black kids. White kids could go to whatever middle school they were close to, while black kids had to be bussed way across town, passing up two middle schools to get to the one farthest north and actually outside of the city limits. It meant having to get up earlier than normal, riding a bus not worth sitting in a junkyard, and going to a school where the majority of the faculty was probably not used to dealing with kids who lived on the southside of town. Then think about the 7^th graders and 8^th graders who’d been at Foster and/or Forest Park previously. Now they were being told they had to go to Judson. A lot of them were mad, and they basically took it out on everyone. The next year, some of the black kids were told that they would no longer be going to Judson- instead they’d be bussed to Forest Park. The majority of these kids lived on the eastside of Longview off Young Street and in that area, and I imagine that originally they weren’t too happy about that, but then at least, they’d be closer to home for what it was worth.

Starting out, it was a mess. Black kids were having fights everyday, with each other for the most part. I can recall a lot of them saying they were having fights just so they could be sent back to Foster. Which, of course, didn’t work and didn’t happen. A lot of these kids were older, 7^th and 8^th graders, who just did not want to be there. My classmates and I really weren’t into all that fighting too much, but many of us had best and good friends we’d been separated from in having to switch schools, and that and having to be punching bags for some of the more angrier ones made us not want to be there either. Judson, too, was looked upon as being the harder, tougher school when it came to academics, and the higher volume of homework and the strict grading policy gave evidence to that. Back then, it was possible to have homework in just about every class, and to have to carry three or four books home to do it. That also made a lot of us not like Judson very much.

But probably the biggest reason we hated going to Judson during our 6^th grade year back then was its football team. The 8^th grade team that year was HORRIBLE, they lost every single game that year. The 7^th grade teams weren’t too much better, they might have won one game between them. But all of the teams were atrociously bad. Our first few pep rallies were memorable in the sense that many of the kids were cheering for and chanting for Foster instead of Judson. The funny part, if one could call it that, was that they were chanting for Foster no matter who we were playing that week, whether it was Forest Park, Marshall, or one of the Pine Tree teams. And the chants and cheers would be LOUD, meaning one could hear them very, very clearly. I remember the very first pep rally they made almost all of us 6^th graders sit on the floor, and we showed our appreciation by chanting for Foster on almost every cheer. I also remember Mr. Gregory, the assistant principal, giving us such a dirty look, that if looks could kill, there would have been a mass murder that afternoon. I was chanting for Foster, too, at the time because I really didn’t want to be at Judson myself. And the football team wasn’t all that good anyway, so the purpose of a pep rally was being defeated in all the ways possible.

However, by the time football season ended, we (the 6^th graders) had accepted Judson as our school and we were no longer cheering for Foster or wishing we were there. A lot of the 7^th and 8^th graders would continue to beat that drum into the ground, however, all the way into their 8^th and 9^th grade years respectively, but slowly but surely, a lot of them would change as well, and the school spirit became a lot stronger as a result. By the time I was in the 8^th grade, we were all proud to be Blue Devils.