Architectural layouts are seen on display during building tours Thursday afternoon at Centralia High school.
Francine Ishler, a Tiger alumni graduating in 1997, takes her kids to view the old school during building tours Thursday afternoon at Centralia High school.
A sign reading, "Look what's new!" is seen in front of numerous amounts of library and classroom materials stored on senior deck Thursday afternoon at Centralia High school.
Brandy Schrader, left, takes a picture of Lindsey Johnson, right, and Karen Replogle, center, in front of the class of 2005 mural during building tours Thursday afternoon at Centralia High school.
Mekenzie Eastman holds her son Justin Strickland, 1, as she walks around the school she graduated from Thursday afternoon at Centralia High school.
The Sprague and Iverson families socialize during building tours Thursday afternoon at Centralia High school.
Dorinda Iverson points to her signature on the science room roof during building tours Thursday afternoon at Centralia High school.
Principal Josh Lowe walks through a corridor at the school during building tours Thursday afternoon at Centralia High school.
Ed Petersen takes a group of visitors to the basement during building tours Thursday afternoon at Centralia High school.
Tami Fugate, left, a former preschool teacher at the school takes a picture of the 'Cubs Club' mural during building tours Thursday afternoon at Centralia High school.
"The past has no power over the present moment" is seen written on the window during building tours at Centralia High School.
Julie Iverson talks about dissecting frogs in science class in this very room during building tours Thursday afternoon at Centralia High school.
Before Centralia High School goes through a complete, like-new remodel, former students had the opportunity this week to revisit their old stomping grounds.
The “Memory Walk Through” for both students and community members took place from 6-7 p.m. on Thursday evening and is set to take place again from 6-7 p.m. on Friday evening.
Mekenzie Eastman, who graduated in 2014, came back to see the high school with her son. She said it felt emotional to walk around the school.
“I got married right out of high school and I’m not with him anymore, so it’s pretty emotional,” Eastman said. “Choir was my life, so I went and sat in the choir room for probably 20 minutes and just went and looked at things.”
Eastman said she came back to the school fairly often and to visit her former teachers.
“I’m just glad that the murals are still here, so I can get a picture with me and my son in front of the mural,” Eastman said. “But it’s definitely weird seeing (everything) gone and things out of place.”
The murals, which nearly every graduating class painted on the wall, are various designs that show off school pride. Each one is signed by the graduating class.
“We’re not entirely sure what year they started doing it,” said Ed Petersen, public relations and communications coordinator for Centralia School District. “The earliest one we have on the walls is 1989. Somewhere along the line, somebody got the idea that they wanted to ask if they could paint a mural for their graduating class on a wall and everybody could sign and leave their mark on it.”
Petersen said the district took high-resolution pictures of the murals and will feature them in the new building.
Josue Lowe has been the principal for five years and an administrator in the building for 13 years. He said that a modernized facility is what’s best for the students, and that he is excited to see what’s coming.
“Tonight has been amazing,” Lowe said. “I’ve heard a lot of war stories from 30, 40 years ago. I’m pleased with the turnout. It’s been great to connect with some people who were here long before I was and hear about what the school was like in the 1970s and the 1980s, how it’s changed, how it’s the same and also that they’re eager to see the new school.”
The high school opened in 1969, replacing the “old” high school at the current site of Centralia College downtown.
“They pretty well figured out that they didn’t have enough space,” said Tim Browning, who is on the Centralia Community Foundation board of directors. “When you start needing a place for automobiles — there was no place for cars downtown … it was pretty clear, even in those days, that the college was going to grow. There was no place for it to grow if the high school was there.”
Browning graduated from the old high school in 1960. He said that people still refer to the high school that is set to receive a remodel as the “new school.”
“The downtown high school had been there for so many years,” Browning said. “It housed so many generations of students. It had housed the college for several years on the third floor. It was an integral part of downtown, so to make a move away from downtown, to move out and build a new modern school, that was a big thing.”
Centralia School Board vice president Bob Fuller attended the Memory Walk Through with his wife, Merrill Fuller, who graduated from Centralia High School in 1966.
“I graduated from Chehalis in ‘66 and she graduated from here in ‘66,” Fuller said. “It’s nice to see what it looks like now, but it’s nice to see what it’s really going to look like when it’s done and really give you that perspective.”
Merrill, who graduated from the “old school,” noted that it was difficult to see it torn down at the time.
“There were just a couple classes after me before they got rid of it,” Merrill said. “My sister had graduated there and I had four years there...it was a neat old building.”
She said that a new “new school” was exciting to her.
“A lot of people refer to it as the ‘new high school,’ but it’s not — it’s a mess,” Merrill said. “It’s been a mess for years, so this is wonderful. The kids are going to have a beautiful school.”
This full, like-new remodel of Centralia High School is part of a $74 million bond that voters approved in 2017. The bond is set to fund the remodel, as well as the construction of two new elementary schools that will replace Fords Prairie and Jefferson Lincoln.
