Saundra Westvang by Alex Smith
Class of 1968
I graduated in 1968 and was at Cascade for three years, because it was a three-year high school rather than a four-year. And we didn’t have middle school; we called it junior high, which was seventh, eighth and ninth grades.
[Sandra talking about the transition]
My sophomore year was a bit of a transition; there was a bigger school, more people, more responsibilities and harder classes, but every new year was exciting. You kind of looked up to the upperclassmen; they were pretty knowledgeable. I kind of felt naïve and young at the time.
[Sandra describing the structure of Cascade]
Cascade has a newer building now, because they remodeled it. I think the school opened in 1962 so I was there pretty close to its beginning and the facilities were nice; I haven't been back to high school since. The buildings back then were pretty standard; they were the same as they are now, they are just kind of updated a little now. So basically the interior has changed. The classrooms were basic rooms with, you know – the chairs were like this, and the desk was a little arm that you could write on. I don’t know what the tables look like now, they probably haven't changed a lot.
[Sandra talking about classes]
Most of the classes I took I were with kids my own age. As I got more electives then of course I might have a senior or two in my class, if it was like a foreign language or a typing class. There weren't too many opportunities, you know, for Honors classes. Well, they did kind of have Honors classes, I'm trying to remember what they called them… That is manual. But they did have an Honors system. I had Mr. Hopkins for History and Mrs. Durban for English; that’s hard to remember. I think Mr. Hamsun was a science teacher, and I had different art teachers, Mr. Marrow I'm sure. I took art because that was my major. But you know a lot of them are retired. It was a long time ago.
[Sandra talking about music]
I was in choir; I played the piano. I wasn't in band, because they didn’t really have anything like jazz band where you could have a piano. But they had orchestras. I played the violin in an orchestra; I don’t think they have those anymore. I know it was very good. I was also in musicals, which we had every year.
[Sandra talking about other classes]
I actually took [Photography] in college and I really love it, but they had art classes at Cascade, and you could take different PE classes if you wanted to, as well as foreign language classes. Girls had to do Home Ed, and both boys and girls had to take something I think called “Life on Living,” or at least in middle school they did. That was where boys would learn to sow and bake a little bit. Girls were really expected to know how to cook and sow, so they took those classes about things I don’t think you have to know. I think some of the basic classes were [required]. At least in middle school for sure you had to and I can't remember for high school; maybe I didn’t take any in high school. We could take a wood working class. Girls could take any mechanical-type classes – drafting or anything like that – but the boys would take those, so I think I took like History classes and Literature because I liked reading, but I also liked art so I would take as much art as I could. Yeah, I actually myself had a major in art.
[Sandra talking about graduation requirements]
You had to have so many credits to graduate; I don’t even remember how many you had to have, twenty-something. It was like you had to take certain classes and then you had a few electives you could take – you know, you had your Math and Science and History and English, and of course you had to have PE, and if you wanted to go to college you had to take another language. I took Spanish, because I thought it would be more useful – you know, Mexico is closer than if I were to go to France or Germany. All they offered were three languages, Spanish, German and French, but now they probably offer more now.
[Sandra talking about the restrictions on women]
I'm a schoolteacher now. What I can recall, being a woman now, was that they hardly had anything for a girl. Mostly boys had sports; the girls had a little bit, but not very much. They might have had maybe a basketball team and maybe gymnastics for girls. I think they had intramural basketball for girls, but it was very small. I never ran into [obstacles for girls receiving an education]. I thought we were lucky; I don’t think there were any barriers for us if we wanted to learn something. Although now girls can play football on a boys’ team. They couldn't do that, so that has changed.
[Sandra talking about Homecoming]
I did [go to Homecoming], and you know I don’t think it has changed a lot. You know, they have the big games, and then you go to the dance afterwards. They had something called David Hawkins it was girls caddish the board and that was in the fall usually, and of course they had the senior dance and the junior dance and you know all those special dances they had, and they had things like where the girls and boys could invite their moms or dads to a special thing.
