An essay by Stephen Prilliman, Class of ‘94

Please note:  If any

On a cool October evening in 1990, the Northwest Classen Knights football team took the field at Taft Stadium against the Choctaw Yellojackets before the larger than usual homecoming crowd.  At each game that season we had wondered, would this the game that we would break the streak?  The streak.  The longest losing streak in prep football in the nation, a streak that had lasted four years and forty-three games.  Could our new coach, Larry Mantle, the brother of baseball legend Mickey Mantle lead us to victory?  We had asked this at each game – Capitol Hill, Grant, Putnum City –  and each time the answer was no.  But on this evening, Taft Stadium was abuzz.  Going into the forth quarter, the score was 7-0 in our favor.  Everyone in the stadium closely followed every move on the field, though keeping an eye on the clock on the scoreboard behind the north endzone.  When the clock read 0:00 we had won, ending the streak at 43.  The students rushed the field joining in an awesome celebration, one that a Daily Oklahoman reporter said rivaled any state championship celebration he had seen.  It was, indeed, our championship, the greatest football victory I saw Northwest Classen.  However, even with all the celebration, one must admit that in the grand scheme, it was a small victory, made special only because of so many defeats before it.  Life at Northwest Classen in the early 90’s greatly paralleled that Homecoming game.  The school’s many problems and difficulties formed a backdrop against which our improvements and accomplishments stood out even more.

Northwest Classen is a very different school than it was forty years ago. Drawing its students from all over the continually changing near-northwest side of town, the student body is the most diverse in the district, possibly in the state.  Approximately one third of the students are white, one third African-American, the remaining third being equally divided between Hispanic and Asian.  As of 1997, fully two-thirds of the students are eligible or free lunch, placing them at or below 185 % of the poverty level.

Crime and gangs dogged the school during the early 90’s.  During my sophomore and junior years there was a shooting in the parking lot, a drive-by shooting, two stabbings, an alleged rape and a brawl following a basketball game at Capitol Hill.  Ostensibly because of our involvement in the brawl at Capitol Hill (which by the accounts of all eyewitnesses, including myself, was not our fault) led to the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Athletic Association barring us from hosting a basketball regional that year. This period was a very turbulent time at Northwest and though such violence has not been repeated since, there has been a lasting impression in the community of a Northwest as a high crime school.  The metal detectors one must now pass through to enter the school do much to reinforce this image.

Our school also faces many other problems that are less dramatic, though no less troublesome.  There is a high pregnancy rate.  Drug and alcohol use is prevalent, though not necessarily on campus.  A sizable percentage of students work part time jobs during the school year which uses time that might otherwise be spent on academic or extra-curricular persuits.  Academic success is, in general, low as indicated by the small number of graduating students who attend four year colleges immediately after graduation, less than 20%.  In fairness, this number is skewed by the fact that many graduates attend two year colleges then transfer to four year schools.  However, this figure is compellingly low considering how few students take such a definitive educational step, one that is often assumed for their suburban and private school peers.

There are, however, many good things that happen at Northwest.  There are many good teachers on the faculty who maintain high academic standards and truly help their students, noteably through the Advanced Placement program which offers college level material and an opportunity to gain college credit.  Students continue to win city- and state-wide recognition for academics, with some being accepted to nationally acclaimed universities.  A sizable percentage of students support athletics, fine arts, and service clubs as part of their extra-curricular involvement.  The interaction of students of different ethnic backgrounds builds far more tolerance and understanding than enmity.  Also, there are still many things about life at NWC would still be recognizable to alumni.  Homecoming still includes floats (although, at least some years, they are “mini-floats” not the big street versions) and the crowing of a queen and king.  The battles for most school spirit still exist, although it is now between the various class years instead of the pep clubs.  In fact, the line of the fight song which once read “Lancers, Coronets, Falcons, and Cygnets are with you” now sings “Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors….”.  Every pep assembly and game still ends with the playing of the Alma Mater.  Though the Purple and Gold does not have the dominating presence it once had on the athletic field, many of our teams continue to succeed, most notably, during my time, our ‘93 and ‘94 boys basketball teams which made it to the state championship tournament, providing a good deal of excitement along the way.  Though these achievements may seem small in comparison to other schools or to our own school in the past, the persistent success of the academic, athletic and extra-curricular pursuits at Northwest Classen is magnified by the difficulties that students and teachers must overcome to achieve them.

Northwest Classen, despite all the changes, is also still a place with a sense of pride and a sense of history.  Those of us who attended our school in later years knew the proud tradition of the school and sought to connect with and to recapture that tradition.  If Northwest Classen is to regain her former glory it will most likely be with the help of many of those who first made it great, those of  you reading this newsletter.  When listing the good things that have happened to Northwest in the 90’s, one must not overlook the founding of this Alumni Association.  It may not have been as exciting as that Homecoming victory against Choctaw in 1990, but it has much more promise for the future, a future which I hope blends the best of the past with the best of the present.