KAUKAUNA — The halls were buzzing with excitement Tuesday evening as current and former students descended on River View Middle School in Kaukauna for the building’s 100th anniversary open house.
The current River View Middle School opened in 1923 as Kaukauna High School, serving students in grades 9 – 12. There was a major addition in the 1950s and in 1999 the school became River View Middle School when the current Kaukauna High School opened. River View currently serves students in grades 5 – 8.
Current staff and students welcomed visitors to the lobby where they stopped at a table for maps and brochures, complete with boutonnieres for current and former staff members.
The display of high school yearbooks (the Papyrus) that spanned the entire 100 year history of the school was a popular stop. You could hear excited exclamations as people looked for and discovered photos of themselves or family members.
Staff members were on hand to welcome visitors and explain how the space currently is used at the middle school. Families enjoyed looking around classrooms to see what their current students are doing, and many visitors could be seen visiting their former classrooms and reminiscing about the classes and instructors they had during their time as students.
One visitor was former staff member Barbara Roloff, whose father, Paul Little was a former teacher, coach, and principal at Kaukauna High School from the early 1930s – 1950s. Roloff was born in 1933 when her father was a teacher at the school and said that she walked the halls when she was just a toddler, spending time at school with her dad. Roloff and her late husband, Ken, were both graduates of KHS and became longtime teachers there.
In addition to revisiting the history of the school, the event provided an opportunity for community members to see what is happening currently at River View. The music programs were showcased by student performances throughout the evening. Classrooms and student work were on full display. Community members visited the auditorium and tech ed spaces, and the library fab lab was humming with 3-D printers and displaying the many hands on opportunities available to students.
Band, orchestra and choir groups were on hand to entertain the visitors and refreshments were served in the cafeteria.
The parking lot was packed for most of the evening, with many community members still milling about when the event ended at 7:30 pm.
One staff member commented that the turn out was better than anticipated. It was clear from the energy in the halls that people were excited to visit the school and relive their own history.
