By Mary O’KEEFE

Fifty years of tradition and excellence was celebrated Friday at Rosemont Middle School.

Assistant principals Ron Sowers and Ann Amrhein hosted a luncheon for past and present staff of the school. The luncheon was a time to catch up with old friends and colleagues.

If anyone knows the staff well it is Sowers who has been with the school for 40 years. For the first 20 years he was the industrial arts, shop, teacher and for the last 20 he has been the assistant principal.

Two past principals joined in the celebration. Sam Nicholson was the second principal at Rosemont and Sally Buckley who retired from the school in 2009 was there.

“If you want to get mad at somebody you can yell at [Nicholson]. He is the one who hired me,” said Sowers.

“It is a pleasure to be here to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Rosemont Middle School. What a school this has been all these years in our community,” Nicholson said. “I am just proud to have played a small part in the development of the excellence of Rosemont.”

“It is a marvelous school. It has been a top notch school since it opened and it is because of you,” Buckley said, addressing former and present staff.

Staff that was no longer at the school was invited up to the dais along with a few that had been at the school for many, many years. Among those returning staff was math teacher Jack Silberstein who began his teaching career at Rosemont in 1958.

After the introductions it was time for lunch and more reminiscing. Debbie Koegler was Rosemont’s home economics teacher for 12 years.

“It was loads of fun [teaching at Rosemont]. There was always something exciting happening,” she said of her time at the school. “And the staff … I can’t say enough about them.

History teacher Mike Anker added that Rosemont prepares kids to enter high school and that kids have so many options to join clubs and to participate in activities.

“That is [the school’s] strength. There is so much [for kids] to do,” he said.

The administration is in the process of scheduling a large community celebration as well as a recognition with students but Friday it was a more subdued time to thank those who paved the way and celebrate the school’s long history.

  Rosemont Middle School