March 20, 2010
Leaving from San Juan, Puerto, Rico to Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Roseau, Dominica; St. George’s Grenada; Scarborough, Tobago; and Bridgetown, Barbados

Celebrate the Class of 59’s 50th Reunion cruising with old friends and acquaintances on board Celebrity’s Summit Cruise Ship. Enjoy an abundance of food, spacious cabins, heavenly bedding, beverages, Las Vegas style shows, on ship entertainment and exotic Caribbean Islands!

Inside Cabin $849.00
OceanView $999.00
Balcony $1179.00

rates based on double occupancy include taxes, government fees, fuel surcharges, and a $25.00 non-refundable agency administrative fee

Singles, Third and Fourth Passenger Rates Available Upon Request

Trip Cancellation Insurance Available/Airfare Available

Deposit $250.00 per person, August 2, 2009 (final date for accepting deposits is August 21!!)

Contact: Patricia A. Shelton, Owner/Agent
Phantasy Travel, LLC
807 Cypress Tree Drive . Cedar Heights, MD 20743
Office: 301 925-7478 . Fax: 301 925-8970 . Email: toesie2@verizon.net

Important Notice: Everyone Must Have a Valid Passport to Travel!

Download your cruise application here

1. Ahmad, Zayd (Earl Druitt)
2. Anderson, William
3. Backus, Peter
4. Bailey, Betty
5. Baker, Annie Ruth
6. Banks, Mary Kathryn
7. Barnes, Raymond
8. Blake, William W.
9. Blakley, David Carl
10. Bradley, Allen
11. Brooks, Mary Ross
12. Brown, Anderson
13. Brown, Janice
14. Brown, Robert
15. Butler, James C.
16. Caruso, Ronald
17. Casey, Carolyn Middleton
18. Chamberlain, Grace
19. Cheatum, John Lee
20. Chin, Shui Lee
21. Clark, John W.
22. Collins, Charlotte
23. Cook, Joseph
24. Cotter, Pearl
25. Cox, Michael
26. Cunningham, Glenn W.
27. Darnes, Joyce
28. Davis, Charles E.
29. Davis, Edward
30. Davis, Frank
31. Davis, Iris I.
32. Evans, Charles R.
33. Evans, David
34. Engel, Thomas Carl
35. Garner, Wesley
36. Gayle, Sarah Marie
37. Givings, Maxine
38. Glaude, Francisco Andre
39. Golden, Ruth L.
40. Goode, Sandra
41. Hall, Sarah A.
42. Harrington, James
43. Harris, Jr., Emory S.
44. Henderson, Mary Queen
45. Hensley, Barbara Hogan
46. High, Carl
47. Hill, Margo Downing
48. Hinton, Lawon Johnson
49. Hodges, Horace
50. Jacobs, Harry
51. Jefferson, Louis A.
52. Johnson, Clarence T.
53. Johnson, Delores
54. Jones, Alice E.
55. Kelly, Dorothy F.
56. Latham, James L.
57. Lee, Dorothy F.
58. Lindsay, Patsy D.
59. Mace, Jr., Warren E.
60. Mance, Fredreatha
61. Massey, Jr., James P.
62. McLaughlin, Michael
63. Miller, Mary E.
64. Minor, James E.
65. Mitchiner, Barbara
66. Parham, Carroll
67. Pitts, Doris E.
68. Reid, Anthony L.
69. Reid, Douglass
70. Richardson, Robert D.
71. Robertson, James H.
72. Rogers, Robert
73. Ross, Dorothy
74. Samuels, John H.
75. Saunders, Calvin
76. Shelton, Kenneth
77. Sherrod, Warren
78. Smallwood, Merry J.
79. Smith, Allen
80. Smith, Charita Riggins
81. Smith, Delores M.
82. Smith, Virgil Kay
83. Sparrow, Carolyn
84. Stewart, Corrine
85. Tapley, Jr., Kenneth
86. Tarver, David F.
87. Terry, Verlene
88. Thomas, Chester
89. Thomas, June E.
90. Thomas, Lorraine
91. Threatt, John E.
92. Tom, May
93. Trueheart, Thomas P.
94. Tyner, Robert
95. Vournas, George
96. Washington, Albert T.
97. Webster, James
98. Whitmire, William A.
99. Williams, Carl
100. Williams, Lowell A.
101. Williams, Rufus A.
102. Williams, Yvonne M.
103. Winstead, Garrell
104. Witcher, John R.
105. Wright, Josephine
106. Young, Loretta M.
107. Zegowitz, Richard J.

