9th Grade

The year is 1995-1996. The time is 8:00 and everyone is huddled into the gymnasium impatiently waiting for Mr. Moorehead to start the orientation.  Everyone was talking, staring at each other, and comparing uniforms.  Finally, after a couple of minutes, Mr. Moorehead interrupted us as he made his welcome remarks.  Afterwards, we were lucky to hear from a senior's point of view about the do's and don'ts at Central high School.  Desha Lynch, the senior class president for that school year talked about how skipping is a dont and that a solid education is a must at CHS.  Later we were called to the front of the gym, where we met our homeroom teachers, who gave us our schedules.
   
Our first day of school.....we can remember it clearly as if it was yesterday.  We were so amazed and felt so scared as we faced upper-classmen.  They all considered us "fresh meat", but we acted as if we ran CHS.  Unfortunately, that was the year CHS obtained most failures.  Our freshman class felt that they had to take advantage of their freedom so guess what they decided to do.....they skipped as if there was no tomorrow.
   
In December, the annual Miss CHS pageant was held.  It was a great show.  Everyone expected Latoya Williams to win after her slammin' original talent.  She was the first girl to perform that talent.  She Chanted!  Trailing right behind was Denise Quinland and her flute and voice performance.  It was altogether a breath-taking showcase from each contestant.
   
Moving right along, we took our first mid-term exam as high school freshmen.  Teachers like Mr. Bryan, Mr. Schmidt, Fr. Henry, Ms. Lester, Mrs. Schuster and all the others were quite a change from junior high school.  Boy were we scared out of our shoes when we found out that we had Mrs. Schuster for Algebra. Eventually, we found out that she was not as bad as we thought. 
   
It was a great year and we were ahead and ready to soar into higher heights.  It seemed that we would be in the 9th grade forever, but we were wrong.  Later on in the year we had different talent shows that were the "BOMB".  It was back in them days they had talent shows and the gym was ram pack with students.
   
We cant forget our arch rivals the Complex.  We went to war with them competing in different sports.  We all know that Central was the best of course.  We won at basketball, volleyball, you name it, we did it.

10th Grade

The 1996-1997 school year got off to an interesting start.  Since Central High School was twenty-eight years old, it had major problems.  Because these problems were ignored for so many years, the PTA decided to take a stand.  They pressured the Department of Education until their concerns were addressed.  As a result CHS was the last public school on the island to be opened. 

    Although school year 96-97 got off to a rocky start, as the year moved along things began to smooth out.  As sophomores we met our new teachers, and students.  One famous teacher of the 96-97 school year was Dr. Tick.  He was well known for his "puns", as he called them.  Some other teachers were Mrs. Fernella Campbell who was well known for her classy style of dressing, and last but not least, the fathers of all fathers, Father Henry who was known for his church services, excuse me, "class lessons".  These teachers alongside the Schusters made our tenth grade year unforgettable.

    Later that year a brief sadness overshadowed the CHS faculty and students with the death of Ms. Laverne Smith, a long time science teacher.

    On a brighter note the first "African Heritage King and Queen" pageant was held.  There were nine contestants.  The winners were Monique Marlin and Shamel Proctor.

    Close to the end of the school year when most sophomores were studying "The Tragedy of Julius Ceasar", the students of Ms. Kathleen Williams' English ten class weren't.  Why you ask?  Well, Ms. Williams retired and was replaced with Mr. Oliva who was a very creative teacher.  The students in Mr. Oliva's class were engaged in producing commercials, press conferences, and a whole host of creative activities.

    As the year winded down and the graduating class of 1997 got prepared to leave Central High, we, the graduating class of 1999 got ready to move into the next level of out education, because we were a class filled of enthusiasm and high spirit.

11th Grade

It was the last week of August and the countdown continued.  Two more years until we walk down the isle on graduation day.  There we were sitting in the Gym, awaiting the speeches from the various speakers, as we were informed on how the new modified block schedule would work.  The only thing that we paid attention to was the fact that instead of eight classes per day, we would receive four and we would not be forced to see the teacher everyday.  This was the year of elections of our class officers.  Dana Philogene ran uncontested and won the position of class president.  LaToya Jeffers was challenged by Tracy Maynard, Randy Malone, and Joy Richardson and won the position of class Vice-President.  Jenell Dore and Rashemah Stridiron ran uncontested and won the position of secretary and treasurer respectively.

The class of 1999 was given the responsibility of throwing the Junior-Senior Prom for the graduating seniors.  Thus, the prom committee was formed, headed by Charles "Reggie" Ward and Mr. Noel Harris.  The prom, which was a success, was held on Hotel on the Cay and the theme was "Moonlight Becomes You".  In addition, we had the honor of holding the first annual CHS Valentine's Day Ball.

The class was hit strongly at the beginning of the year when due to circumstances beyond our control, our assistant principal had to leave us.  With all the ups and downs, with the strong leadership of our officers and with the support of the teachers we survived.  We were proud and privileged to have two of our juniors, Dana Philogene and Gistelle Estridge, run for the title of Miss African Heritage.  Dana won first place but later had to fulfill the obligations as the reigning queen.  No one could stop CHS that year.  We were in the paper all of the time.  The CHS Steel Orchestra participated and won first and third place in the festival parade.  The CHS Choir also participated in the festival parade and participated in the Gateway Music Festival in Atlanta, GA.  CHS took first place in the Annual Moot Court Competition, and Chapter 7406 of FBLA came home from their State Leadership Conference in St. Thomas with numerous awards.

WOW!!!  With all the ups and downs, CHS still managed to stay on top.  The seniors graduated and we, the juniors, were right behind them ready to take their place.

Now we are faced with the responsibility of succeeding as the first ninth grade class at CHS, the last graduating class of the millennium and the first college freshmen class of the year 2000.

12th Grade

The time was 9:00AM and the gym was gradually getting packed with exuberant seniors.  We were both happy and relieved to finally approach our senior year at Central High.  The year started off rough as we were faced with Hurricane Georges.  It wasn't as bad as Hurricane Hugo, but we still received some damage at our school.  When we were scheduled back to school every one was surprised to see our courtyard without any trees.  It was completely bare and was more like a sunyard than a courtyard.  A couple of days later, FEMA visited our school to get the full coverage on Hurricane Georges.  Dana Philogene and Jeannette Larsen, President and Vice-President of Student Council, along with Mr. Kent Moorehead, our principal, were interviewed.

Ah yo kno we kyan go ah year without a fight, so of course there were numerous fights throughout the year.  That was the year we were challenged by the 4x4 schedule.  Some students felt that it was an easier schedule while others disliked it.  Now u kno election time was round deh corna!  "Let the Bull loose and take on the Undertaker!" was all we heard throughout that time.  It was all in favor of Charles Turnbull and Gerard Luz James II.  Throughout the year we had several fundraising activities such as, a Halloween Haunted House, China Dan Jams, Bake Sales, Gift Wrapping in Sunny Isles, Candy-O-Gram for Valentines Day and Food Sales at School.

Not to forget our success, the Chorus and Dance Ensemble traveled to Atlanta to compete in the Gateway Music Festival.  They brought back numerous awards.  The Accreditation team also paid us a visit to inspect our school.  They interviewed teachers, parents, administrators and students.  Despite all our glory, we were faced with the deaths of Gregory Stokes, Mrs. Dorothy Walcott and Lizaida Cruz.  These were truly sad moments.  May God Bless them and may they Rest in Peace.  Our Senior Year indeed was a great year.  Though it is not the end but the beginning, we will always strive for excellence, for "KNOWLEDGE IS POWER".