As Shock Passes, Glassboro High Prepares For The President

Posted: June 15, 1986

It was Roy Holland who got the call.

A man who identified himself as Mr. Hankler, a White House aide, said the President wanted to speak at a high school graduation ceremony, said Holland, the principal of Glassboro High School, "and would we be interested?"

The rest, as they say, is history.

President Reagan will be the guest speaker at commencement exercises Thursday at Glassboro High. He will give a diploma and a handshake to each of the school's 130 graduating seniors. He will address the students and their parents in either the school gym or auditorium and then speak to the community on the hockey field behind the school.

Much has been confirmed since Monday afternoon when Holland got that fateful call.

But much remains to be planned. There is, for example, the small matter of what time of day the graduation ceremonies will be held. That decision is expected tomorrow.

"But we're in good shape," Nicholas A. Mitcho, the superintendent of schools, said Friday, one day after the formal announcement of the President's planned visit.

"The only change in the graduation ceremonies this year," Mitcho said, ''is that the President will be speaking."

What the superintendent means, he is quick to point out, is that ''everything possible is being done to maintain the dignity of the ceremony and its meaning for students and their families."

The seniors, who in past years have gotten five or six tickets for their

families, will get five this year.

And a photographer has been hired to take snapshots of each graduate in his or her moment with the chief executive.

And the tickets and the program bulletin have been redesigned.

And there are plans to have eight high school marching bands (invited from surrounding communities) play "Hail To The Chief" as the President arrives.

"And we'll have little American flags," said Joanne Birmingham, 17, a junior and treasurer of the Student Government Association.

Birmingham said she was one of about 20 students who volunteered to help direct cars in the parking lot on graduation day in exchange for the right to stand in a reserved area when Reagan addresses the community.

"We're trying to involve as many of our students from throughout the district as possible," Mitcho said. Teams of Glassboro students joined school officials and White House aides on Friday to plan for the big day.

"A lot of little things are being done to make this as pleasurable as possible for the students," said John Aveni, one of two vice principals.

But adding the President to the program has made some things harder for students.

Reporters and photographers still were milling about in the high school hallways Friday, hoping to interview students, who were hoping to finish their final exams.

"It's like a zoo," said Elizabeth Badin, a math teacher at the high school. "Do you know how hard it is for kids to concentrate on finals in this atmosphere?"

Many students, worried about having one of the most significant days in their lives usurped by the President, initially had mixed reactions to the news of his planned visit.

But by Friday afternoon, when the last final exam had been taken, the students began to relax and enjoy the attention.

"At first, we were so unsure, and it was such a total shock," said Ruth Lockbaum, the senior-class president. "But now we're getting more and more excited."

Once the reality of the impending visit began to sink in around town, the theme seemed to be "Think Commemorative."

"We've had a few calls from people asking about vending permits," said Marianne Ashenfelter, the deputy borough clerk. One enterprising caller said he might sell commemorative T-shirts. Others were interested in selling water ice.

But they may have some competition from the students.

"We figure that if people arrive early for the second event and have to wait around, they'll get hungry," said Mitcho. So the festive "second event," Reagan's speech to the community, may become an opportunity for the band boosters to earn a little money for their cause by selling refreshments.

As the initial shock of the news led to rejoicing and then serious planning, Kay Mumford, Mitcho's secretary, thought about the time 19 years ago when former President Lyndon Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin held face-to-face talks at Glassboro State College. And she thought about how the school district and the town might fare this time around in the glare of public scrutiny.

"Just don't call us an obscure, sleepy little college town in South Jersey," she said.

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