Time flies when you’re having fun – and, also, when you’re learning things.
While no one was looking, Irving Park Elementary School became a centenarian. At least, it would have become a centenarian if the school were a person, because it just turned 100 years old.
On Friday afternoon, October 6, the school threw a grand party for itself at which it welcomed back former students, their parents and former and present educators and administrators who all celebrated the milestone in a big way along with current students and employees.
At the event, present and past student and faculty guest speakers told their best stories about the school and gave accounts of the impact that the school has had on their lives.
There was also a special performances by current students–not to mention bluegrass music from Three Alley Rabbits, art projects, yard games and a dunk tank.
School staff also gave tours of the facility during the celebration.
The Irving Park neighborhood – designed to be a more elegant neighborhood for those working in downtown Greensboro – got most of its homes during a building spree between 1910 and 1940.
The school was built in 1923.
The school currently has about 600 students who are in Pre-K programs through the 5th grade classes.
The school now houses a performing and visual arts program – and it was the first school in Guilford County to implement the STEAM learning model, which combines science, technology, engineering, the arts and math to encourage inquiry and develop problem-solving skills in students. A “STEAM Room” has been created on campus to house materials and provide a place for “hands on” learning opportunities.
There is no room at the facility for taking steam baths.
The school’s campus features, among other things, an outside full-court basketball court – though in the past there have been long stretches of time when the tattered nets were not regularly replaced. Full-court basketball courts are a rarity in Greensboro ever since the city went through a phase two decades ago where the city Parks and Recreation Department turned most of the city’s full-courts into one-basket courts
Photo By Irving Park PTA
I went to that school. My mom rented a violin for me. After a whole semester of classes, I don’t think anyone in the class learned how to tune that thing (it has no frets, either). We used tuning forks – good luck with that with a herd of 10-year olds.