In 7th grade, I really came out of my shell, as it were. I think most of that was not spending as much time in Tim's shadow. I remember making lots of new friends in my Homeroom (Block) Class. It was a combination (2 periods) of Social Studies/Language Arts. Mr. Nelson was our Block teacher. He was really nice, and obviously had worked with incoming 7th graders for several years... very calm, patient, and understood about making the transition from Grade School to Junior High.
This is the view from the north side of the school, looking south. You can see the three "wings" in the center of the picture; each wing was a different grade level: 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. The large portion of the building at the bottom of the school is the cafetorium, cafeteria/auditorium. I didn't make up that word, just using it.
I was pretty goofy in 7th grade, doing weird stuff even I had never seen before. One of those involved running into Block class each day, jumping onto the class president's desk, and shouting, "Hello, Mr. President!" I have no idea why I did that, but it made me popular. Oh sure, I got lots of stares from others, but I was popular! Bill Snook, I think was his name. Not sure how he felt about me doing that, or what Mr. Nelson thought.
So, the years went by, uneventful, hanging out with friends after school, bike riding on the weekends, sleep-overs, homework... I never did discover girls in junior high, though. Not sure why. I remember going to one of the junior high dances, and the theme was to Michael Jackson's "Rockin' Robin."
I think mostly that junior high was an awkward time for me, trying desperately to fit in, wanting to be part of the "Popular Crowd", "The IN Group", and so on. Never happened.
I remember the summer of 1973 being a particularly hard time for me. My older brother had just graduated from high school, and had lots of horror stories to tell me, but he also shared to funny ones about the mischief and crazy antics he'd gotten into. Junior high did not prepare me for what was to come at the end of summer.
