Scott High School kicks off 100th anniversary year with a party

Sorry Spar­tans, Reb­els, Rams, Polar Bears, and In­di­ans, but 2013 is the year of the Bull­dogs.

Scott High School, opened in 1913 on Coll­ing­wood Bou­le­vard, kicked off its cen­ten­nial cel­e­bra­tion Thurs­day, the start of a year of events that will bring the Bull­dog Na­tion’s past and pres­ent to­gether. About 300 at­tended the event in Scott’s field­house, where proc­la­ma­tions were made, alumni hon­ored, and trib­utes to the school given.

“A hun­dred years, woo!” yelled stu­dent body pres­i­dent Akia Wil­liams as she started the show. “That’s a looooong time.”

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Much has hap­pened at Scott over those 100 years, with thou­sands walk­ing its halls, in­clud­ing dis­tin­guished vis­i­tors such as Rosa Parks, the Rev. Dr. Mar­tin Luther King, Jr., and Pres­i­dent Obama, said Toledo Board of Ed­u­ca­tion mem­ber Larry Sykes.

At Thurs­day’s rally were cur­rent and for­mer ad­min­is­tra­tors, grad­u­ates from the 1940s to 2012, city of­fi­cials, and long­time Scott fix­tures. Former choir mem­bers joined to sing the alma ma­ter, past cheer­lead­ers — in­clud­ing cur­rent prin­ci­pal Treva Jef­fries — joined the cur­rent squad, and a mix of alumni and cur­rent band mem­bers were led by Edward Dixon, long­time di­rec­tor of the Scott High School march­ing band.

Per­haps the big­gest cheer of the night came when Scott’s first black home­com­ing queen, Janet Quinn-Wyatt, Class of 1957, showed off cheer moves she re­mem­bered.

A re­fur­bished Scott High School re­opened last year af­ter a more than two-year, $42 mil­lion ren­o­va­tion. Most Toledo schools were re­con­structed dur­ing the dis­trict’s $635 mil­lion, de­cade-long build­ing pro­gram. Some were closed be­cause of en­roll­ment de­clines and de­mol­ished.

But the orig­i­nal Scott was saved, though it took a fight. The school’s size and cost to ren­o­vate left the build­ing’s fu­ture in limbo. Alumni and neigh­bors banded to­gether to push for ren­o­va­tion.

The dis­trict even­tu­ally be­gan ren­o­va­tion af­ter vot­ers ap­proved a bond is­sue. While a fight to get done, the fin­ished prod­uct has been ac­claimed as a suc­cess­ful res­tora­tion of what the Lu­cas County Board of Com­mis­sion­ers called “one of the most beau­ti­ful build­ings in the city of Toledo.”

“It will be here an­other 100 years,” Toledo Board of Ed­u­ca­tion Pres­i­dent Brenda Hill said of Scott, “and it will look just as good then.”

Scott pride abounded at the event, with the ob­li­ga­tory “Once a Bull­dog, al­ways a Bull­dog” dec­la­ra­tions fre­quent. It’s hard not to boast when it’s your year, af­ter all.

“If you didn’t go to Scott, your par­ents didn’t love you,” Scott alumni as­so­ci­a­tion Pres­i­dent Avie Dixon said to laughs from the crowd.

There are al­most 20 events sched­uled for Scott’s cen­ten­nial cel­e­bra­tion. The next event will be at the Jan. 25 bas­ket­ball game ver­sus Bow­sher High School at the Scott field­house.

The 100-year home­com­ing grand event will be Oct. 19, with a ban­quet at the SeaGate Con­ven­tion Cen­tre.

Con­tact Nolan Ro­senk­rans at:nro­senk­rans@the­blade.comor 419-724-6086.