Kim McAllister
Kim McAllister
Class of 1986
Kim McAllister graduated from Cascade High School in 1986. As a child/teenager she moved around a lot and lived in Utah, Kirkland, Everett, back to Kirkland and then back to Everett again. She currently lives four houses down from the last house she moved to and the one she lived in throughout high school. She went to James Monroe Elementary School and Eisenhower Middle School and then went to Cascade High School.
We had a really good soccer team boys and girls and the gymnastics team was still around; I know that they actually had a pretty good team but it was not something that was super popular. I don’t remember what time of year it was going on but it was kind of like they were off in one of the smaller gyms and it just was something that was kind of there. We had a good swim team. I’d say I knew more people on the swim team and they did have a really good swim team in that aspect. Some of the people that were on swim team were a little bit more popular just because you knew who they were. I don’t know if that necessarily made the sport. It was just a little bit more visible. There was obviously sport clubs or whatever you want to call it. You had your varsity cheer and your JV cheer and then the bruinettes. They were kind of the ones who didn’t make cheer. It was like a dance kind of thing; they did more with the flags and they did the dances and routines. I’m not sure if they did anything at outside events. It was kind of a joke. It wasn’t highly looked upon.
Classes were a little bit different; you guys have a lot more options than we did. I remember that was where I actually took my first computer class. It was computer programming so it was the basic little bit of programming and then we also did a little bit of keyboarding so it was like a typewriter. I also think we had book keeping as part of the options, and the shops, auto shop, and art. We had home economics. And then you just had the basic classes that you took. I think the only advanced classes there was were like English classes that were more advanced and honors classes. But there was only maybe one class like that. We had to take a foreign language but our options were much more limited than what you have now. I think we had to have 3 years. It seemed to me that not a lot of kids went to 4 year colleges. Also, there was the Del Sonics and jazz band. I don’t think it was as big as it is now. There was choir. Then you had your concert band and your symphonic band. There were actually a lot of choirs.
Homecoming was a big thing. I mean it was the whole week at school. There was the king and queen and all that stuff. Everybody would go to the game. It wasn’t something that was multi-generational and didn’t have multiple years doing something during homecoming; it’s just what you were focused on. The junior prom and senior ball were not exclusive for just juniors and seniors. You didn’t have to be a junior to go to junior prom or a senior to go to senior ball. It was just open. I don’t really remember the food drive. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen though. It was a different time. Something would usually happen to your mascot. The seniors would usually do something or another school would do something. I think Oak Harbor around that time had their anchor and someone stole it and dropped it off Deception Pass Bridge. I don’t think there was an official senior skip day. We didn’t have cell phones. We had a pay phone out in the courtyard. We didn’t have to pay for things as far as playing sports. You participated and they provided the equipment.
You know it was kind of like the same people doing ASB that kind of did everything. I would say that they were strong. I couldn’t tell you what they did or didn’t do. Obviously they were responsible for some of the dances and that kind of thing. It was actually more the class presidents you knew. There was like a pep assembly committee and five people in our computer club. I don’t really know what they did. Then we had the electronics club. We had DECA which is still around and the camera club. There was a service club and there was also a bowling team and bowling club. Big “C” was basically all the jocks.
I worked at Sears. I started out selling some shade of vacuum models and shoes. It was a great job. Our class was a pretty cohesive class. There was a lot of intermingling between grades but I would still say you had your stoners and your jocks and the people in the middle but I think overall we had about 450 in the graduating class. I don’t think we had a lot of foreign students. There were only a handful of African Americans and a few Asians. I was in the middle of the popularity scale. There were a lot of people around me who were stoners. But that was something I didn’t do and I chose to be friends with them rather than their enemy. I was also friends with a lot of the jocks. Your popularity in things wasn’t firmly defined though. When I went to Cascade, Jackson wasn’t there so everyone from May’s Pond, Mill Creek, and Silver Firs didn’t exist; all of those kids went to Cascade. It was pretty mixed in there.
We had acid washed jeans and full dresses for Homecoming. It was also the “punk” time. A lot of kids didn’t have the full on Goth look, but some of the guys were cutting edge. They were the ones who wore the trench coats; they had the spiked hair too. There were a couple of guys who wore the necklace with the studs. Madonna was sadly there too. I didn’t do the trends but I remember some girls who did the full on Madonna thing. I didn’t wear leg warmers. I remember we had the Cosby show and we went to movies in our free times.
There is nothing that would make me say, “Ah I wish I was still in high school,” but I don’t remember any negatives. After high school I went to WSU and lived in a dorm for two years and a house for two years.