The initial reunion weekend events:
Friday, October 30, 2009: Reception, Greenbelt Marriott Hotel
7:00-9:30pm, Chesapeake Room

Saturday, October 31, 2009: Dinner Dance, Greenbelt Marriott Hotel

Sunday, November 1, 2009: Prayer Service, Greenbelt Marriott Hotel
10:00am, Chesapeake Room
Rev. Dr. Tiajuana Felton Mosby

Detailed Reunion information has been mailed to all with current addresses in our database. Send us your postal and email addresses!

Greenbelt Marriott Hotel
6400 Ivy Lane
Greenbelt, Md 20770
Tel: +1 301 441 3700
Fax: +1 301 441 3995
https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/WASGB

Feel free to email us using the Contact Us form!

This will be the communications center for the Class of 1959 reunions, so feel free to leave comments, or use the contact form to get in touch with friends and organizers!

McKinley is having an identity crisis. Are we Techites, Trainers, or the McKinley Phoenix? There is a debate about this between current students and alumni. Many alumni want the school’s seal and mascot to remain Tubal Cain, the seal and mascot since 1928. President McKinley, after whom the school was named, was a Freemason. Tubal Cain is a biblical and Masonic figure. He is the instructor of the workers of brass and iron.

Tubal-Cain

McKinley was originally designed as a manual labor school dealing with carpentry, construction, and other technical skills. The name of the school back then was McKinley Technical Training School, where the name Trainers was derived from. In the early 90s, when the government became stricter on separating school from religion, the Tubal Cain motto was transformed into a simple “Circle T,” and McKinley was known solely as the McKinley Techites. Techite simply means McKinley Tech native such as a Washingtonian is a native of Washington D.C., so McKinley went without an official mascot and seal for several years.

When McKinley reopened in 2004, a school wide election was held to determine what the new school mascot should become. The choices were between the Titans, Panthers, Bulldogs, and the Phoenix. The majority of the students who participated voted for the Phoenix, because of the meaning behind it which means “rebirth from the ashes.”

McKinley Tech Rising Phoenix

But alumni will tell you that McKinley never died. Alumni say that the meaning behind McKinley Phoenix and the name Phoenix is meaningless.

“I don’t like it at all,” said Mr. Berry, Admissions and Alumni administrator, and 1965 graduate of McKinley. “You cannot change a tradition that has stood for more than 100 years.”

Many teachers don’t agree with Mr. Berry.

“The ideas of Tubal Cain no longer apply to McKinley, because McKinley is no longer a school dealing with manual labor,” said Ryan Montgomery, history instructor. “We are a 21st Century school that is preparing students for the future.”

The way it stands now, the students are The McKinley Phoenix and the Alumni are the McKinley Trainers. The seniors have put the Phoenix symbol on their jackets and class rings.

Even though there is strong opposition to the Phoenix symbol, not all alumni agree.

“It’s not the same school as it was before, it’s only the same building,” said Jeff Stewart, attorney and a McKinley alumnus of the class of 1976. “We never had a mascot. A Circle T is not a mascot, it’s a logo.”

McKinley Principal David Pinder is proposing that there be a meeting held in which the alumni, the current students, parents, and the community come together and decide on what the official seal, mascot, and logo should be.

“I like the Phoenix, but it is not David Pinder’s decision,” he said.

Article: Washington Post:

McKinley Technology High School opened September, 2004. Change is a constant – for our staff and students – at a school, rich with tradition, yet recently renovated and academically reinvigorated. Our team is in the midst of the rebirth of a revered high school in the District of Columbia that is integrating a digital infrastructure into all components of the school’s operation and academics.

The professional educators, counselors and support personnel of McKinley Technology High School (MTHS) are pioneers in the District of Columbia Public School System. We believe the Change Toolkit can help us prepare our students for higher education and careers in today’s high tech society. As we conduct self-assessments, communicate experiences, and initiate new ideas, each staff person can benefit from the information and concepts provided in the various spokes of the Change Toolkit’s wheels.

Our change team is committed to offering our students academic support as well as personal, college and career counseling services. As leaders, we are exploring what we can do to overcome resistance to change as well as enable and foster innovation in our organization. The Change Toolkit doesn’t provide a blueprint, but Dr. Kanter’s work does inspire and encourage our team as it gains competence and experience.

Our mission is to offer students a comprehensive high school experience as well as specialized instructional opportunities in biotechnology, information technology and the broadcast of digital media. The Change Toolkit is a resource that helps our staff and teachers assess current situations and determine where improvements can be realized. The diagnostics, background information and action tools motivate us in a pressure-free setting.