[Sandra talking about technology]
They didn’t have the same technology back then. We didn’t have computers. We had books and briefcases but no computers, so we used typewriters, and we had typing classes. I mean, we saw films on a projector with a wheel – and actually when I first started teaching that’s what I used with my students. But then of course we went to the DVDs and the television set and now it’s the CDs you can just put in your computer and project onto the screen. Technology is huge because we used to have to sit there and listen to our teacher and take notes by hand, and they had classes which I didn’t take called “short hand,” which was this symbol system for taking notes very quickly and accurately. Many girls took that class because they wanted to be secretaries, so that when their bosses told them something they could write it out and go back to their desk and type it up and give it to the boss. Now, you know, you can just record it, or you can talk to a computer and it will type it up for you.
[Sandra talking about races at Cascade]
I'm trying to think of my friends that were there. I don’t remember very many Asian students, and we had very few black students; it was very white. We had some other cultures there, but not like we do today. In the school I teach at today we have a nice mix of culture, but back then we were very white.
[Sandra talking about world affairs at the time]
There were many things happening and women were getting more vocal and experiencing more rights; and of course there was the Vietnam War. Although I knew it existed, it didn’t influence me very much. There were numbers drawn, and if you were a low number you would get drafted, but I think they had a policy that if you were in college you couldn't be drafted, but if you weren't in college you could be drafted. I think it began to get really bad in the seventies, like the early seventies when they had demonstrations for students in colleges. Early on when I was in college there were definitely some student protests against the war, but in high school not so much. The protesting made it hard for young men to go to war. I'm sure they didn’t look forward to it, but many of them felt it was their duty. There were numbers drawn, and if you were a low number you would get drafted, but I think they had a policy that if you were in college you couldn't be drafted, but if you weren't in college you could be drafted. There were some people who were drafted, and many of the kids were drafted and were going to college and didn’t believe in killing, so they would flee to Canada so they wouldn't have to be drafted. [The government] couldn’t get to them there.
I graduated in 1968 and was at Cascade for three years, because it was a three-year high school rather than a four-year. And we didn’t have middle school; we called it junior high, which was seventh, eighth and ninth grades.
[Sandra talking about the transition]
My sophomore year was a bit of a transition; there was a bigger school, more people, more responsibilities and harder classes, but every new year was exciting. You kind of looked up to the upperclassmen; they were pretty knowledgeable. I kind of felt naïve and young at the time.
[Sandra describing the structure of Cascade]
Cascade has a newer building now, because they remodeled it. I think the school opened in 1962 so I was there pretty close to its beginning and the facilities were nice; I haven't been back to high school since. The buildings back then were pretty standard; they were the same as they are now, they are just kind of updated a little now. So basically the interior has changed. The classrooms were basic rooms with, you know – the chairs were like this, and the desk was a little arm that you could write on. I don’t know what the tables look like now, they probably haven't changed a lot.
[Sandra talking about classes]
Most of the classes I took I were with kids my own age. As I got more electives then of course I might have a senior or two in my class, if it was like a foreign language or a typing class. There weren't too many opportunities, you know, for Honors classes. Well, they did kind of have Honors classes, I'm trying to remember what they called them… That is manual. But they did have an Honors system. I had Mr. Hopkins for History and Mrs. Durban for English; that’s hard to remember. I think Mr. Hamsun was a science teacher, and I had different art teachers, Mr. Marrow I'm sure. I took art because that was my major. But you know a lot of them are retired. It was a long time ago.
[Sandra talking about music]
I was in choir; I played the piano. I wasn't in band, because they didn’t really have anything like jazz band where you could have a piano. But they had orchestras. I played the violin in an orchestra; I don’t think they have those anymore. I know it was very good. I was also in musicals, which we had every year.
