1986-1987
				The school year started off quickly, with homecoming already on the mines of most students. The theme was “Through the Eyes of a Child,” which was chosen the previous year. A new addition to the pep rally was a laser tag show, and instead of buses the football players rode in trolley cars. The night was a fantasy with King Chad Clore and Queen Lori Smith reigning over. The game was a victory over the Lawence Centeral Bears, and the freshman class won the float contest (Martin 1). During the week before school started the marching band placed in the “Sweet Sixteen” at the state fair competition. Band director, Maud Hickey exclaimed that it was a magnificent start to the season (Martin 2). Deborah Buroff remembered this event well and stated that she was a devoted band geek after that summer (Buroff Personal Interview). The senior class president of the ’86-’87 school year was Pete Miller. His early goals were to organize the class, and unite them as a whole. By the first week of school, he had already begun working on plans for the Mini-O’s (Ciampa 1). At the beginning of the school year, the IDEA program got a lot of recognitions. For example, the first humanities class was established (Rhude 3). Parents were happy about this, but not too much about the effort to clean up rock music. The Parents’ Music Resource Center, led a campaign, to make explicit records have labels. Most agreed to this but then believed that they were trying to tempt teens with the labels. In due effect, the PMRC then considered pressuring authorities not to allow kids under the age of eighteen to attend concerts given by certain explicit groups unless accompanied by an adult (Klien 34). At the beginning of the school year the Alternative Programs got a new route. They included a new and unique learning experience to the curriculum this allowed juniors and seniors of the Special Education Program to work for school credit. Most jobs were in retail and food, but the primary goal was to give kids job entry-level skills. Students were worked with individually for a better experience and to cope with their needs. This prepared them for later in life (Passages XV 134). In additionto new learning experiences, Perry Meridian got new Windows computers. These were all the rage during this particular school year. The teachers were very excited that they could get movies with a click of a button or create banners and signs for their classes. Also added was new audiovisual equipment. Included items were cameras, televisions, and video cassettes. Also the library got over 21,100 new books (Passages XIV 213). In the country during this time, the United States of America celebrated the 200th anniversary of the United States Constitution. One former student of PMHS, Mr. Jim Tuttle, stated that “America was someone’s dream, we were living in it, and still are,” (Tuttle Personal Interview). On September 16,1986, President Ronald Reagan held a nationwide saying of the Pledge of Allegiance. Billions of people all over the country joined in for this two o’ clock experience (Passages XIV 22). The Perry Meridian Boys tennis team became a state power. The season ended excellently with a record of eighteen and six. They had incredible senior leadership, unity, and experience (Passages xv 156). Also in the 1986-1987 school years the first teacher of the year plaquewas awarded. Mr. Jerry Brown was the proud recipient (Passages XIV 86). Many students were cramming for the SAT test. The results were showing through the test scores. The Indianapolis Star stated that the Scholastic Aptitude Test was a making more students seek help. Also that it was more a test of readiness than skill. The Princeton Review and many other study organizations had said their student enrollment had risen by almost 8,000 people. Because of all this stress, colleges were promising to reduce their independence (Brock 4). Another issue in th community was teens with jobs. Most people believed that high school students should not have jobs. There were many varying opinions, but the majority of people said that jobs were a big time consumer (Brock 5). Brad Endris remembers his first job, “I would mow lawns all weekend to make money, my homework might have suffered, but I could get the things I wanted.” On the other hand his wife, Jeen, recalled her job added to the already stressed out environment of high school (Endris Personal Interview). In early December, the musical was set to be The Wizard of Oz. Current teacher, Ms. Christine Dearth, remembers watching it with her mother who was a teacher in the art department. Due to this, she got to be the littlest form of the wicked witch when she was melting (Dearth Personal Interview). Later on after winter vacation, the National Merit finalists were announced. They were Jill Dupaski, David Shreeve, and David Stone. They were chosen out of over one million that applied (Denzio 3). In February, David Shreeve was also named valedictorian of the class of ’87. He was ranked first out of three hundred and sixty-two in his class, with a grade point average of 4.619. Shreeve was a member of the majority of the band programs, orchestra, and had the lead in the winter play. Also, David Stone was the first ever recognized salutatorian at Perry Meridian. Stone was the captain of the Brain Game team for his junior and senior years. Both had planned to major in science during college (Parker 1). Another academic first was the academic banquet. Twenty-seven seniors were honored at the Schwitzwer Center on the University of Indianapolis camps. The honorees must have maintained a 3.5 grade point average for seven semesters. Many teachers were also invited and honored by their students. The 87’ prom theme was “Stand By Me” and put an emphasis on friendship. It was a night filled with romance and laughter, was the tag line. It was held at the Murat Temple with performances by a band called “Just Friends”. The colors were royal purple and gold, which added a mystical and magical touch to the evening (Antonopoulos 10). Over the summer, after school had ended the PanAm games took place (Passages XVI 45). Jeen Endris remembers her mom wearing the Amigo costume, and Debbie Buroff recalled marching at the Indianapolis Mortor Speedway with the band (Buroff Personal Interview). Due to the PanAm games the following school year was delayed by a week so that students might attend this once in a lifetime event (Crow 2).