IBM’s Corporate Community Relations introduced the Change Toolkit to the school’s management team. We determined where to apply the site’s robust resources. For example, the Change Wheel, especially its spokes – Common Themes, Shared Vision as well as Communicating Useful Approaches – are invaluable when assessing where our team and its understanding of our mission and vision is versus where we want to be. As we introduce our 9th graders to all three primary technology concentrations, elements of the Change Toolkit can help us change our procedures, actions and instructional priorities.

Our staff is also facing many of the challenges that were highlighted in the case study used during training on the Change Toolkit. We had to develop a team of teachers and administrators who were recruited from schools throughout the city, the region and the country. We’ve had to respond to the high expectations of our students, teachers and the community and we are introducing new concepts like project based curriculum instruction for 9th and 10th graders.

Our administrators and teachers are sharing best practices to encourage student collaboration, aligning assignments and assessment with national standards and identifying ways we can utilize our digital environment. The Change Toolkit offers us a “pit stop” where we can assess our progress and redirect our energy and resources to embrace new approaches to teaching, tracking and motivating our students.

Our students are challenged to have fun learning and using the technology that is part of our everyday world. The Change Toolkit provides a similar resource for their teachers and educational leaders.

In the next year, the McKinley Technology High School team will be drawing upon elements in the Change Wheel for our organization, Change Masters for ourselves and Change Fundamentals and Student Improvement where needed. As we implement our rigorous academic curriculum and educate our students in exciting technology disciplines, the Change Toolkit helps focus us on stressing dependability, responsibility, individuality, resourcefulness and a commitment to excellence.

Brought to you by the Reinventing Education Change Toolkit project.

Article: Leading Change at McKinley Technology High School, Washington, DC

When declining enrollment forced McKinley Technical High School to close its doors in 1997, vandals and drug dealers frequented the historic structure in Northeast Washington, DC, pushing the building further into disrepair. The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) stepped in to reclaim the facility, gutting the dilapidated interior in July 2001 to make way for modern, high-tech classrooms and labs, where motivated, hand-picked students could pursue careers in biotechnology, information technology, and broadcast production.

Led by DC Mayor Anthony A. Williams, DCPS partnered with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, to revive the 282,000 square-foot building and selected KCI Technologies to head the construction management team for the $75 million restoration. “McKinley was in deplorable condition when we got here,” recalls KCI Project Manager Karim Moore, PE, “The biggest challenge was to keep the demolition on track, while preserving the historic integrity of the building. Some of the architectural elements date from 1928. So, while gutting most of the interior, we salvaged some of the building’s amazing features, like the old terrazzo flooring and decorative plasterwork in the auditorium. We also relied heavily on KCI’s industrial hygienists, who worked with the Corps to remove asbestos and other materials during the preliminary phase,” said Moore.

After completing the demolition and replacing windows throughout the site, Moore and the contractors turned to exterior repairs and retrofitting the electrical; heating ventilation, and air conditioning; plumbing, sanitary sewer; information technology; fire protection; and security systems. KCI Vice President and Contract Manager Scott Lang, PE, notes, “Beyond the complexities of updating McKinley Tech’s existing systems, the cornerstone of the project was integrating a digital infrastructure to allow access to data and video in 42 classrooms, five chemistry labs, the library, auditorium, art and broadcasting studios, and many other locations.

“Mayor Williams and DCPS envisioned McKinley Technology High School as the hub of a pioneering technology campus for the entire City, and when the school opened its doors again to 800 students in September, we knew the project team succeeded in making that vision a reality.”

Link: KCI Technologies: McKinley Tech: A Lesson in Perseverance >>

By Sewell Chan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 26, 2004; Page DZ08

McKinley Technology High School officially opened its doors last week, welcoming residents and students for a preview of a majestic structure that has long embodied the ideals of practical education in the District public school system.

The opening of McKinley is a major achievement for the city, fulfilling a campaign promise of Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) and, more significantly, lending hope to a school system in which academic performance among high schoolers has been one of the system’s most critical problems.

McKinley Technology High School media specialist Gloria Reaves sees her new library, including furnishings fit for a high-tech coffeehouse, for the first time last week after a ceremony in the school’s restored auditorium. (Jonathan Ernst – The Washington Post)

The school’s principal, Daniel F. Gohl, said his vision for the school is to provide “a traditional liberal-arts education enhanced through the use of 21st century technology.” The school opens Wednesday with a 28-member instructional staff and nearly 400 students in the ninth and 10th grades. The 11th and 12th grades will be filled over the next two years. As students advance and new students are admitted behind them, total enrollment is expected to rise to 800 students.

The school will be the most technologically sophisticated in the city, with wireless Internet access throughout the structure and an older technology — fiber-optic Ethernet connections — linking classroom computer terminals across a high-speed network. The school’s Internet-based phone system, centered on a hub on the school’s third floor, links offices and classrooms with the outside world. Students will be able to use the school’s broadcasting studio, once it is completed, to beam live images directly to the television station run by the school system.

