DATE: Friday, October 17, 1997              TAG: 9710160280

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 09   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   63 lines

ALL CLASSES INVITED TO GRAND BOOKER T. WASHINGTON REUNION

If you ever attended Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk, the Class of '71 has something in store for you. And if you are presently attending Booker T., there is something for you, too.

A committee of 14 members of the Class of '71 is planning a reunion, to be held Nov. 29, at the Holiday Inn Executive Center on Greenwich Road, just off of Newtown Road in Virginia Beach. Proceeds will benefit a scholarship fund to help present and future students at Booker T.

Unlike most reunions, this one isn't just for members of the class that is planning it. It's for everyone who ever attended the school. Since Booker T. opened in 1917, tens of thousands have attended. There were 550 graduates in the Class of '71, one of the largest classes.

So far, the oldest graduate to contact the committee is from the Class of '29, according to reunion committee president Brenda James Morris.

``It's open to alumni, guests and friends, including those who attended Booker T. and then went on to other schools,'' said Morris.

Although Morris and others planning the event describe themselves as average, quiet, hard-working students during their high school days over a quarter-century ago, it is apparent that they have school spirit to spare.

``Many of us have been together since the 20th class reunion,'' continued Morris. ``After the 25th, a number expressed a desire to stay together as a class. We were average students that worked hard and wanted to give something back to the school in some way. A scholarship fund became our main objective. All of our projects are geared to raising money.''

The committee has already held a raffle, a ``fun day'' featuring skating and an alumni picnic in Washington, where there are enough graduates to maintain a metropolitan Washington alumni chapter.

But the ``all classes'' reunion is the biggest project yet. Billed as an honoree banquet and ball, each class is being asked to submit the names of honorees.

``This is the biggie, the thing that's going to cap this off,'' said Morris. ``We haven't had a function where alumni have come together for one purpose. This will be a time when everybody, young and old, can come together. It'll be like a big family reunion.''

Said Dr. Regina Copeland Lundy, committee treasurer: ``The theme is `School days: how it was then and how it is now.' Since Booker T. Washington was the heart of the black community at one time, everybody who was black came through Booker T. It was there they found achievement and a support group.''

Booker T. traces its roots to 1911 when the Norfolk School Board authorized a one year program for students coming out of John T. West School. An additional year was added in 1912 and again in 1913. In 1914, the State Board of Education endorsed the high school and the local board passed an act giving Virginia its first accredited public high school for blacks.

The school moved in 1917 and adopted the name Booker T. Washington High School. In 1924, it moved again, to Virginia Beach Boulevard. The present school, located adjacent to where the 1924 building stood, opened in 1974. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

AT A GLANCE

Tickets to the reunion are $45 per person. For information, call

Brenda JamesMorris at 853-2436, Dr. Regina Copeland Lundy at

623-7758 or 489-4114, or Pearl Vincent Moore at 466-8902, or write

to: Booker T. Washington Class of '71, 904 Church Street, Norfolk,

Va., 23510.

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