It’s just another night on the job. Slinging a bag of camera gear over my right shoulder and juggling a notebook, the somewhat cumbersome camera, my coat and a petite leather handbag to match my fancy duds, I walk into the Hyatt to find the Incline High School 40th Anniversary Celebration already buzzing with excited people.

A sea of faces – some I know, some I don’t and many I didn’t know were alumni flood my field of vision. It’s a little overwhelming seeing 500 people packed into one big, beautiful room, but I am simply thankful to find a seat and a glass of wine. Did I mention that I’m from the class of ‘03?

As the school’s first principal, Carl Shaff, begins speaking, it is apparent that the memories are crystal clear. Memories of spending a night on the property with the brilliant, but slightly eccentric, architect, Edward Parsons, before the school was built. Or how Shaff insisted that a flat roof was just not the thing for IHS, and when the first winter came the floorboards in the gym buckled so badly from water damage that the shortest member of the boys’ basketball team could easily dunk a ball.

Among other principals and special guests, one pair of legendary educators, Artis Brandt and Larry Rumball, come forward to share their stories with the many classes of their graduates in the room.

Val Jackson, Class of ‘84 and secretary for Incline High School, said she felt like the anniversary was filled with family.

“It’s like one big family reunion,” she said in between hugs and gentle teasing from her classmates. “It’s just so great to see so many people that you shared your life with every single day, who probably spent even more time with you than your family.”
The mass reunion left many people groping for words to describe the event.

Speaking with one of the rare familiar faces from the 2000’s, millennium-class member Brian Pavone, I am happy to know that even as younger alumni we can share in the memories presented by the earlier classes.

“A lot of the people who spoke were before our time, but it was neat to hear that they shared the same experiences as us,” he said.

Although I didn’t have the chance to share in the early days of Incline High School I can imagine the stories coming to life in the school where most of us received our educations.

Being a Highlander is something I wouldn’t trade for the world. Being a Highlander means sitting in the same place your mother did years earlier in a third-floor English classroom, playing a varsity sport that helped win a state championship, drawing a peace sign in the snow while the Vietnam War continued overseas, wearing all the polyester you could get your hands on to school, participating in the JROTC program’s 25-year string of earning “Honor Unit with Distinction,” taking a trip to France with your language class, wearing the same marching band uniforms worn since the school was founded, or just walking through the linoleum-floored hallways with those yellow lockers.

People change, grow up, get married, divorced, have kids, a dog, retire ... but despite life’s path and the weight of the responsibilities that we all carry it’s nice to know that coming together again after so many years still leaves everyone refreshed and young again.

Jen Schmidt is a photographer for the Bonanza and a 2003 IHS graduate.