With its $75 million restoration nearly complete, McKinley, 151 T St. NE, is probably the loveliest school in the city, with warm terrazzo floors, a soaring light-filled atrium and five circular “common areas” where students will mingle and check their e-mail accounts on their laptop computers. The building has separate band and chorus rooms, an art studio and a greenhouse. Outside, a brick-and-marble plaza has been touched up, although it seems slightly incongruous against the new asphalt parking lot in front of the school.

The school’s curriculum will be arranged around three fields — biomedicine, information technology and broadcast communications — that are intended to enliven such traditional subjects as English composition, mathematics and foreign languages. Each field is expected to be the social and academic nucleus for a cluster of students from different grades.

Unlike the old McKinley, which gave students vocational training to enter the workplace upon graduation, the new school will try to inculcate a desire for higher education in its students.

“Students will be able to leave and get entry-level jobs, but they will not be able to advance themselves in these fields without a college degree,” Gohl said last week. The school’s goal is to have students pursue advanced study or professional internships in their fields while in high school. Even if students do not pursue college study or professional careers in technology, Gohl said, they should be able to intelligently discuss such issues as the benefits and risks of genetic cloning, propaganda in the broadcast media and society’s concerns about electronic privacy.

Even with 800 students and 210,000 square feet of usable space, the new school will be considerably smaller than its predecessor. The original McKinley was a sprawling complex of 282,000 square feet, with a capacity for 1,491 students.

McKinley has a rich history, with its roots in “manual training” programs that were set up for working-class youths in the 1880s. Named for the country’s 25th president, the school was established in 1902 as a technical school for white students, emphasizing trades such as building, printing and engineering. In 1928, it moved to a new building on a hilltop at Second and T streets NE with a view of the Capitol. An addition was built in 1957. The school was closed in 1997, graduating a class of 180 teenagers that June.

Williams and other city officials, including D.C. Council member Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5), who represents the area, proposed a comprehensive restoration of the building. Demolition of the interior began in 2001, and construction and window installation began the following year.

“We’ve tried to keep the sense of history in this place,” said Gohl, who was hired in 2002 and was previously principal at what is now the Liberal Arts and Science Academy, part of Lyndon Baines Johnson High School in Austin, Texas.

The school’s central wing houses a soaring auditorium whose wooden seats and brass railings have been lovingly restored. Classical and Biblical characters — including Tubal-cain, an obscure Old Testament character sometimes credited with inventing the tools of brass and iron work — adorn the plaster reliefs along the ceiling and ornamental grilles that cover the old school’s radiator ducts. Above the auditorium is Memorial Hall, a solemn space that houses three marble plaques: one erected in 1933 in memory of 39 McKinley graduates who died in World War I, the other two placed in 1948 to honor 185 alumni of the school who lost their lives in World War II.

“Our curriculum and our instruction must surpass the quality of the facility,” Gohl said. “What made McKinley so successful historically is that it gave students skill sets to be competitive and proficient.”

The school has formed partnerships with organizations such as the Carnegie Institution of Washington, which will offer training and internship opportunities to McKinley’s students. It has devised its curriculum with help from groups such as Jobs for the Future, a Boston-based research and advocacy group that supports programs to help young people become successful workers, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has championed small, technology-based schools.

McKinley’s opening was originally scheduled for fall 2002. Funding delays and cost overruns have hampered the project. “It’s unbelievable what they’ve done,” interim Superintendent Robert C. Rice said last week, marveling at the work of school administrators and construction crews. Rice added, irreverently: “Of course, it’s unbelievable what they spent. Then again, it’s not a baseball stadium, it’s an educational institution.”

Notwithstanding the grandeur of the restoration, there has not been a stampede by parents to enroll their offspring. By mid-August, about 350 of the 400 slots had been filled, and school administrators have conceded that they did a lackluster job of publicizing the school. Another problem was that parents could not tour the school until a certificate of occupancy was granted, which occurred only this month. “One of the difficulties when you open a new school is to have it understood,” Gohl said.

The school is intended to be only one part of a larger “technology campus” on the 24 acres that is to eventually include a community college program, a recreation center and a performing arts space. The building includes 66,000 square feet of empty “shell space” that can be used for such programs. Right now, the additional projects exist only on paper.

The school does not have an attendance zone. Admission is by application, although roughly 70 percent of applicants have been accepted so far. Students must submit a short essay and are interviewed by a panel that includes teachers and community representatives. Applications for admission can be found on the school’s Web site: mths.k12.dc.us.

Article: Washington Post: Renovated McKinley High Welcomes New Era