Class of 1986
Kim McAllister graduated from Cascade High School in 1986. As a child/teenager she moved around a lot and lived in Utah, Kirkland, Everett, back to Kirkland and then back to Everett again. She currently lives four houses down from the last house she moved to and the one she lived in throughout high school. She went to James Monroe Elementary School and Eisenhower Middle School and then went to Cascade High School.
We had a really good soccer team boys and girls and the gymnastics team was still around; I know that they actually had a pretty good team but it was not something that was super popular. I don’t remember what time of year it was going on but it was kind of like they were off in one of the smaller gyms and it just was something that was kind of there. We had a good swim team. I’d say I knew more people on the swim team and they did have a really good swim team in that aspect. Some of the people that were on swim team were a little bit more popular just because you knew who they were. I don’t know if that necessarily made the sport. It was just a little bit more visible. There was obviously sport clubs or whatever you want to call it. You had your varsity cheer and your JV cheer and then the bruinettes. They were kind of the ones who didn’t make cheer. It was like a dance kind of thing; they did more with the flags and they did the dances and routines. I’m not sure if they did anything at outside events. It was kind of a joke. It wasn’t highly looked upon.
Classes were a little bit different; you guys have a lot more options than we did. I remember that was where I actually took my first computer class. It was computer programming so it was the basic little bit of programming and then we also did a little bit of keyboarding so it was like a typewriter. I also think we had book keeping as part of the options, and the shops, auto shop, and art. We had home economics. And then you just had the basic classes that you took. I think the only advanced classes there was were like English classes that were more advanced and honors classes. But there was only maybe one class like that. We had to take a foreign language but our options were much more limited than what you have now. I think we had to have 3 years. It seemed to me that not a lot of kids went to 4 year colleges. Also, there was the Del Sonics and jazz band. I don’t think it was as big as it is now. There was choir. Then you had your concert band and your symphonic band. There were actually a lot of choirs.
Homecoming was a big thing. I mean it was the whole week at school. There was the king and queen and all that stuff. Everybody would go to the game. It wasn’t something that was multi-generational and didn’t have multiple years doing something during homecoming; it’s just what you were focused on. The junior prom and senior ball were not exclusive for just juniors and seniors. You didn’t have to be a junior to go to junior prom or a senior to go to senior ball. It was just open. I don’t really remember the food drive. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen though. It was a different time. Something would usually happen to your mascot. The seniors would usually do something or another school would do something. I think Oak Harbor around that time had their anchor and someone stole it and dropped it off Deception Pass Bridge. I don’t think there was an official senior skip day. We didn’t have cell phones. We had a pay phone out in the courtyard. We didn’t have to pay for things as far as playing sports. You participated and they provided the equipment.
You know it was kind of like the same people doing ASB that kind of did everything. I would say that they were strong. I couldn’t tell you what they did or didn’t do. Obviously they were responsible for some of the dances and that kind of thing. It was actually more the class presidents you knew. There was like a pep assembly committee and five people in our computer club. I don’t really know what they did. Then we had the electronics club. We had DECA which is still around and the camera club. There was a service club and there was also a bowling team and bowling club. Big “C” was basically all the jocks.
I worked at Sears. I started out selling some shade of vacuum models and shoes. It was a great job. Our class was a pretty cohesive class. There was a lot of intermingling between grades but I would still say you had your stoners and your jocks and the people in the middle but I think overall we had about 450 in the graduating class. I don’t think we had a lot of foreign students. There were only a handful of African Americans and a few Asians. I was in the middle of the popularity scale. There were a lot of people around me who were stoners. But that was something I didn’t do and I chose to be friends with them rather than their enemy. I was also friends with a lot of the jocks. Your popularity in things wasn’t firmly defined though. When I went to Cascade, Jackson wasn’t there so everyone from May’s Pond, Mill Creek, and Silver Firs didn’t exist; all of those kids went to Cascade. It was pretty mixed in there.
We had acid washed jeans and full dresses for Homecoming. It was also the “punk” time. A lot of kids didn’t have the full on Goth look, but some of the guys were cutting edge. They were the ones who wore the trench coats; they had the spiked hair too. There were a couple of guys who wore the necklace with the studs. Madonna was sadly there too. I didn’t do the trends but I remember some girls who did the full on Madonna thing. I didn’t wear leg warmers. I remember we had the Cosby show and we went to movies in our free times.
There is nothing that would make me say, “Ah I wish I was still in high school,” but I don’t remember any negatives. After high school I went to WSU and lived in a dorm for two years and a house for two years.