Help! My alma mater, El Paso High School, needs assistance.
The beautiful “Lady on the Hill,” as the school has been called, is getting ready to celebrate its 100th anniversary next year and Michael Montes, president of the school’s alumni association, has sent out a call for alumni to provide, as he put it, “your ideas, input and talents. What would you like to see be part of your Centennial?”
He says the centennial committee needs:
* Researchers to find archives in the Museum * Researchers to find alumni and classmates * Webmaster for Alumni webpage * Writers for our monthly newsletter * Help with Social Media * Graphic Designer
If you have any thoughts, contact Anna Mares for details at annamares@aol.com or email your ideas to that address.
I DO HAVE one tidbit of information to offer. Or rather, Nancy Hamilton, a classmate of mine at UTEP and a co-worker on The Prospector then, does.
A couple of years ago I wrote that Kristine Ferret was the first female principal at El Paso High School.
Wrong. Mrs. Ferret is the only woman principal at the school since the present building opened 99 years ago but the very first principal at the high school in 1885 was a lady named Emma Seabough.
Let Mrs. Hamilton, a historian who has authored several books, explain. She wrote:
“I ENJOYED your column about the EPHS lady principal. However, in researching ‘The Rise and Growth of Public Education in El Paso,’ Elaine Lewis Morrell’s MA thesis of 1936 for the University of Texas, I find that we had some earlier lady principals.
“In 1885-86 a high school was established on the second floor of the Central School with Miss Emma Seabough as principal … There was no graduating class that year. In 1886, Miss Ella B. Meekins (later to become Mrs. G. H. Wilkins) became principal and held the position for a number of years. She was assisted by the superintendent, who taught mathematics, and Miss Fannie Echols and Mrs. Leigh Clark, who taught English and Latin.
“There were two pupils in the graduating class of 1887. Mrs. Morrell taught at Austin High when I was there in the early 1940s.”
IT’S GOOD to set the record straight.
Oh, and let me inform you that El Paso High School has picked its Outstanding Ex of 2015. And what a selection!
It’s the remarkable Amada S. Flores, president and CEO of MST Consulting, Inc., dba AIM Construction, Inc.
In a business where few women seek success, she took a small investment and great work ethic and built it into a multi-million dollar construction firm.
SHE WAS HONORED by Major Gl James L. Terry with a certificate for outstanding workmanship and renovation at Fort Bliss in 2010. Also in 2010, AIM Construction was chosen by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as a Future 15 Company. And in 2012, she was chosen as Minority Contractor of the Year.
Then, in 2013, her firm was chosen as Texas Minority Business of the Year.
Now she will be honored by her high school.
A 1963 El Paso High School graduate, she has been involved in many projects at the school through the years and is currently co-chair with Sandy Aaronson for the Tiger Friends and Exes tiles project.
”I will continue to work and make ourselves available where needed to make our Centennial a smashing success,” she says.
OKAY, SO WHAT does all this have to do with sports? Well, not much except that sports figures have been chosen as Outstanding Exes before, including, to name a few, Jim Paul, Jerry Rubin, Jimmy Rogers Jr., Sammy Schneider, Wimbledon champion Dick Savitt (last year) and an old, creaky sports writer (the year before last).
Besides, hey! Spare me. El Paso High School is my alma mater.