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Rocky start leads to school's success
Thomas Stone celebrates its 40th anniversary
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by EMILY BARNES
Marcia Vreatt, a retired teacher, shares a few memories of Thomas Stone High School's first days Saturday with Charles County schools Superintendent James E. Richmond during her opening remarks at the school's 40th anniversary ceremony.
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Superintendent James E. Richmond was the man of the hour at the 40th anniversary celebration at Thomas Stone High School in Waldorf.
Former and present staff, teachers and students gathered Saturday at the school that opened in 1969 to celebrate the role the school has played in their lives and in the community.
The ceremony began with a performance by the Thomas Stone High School Orchestra and Thomas Stone High School Chamber Choir, remarks by Brian Frazee, 2007 class president, the presentation of the colors by the Thomas Stone High School Army ROTC and student Shykeyia Robinson leading the "Pledge of Allegiance."
Marcia Vreatt, a retired teacher who worked for many years at the high school, kicked off the opening remarks by recalling the difficulty the staff and students experienced when the school first opened.
"That September was a recipe for disaster," she said. "The building wasn't really ready and we had to share space with Lackey High School. On the one hand it was a textbook case of how not to open a school … but what could have been a disaster proved to be a tremendous blessing. We had to get good at the job and we had to do it right away."
During the early years, there was a high turnover of principals and vice principals, Vreatt said. That all changed when Richmond became the principal — a role he took on with gusto from 1973 to 1985, she said.
Richmond began teaching at the school in 1969 and in January 1970 he became vice principal.
"We struck gold," she recalled. "That job had beaten up so many former principals … Mr. Richmond was pure serendipity. He was exactly the right man at exactly the right time at the exactly right place."
Vreatt said Richmond regularly patrolled the woods that surrounded the school 40 years ago to find students who were playing hooky and worked tirelessly in the community to tell folks about all of the good things that were happening at the school.
"He turned around the school and made it the well-run school that it is today," she said.
Richmond gently shrugged off the compliments, saying the faculty, administrative staff and the students all played a part in making Stone what it is today.
"Thomas Stone [High School] had a tough birth," he said. "The original staff was really the glue that brought this thing together. A school is not just a building. A school is about people who work together and get along. That's more important than all of the other stuff."
Richmond recalled when coach Dale Cornette led the high school's basketball team to win the Class B state championship in 1972 despite the fact that a fire gutted the gymnasium where the team practiced.
"The team won the state championship and the players won it without having a gym," he said. "That brought the kids together. Students need something to give them a sense of loyalty to their school."
Cornette, who is retired but worked as a teacher at Stone from 1970 to 1998, said the team had to practice at Lackey and John Hanson Middle School.
"I'm enjoying being here today," he said before the ceremony. "This school has some of the best students that I've ever run across."
Paul Pontorno, who graduated from Stone in 1983, shared some lighthearted memories about attending the school more than 20 years ago, including the uniforms that the wrestlers had to wear during competitions.
"The wrestlers had to wear leotards," he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.
"We were supposed to try to intimidate our opponents — and we had to wear leotards … what a difference a few decades make."
Pontorno also remembered the early days when there was a smoking lounge for the students at school.
""Thomas Stone had a designated smoking area for students," he said "Can you imagine that nowadays?"
Robert Pitts, a retired teacher, spoke about how the school has nurtured students through the years and guided them into the future.
"What really makes the school special is the people who pass through these doors," he said. "More than 60,000 students have walked these halls. The school provides a nest to nurture our young people."
Stone's principal, L.C. Martin, shared a few remarks about his experience at the school.
"When you work at Thomas Stone High School it's like being with family," he said. "The staff cares about the students more than anyone else. Who wouldn't want to work here?"
Frazee recalled his four years at the school as a time of learning and forging friendships that have lasted way beyond graduation.
"Those years were full of happiness, stress, struggles, doubt, learning, leading and finding out who I was — all at the same time," he said. "I learned what was most important in life. … It was here I made lifelong friends and learned from my mistakes."
Scott Hill, supervisory park ranger at the Thomas Stone National Historic Site in Port Tobacco, showed up dressed as the school's namesake to discuss the importance of education.
"Thomas Stone isn't a very well-known national figure but it's important that he is remembered here locally," he said before the ceremony. "It's where he spent most of his life … He was a lifelong learner, as everybody should be. We should never stop trying to learn new things."
Waldorf resident Linda Hale graduated from Stone in 1974 and now her 14-year-old daughter, Daryllee, plays violin in the school orchestra.
"It was a great school when I was a student here, and it's a great school now," she said, adding that she was in the first graduating class to attend the school from freshman to senior year.
"Over the years this school has graduated outstanding students just like all of our other schools," said Roberta S. "Bobbie" Wise, vice chairwoman of the Charles County Board of Education. "Stone has been the center of the community for many years. It's been used for so many different things over the years."
The ceremony closed with a slideshow that ran photos of students and teachers from the school's early years to the present, followed by refreshments and tours of the school.
Mary Faith Bowersox and Pat Gallagher were some of the original administrative staff members when the school first opened its doors.
"I came here today to bring back memories and to show my support of the school," Gallagher said. "We're all retired now. It's great having the same crowd back here again. It's like a family reunion."
