Naomi Shank

We left Ontario two days after graduation and moved back down to California. I spent two years as a Journalism major at University of Southern California then transferred to the University of Wyoming and majored in History, but I caught pneumonia at the end of my 3rd year, missed three months of school and decided to take some time off and work for awhile. I worked for a defense contractor, a phone company, and a cable company, all the while starting over in college, and ended up graduating with honors in Anthropology in Colorado. I moved back to Southern California in 2002.

I started OHS in January 1979 after attending high school in Oceanside, CA and Tehran American School in Iran. We were evacuated from Iran during the first week of January and ended up in Ontario because we'd left our car and my cat there with my Grandmother before we'd left the States.

The very first day of school, I was sitting in Mrs. Oakes' English class when Mary Shepard walked in and spoke with Mrs. Oakes. She then came over to me, introduced herself, and invited me to have lunch with her. We went over to Jana Pewitt's house, and I got to know them. We spent the next year and a half hanging out together.

I remember well the trip the Spanish Club went on to Mexico City and Acapulco during our senior year. It was such a strange trip, it was amazing that we got back to Ontario in one piece. Mr. Ray, the Spanish teacher, kept falling asleep, and we lost him on several occasions. Von Burnham gave me all of our airplane tickets to hold just to make sure we could get home in case we lost Mr. Ray for good.