Laurie Youngquist by Noble Huffacker
Laurie Youngquist (student 1975-1979, current teacher)
The idea of returning to your high school after graduation is hard to imagine, but not for Mrs. Youngquist. We all know her as the friendly nutrition teacher, always cooking up treats. Once a student walking the halls of Cascade, she agreed to reminisce with us about her teenage years and how life as back in the 70’s for her. “I really liked to cook and I did a lot of sowing.” Obviously, her teen age years affected her career choice.
Mrs. Youngquist didn’t have to worry about earning money growing up. In fact, she was only allowed to get a job during the summer. “I worked in the summer because my parents didn’t let us work during the school year; we were supposed to be involved with school. In the summer I babysat. One year I had a job to address envelopes to everyone in the city of Evergreen. It was either one cent or three cents an envelope, I can’t remember which.” Although, her parents probably didn’t have a need to ask her to help with finances. “I believe we were coming out of a recession. It was beginning to look a bit promising.” She was involved in a lot of after school activities. “I was on the swim team and on the track team, and I was in what you would probably consider now leadership. It was called boys club and girls club back then.” She considered herself an average teenager.
How Mrs. Youngquist had time for so many extra activities after school is an easy concept. She was involved in a lot of after school activities. “I was on the swim team and on the track team, and I was in what you would probably consider now leadership. It was called boys club and girls club back then.” On the weekends she enjoyed being with her friends as typical teenagers do. “If it was fall I would be at the football game; everyone went and the stadium was packed. We could hardly walk up and down the aisles, it was so crowded and there would always be a dance to go after the game.” Remembering dances, and the people she spent time with reminded us that people change over the years. An example would be her date for the Christmas dance, “I went with a boy named Greg Anderson and when we went to our thirtieth anniversary he got the award of being divorced and married the most.”
In the seventies, school was much different from today. When asked if she thought the media influenced us more than the teenagers back then she stated, “Tons more now; we had nothing. My senior year one of my friends had a VCR and we watched a tape. Before that we watched TV whenever they decided to play it. Once a year they played the Sound of Music and everyone watched it at the same time.” Cascade also wasn’t as diverse as it is now - “It was a school full of white kids, and we had a couple of students in our class that weren’t white, but not like it is now.” That didn’t mean there was a lot of discrimination, though. Mrs.Youngquist also had trouble recalling much violence in the school at all. “I don’t really remember a whole lot of fights.” That’s not just for school either. There was lack of violence in all of the city of Everett. “I felt pretty safe; I can’t think of anywhere in Everett I would have felt unsafe. Even in the night.”
One thing that hasn’t changed is the use of illegal substances. “Most people I knew had done marijuana, but marijuana was very different than it is now. Most people I knew drank.” She also had the use of a car to drive around in. “I wish I had known something about cars. I had to change a tire once, because my dad made me before I could get my license.”
All in all, the teenage life back then was pretty similar to ours. She was too young to remember major events like Woodstock, as she had graduation in 1979. As she was in high school, they were finishing up the Vietnam War. She went to the Space Needle as a kid, and she remembers Everett as a bit smaller, but when it comes down to it she was just like us. She was close to her parents, got along well with her peers, active in school, and enjoyed every minute. After learning so much about her life, it’s no wonder she returned here later in life to the place that held so many good memories, bringing the past into the future.
The idea of returning to your high school after graduation is hard to imagine, but not for Mrs. Youngquist. We all know her as the friendly nutrition teacher, always cooking up treats. Once a student walking the halls of Cascade, she agreed to reminisce with us about her teenage years and how life as back in the 70’s for her. “I really liked to cook and I did a lot of sowing.” Obviously, her teen age years affected her career choice.
Mrs. Youngquist didn’t have to worry about earning money growing up. In fact, she was only allowed to get a job during the summer. “I worked in the summer because my parents didn’t let us work during the school year; we were supposed to be involved with school. In the summer I babysat. One year I had a job to address envelopes to everyone in the city of Evergreen. It was either one cent or three cents an envelope, I can’t remember which.” Although, her parents probably didn’t have a need to ask her to help with finances. “I believe we were coming out of a recession. It was beginning to look a bit promising.” She was involved in a lot of after school activities. “I was on the swim team and on the track team, and I was in what you would probably consider now leadership. It was called boys club and girls club back then.” She considered herself an average teenager.
How Mrs. Youngquist had time for so many extra activities after school is an easy concept. She was involved in a lot of after school activities. “I was on the swim team and on the track team, and I was in what you would probably consider now leadership. It was called boys club and girls club back then.” On the weekends she enjoyed being with her friends as typical teenagers do. “If it was fall I would be at the football game; everyone went and the stadium was packed. We could hardly walk up and down the aisles, it was so crowded and there would always be a dance to go after the game.” Remembering dances, and the people she spent time with reminded us that people change over the years. An example would be her date for the Christmas dance, “I went with a boy named Greg Anderson and when we went to our thirtieth anniversary he got the award of being divorced and married the most.”
In the seventies, school was much different from today. When asked if she thought the media influenced us more than the teenagers back then she stated, “Tons more now; we had nothing. My senior year one of my friends had a VCR and we watched a tape. Before that we watched TV whenever they decided to play it. Once a year they played the Sound of Music and everyone watched it at the same time.” Cascade also wasn’t as diverse as it is now - “It was a school full of white kids, and we had a couple of students in our class that weren’t white, but not like it is now.” That didn’t mean there was a lot of discrimination, though. Mrs.Youngquist also had trouble recalling much violence in the school at all. “I don’t really remember a whole lot of fights.” That’s not just for school either. There was lack of violence in all of the city of Everett. “I felt pretty safe; I can’t think of anywhere in Everett I would have felt unsafe. Even in the night.”
One thing that hasn’t changed is the use of illegal substances. “Most people I knew had done marijuana, but marijuana was very different than it is now. Most people I knew drank.” She also had the use of a car to drive around in. “I wish I had known something about cars. I had to change a tire once, because my dad made me before I could get my license.”
All in all, the teenage life back then was pretty similar to ours. She was too young to remember major events like Woodstock, as she had graduation in 1979. As she was in high school, they were finishing up the Vietnam War. She went to the Space Needle as a kid, and she remembers Everett as a bit smaller, but when it comes down to it she was just like us. She was close to her parents, got along well with her peers, active in school, and enjoyed every minute. After learning so much about her life, it’s no wonder she returned here later in life to the place that held so many good memories, bringing the past into the future.