Seward School Days

By 1905, the settlement of Seward had a name, and a school as well. The first public school was held at the Methodist Church, the home of Frank Ballaine, and the Fire Hall. Money and qualified teachers were scare, so school was only held six months a year. In 1915, high school courses were added, taught at first by the elementary school teachers. By 1919, there were seven high school students.

In 1928, the student body of fourteen students and a faculty of four teachers moved from temporary quarters in the Ray Building, to a spacious new building which had been erected for grade and high school. That year the first graduate of Seward High School received a diploma for the completion of the four year course of study.

Some of the Seward High traditions started in the 1920s, with the very first high school class. “Initiation Week” for the Freshmen by the Seniors occurred the second week of the school year.

“We had to wear our trousers inside out and backwards,” recalls Dr. James Simpson, Class of 1942. “We had to show respect to all seniors and were told to do something outlandish. Sing the Seward High School song, carry their books, clean their shoes. One freshman had to roll an egg across the auditorium floor with his nose.”

“I remember Jenny Skinner had to walk around in cannery boots filled with maple syrup and raw eggs,” remembers Kim Kowalski-Rogers, Class of 1973. “It was also in her hair. Yuk!”

The “Senior Sneak” was also an early tradition at Seward High School, some classes were better behaved than others.

“We drove to Moose Pass and had the use of Mr. Baker's cabin. We were well chaperoned,” says Simpson of his 1942 Class. “Mostly walked by the lake, chatted with our classmates, and ate good food. We each had to bring some sort of dish, vegetable or bakery goodies. We were very good.”

“Our class went to Hope. I'm not sure the road to Anchorage was finished then, so our range of territory was rather limited,” suggests Carol Trevethan-Lindsey, Class of 1954. “I do remember a group of older girls who ‘borrowed’ a baby coffin from the mortuary. They put a doll in it, stabbed the doll, sprinkled ketchup on the wound, and put it on the front doorstep of the Home Economics teacher’s house. She promptly fainted and had to be taken to the hospital. To my knowledge, that was those girls only ‘criminal’ activity, and they were reformed after that incident! An earlier class held a graduation party at the old Boy Scout's cabin at the head of the bay, and it burned down.”

While hazing has been banned from high school activities, Seward students aren’t afraid to mix it up a little. According to Louie Bencardino, recently students have been known to streak down Fourth Avenue.