[Sandra talking about other classes]
I actually took [Photography] in college and I really love it, but they had art classes at Cascade, and you could take different PE classes if you wanted to, as well as foreign language classes. Girls had to do Home Ed, and both boys and girls had to take something I think called “Life on Living,” or at least in middle school they did. That was where boys would learn to sow and bake a little bit. Girls were really expected to know how to cook and sow, so they took those classes about things I don’t think you have to know. I think some of the basic classes were [required]. At least in middle school for sure you had to and I can't remember for high school; maybe I didn’t take any in high school. We could take a wood working class. Girls could take any mechanical-type classes – drafting or anything like that – but the boys would take those, so I think I took like History classes and Literature because I liked reading, but I also liked art so I would take as much art as I could. Yeah, I actually myself had a major in art.
[Sandra talking about graduation requirements]
You had to have so many credits to graduate; I don’t even remember how many you had to have, twenty-something. It was like you had to take certain classes and then you had a few electives you could take – you know, you had your Math and Science and History and English, and of course you had to have PE, and if you wanted to go to college you had to take another language. I took Spanish, because I thought it would be more useful – you know, Mexico is closer than if I were to go to France or Germany. All they offered were three languages, Spanish, German and French, but now they probably offer more now.
[Sandra talking about the restrictions on women]
I'm a schoolteacher now. What I can recall, being a woman now, was that they hardly had anything for a girl. Mostly boys had sports; the girls had a little bit, but not very much. They might have had maybe a basketball team and maybe gymnastics for girls. I think they had intramural basketball for girls, but it was very small. I never ran into [obstacles for girls receiving an education]. I thought we were lucky; I don’t think there were any barriers for us if we wanted to learn something. Although now girls can play football on a boys’ team. They couldn't do that, so that has changed.
[Sandra talking about Homecoming]
I did [go to Homecoming], and you know I don’t think it has changed a lot. You know, they have the big games, and then you go to the dance afterwards. They had something called David Hawkins it was girls caddish the board and that was in the fall usually, and of course they had the senior dance and the junior dance and you know all those special dances they had, and they had things like where the girls and boys could invite their moms or dads to a special thing.
[Sandra talking about technology]
They didn’t have the same technology back then. We didn’t have computers. We had books and briefcases but no computers, so we used typewriters, and we had typing classes. I mean, we saw films on a projector with a wheel – and actually when I first started teaching that’s what I used with my students. But then of course we went to the DVDs and the television set and now it’s the CDs you can just put in your computer and project onto the screen. Technology is huge because we used to have to sit there and listen to our teacher and take notes by hand, and they had classes which I didn’t take called “short hand,” which was this symbol system for taking notes very quickly and accurately. Many girls took that class because they wanted to be secretaries, so that when their bosses told them something they could write it out and go back to their desk and type it up and give it to the boss. Now, you know, you can just record it, or you can talk to a computer and it will type it up for you.
[Sandra talking about races at Cascade]
I'm trying to think of my friends that were there. I don’t remember very many Asian students, and we had very few black students; it was very white. We had some other cultures there, but not like we do today. In the school I teach at today we have a nice mix of culture, but back then we were very white.
[Sandra talking about world affairs at the time]
There were many things happening and women were getting more vocal and experiencing more rights; and of course there was the Vietnam War. Although I knew it existed, it didn’t influence me very much. There were numbers drawn, and if you were a low number you would get drafted, but I think they had a policy that if you were in college you couldn't be drafted, but if you weren't in college you could be drafted. I think it began to get really bad in the seventies, like the early seventies when they had demonstrations for students in colleges. Early on when I was in college there were definitely some student protests against the war, but in high school not so much. The protesting made it hard for young men to go to war. I'm sure they didn’t look forward to it, but many of them felt it was their duty. There were numbers drawn, and if you were a low number you would get drafted, but I think they had a policy that if you were in college you couldn't be drafted, but if you weren't in college you could be drafted. There were some people who were drafted, and many of the kids were drafted and were going to college and didn’t believe in killing, so they would flee to Canada so they wouldn't have to be drafted. [The government] couldn’t get to them there.