Merrill Memories - Reminiscences About Merrill - January 1990 - Author Unknown
Original handwritten memory found at this link
In 1953, at the end of January, Merrill Junior High opened its doors to some 425 seventh and eighth graders and twenty five teachers. But that didn’t mean that Merrill was completely finished. The auditorium floor was still dirt, there were no clocks in the rooms or locks on the doors. Since the lunchroom and library had no tables, the students sat on straight chairs. If they needed a table or desk, they sat on the floor and used the seat of the chair for a desk.
Although the students and teachers came from many different schools, it wasn’t long before the school became a cohesive unit.
Merrill was named for Louise Merrill who had been a principal at Byers Junior High for several years. It seemed fitting that several teachers and many students came from Byers to Merrill.
The first principal was Carl L. Ginn who served Merrill for fourteen years before his retirement. Other principals have been Harold Burn, Ray Rebrovick, Laura Louise Hendee, acting principal Mike Peterson and Johnny Wilson, not many principals for a school that is thirty six years old.
By the fall of 1954, ninth graders entered school and it was recognized that Merrill would grow very rapidly.
A new addition to the south was begun. Teachers in the south wing taught all day trying to out shout jack hammers which were removing very substantial doors, outside trim and large planters. One teacher remembers one day when a workman bricked up the south windows in room 111. She decided to read Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” that day!
Before the addition was finished, Merrill was bursting at the seams. Classes were held on the stage of the auditorium, in the library and in the lunch room. Before Thomas Jefferson High School was completed, we were taking care of our large numbers of some 2,100 with a triple session. But the students and teachers accepted it, and learning was always a high priority.
A great activity that evolved soon was Academic Field Day in which there were all kinds of academic contests, first in classrooms, then in semi finals and finals, culminating in an awards day patterned after the Academy Awards. A nice gentleman named Smith from Kansas City gave us $100 as seed money. So our “Oscars”, made in our art department, were named Smittys.
Our Athletic Field Days were equally competitive as the student body spent a spring day in all kinds of athletic endeavors.
One of our most interesting school-wide projects was the adoption of a baby jaguar at the Denver Zoo, made possible by student contributions. A plaque in the feline house tells the story.
Another activity which furnished much amusement to the students was a faculty-parent show put on for two years.
In those days of large numbers, our ninth grade choir was around 165 singers. It was a real project to provide robes from them in the school colors of cherry red and gray. Before winter intermission we always took the choir downtown to sign in a public building. We also had a large orchestra, several bands, including a jazz band, and string ensembles. Fine musical programs were given several times a year.
Our annual All School Shows had casts of over 300 students who put on very professional performances. Mr. and Mrs. Ginn usually did Viennese Waltzing for those shows as well as for the yearly style shows produced by the clothing department.
Besides English, math, science and social studies, we had many classes in French, Spanish and Latin. We also had home economics, shop, art, drama, journalism, semantics, vocal and instrumental music plus classes in special education. Law classes were taught and a very popular unit in humanities, combining English, music and art was offered to ninth grade students. In the fall of 1969, Merrill was under court order to integrate. Merrill’s present population went by bus to Cole Junior High and other schools, while students from the Curtis Park area and northeast Denver came to Merrill. After a period of adjustment for all concerned, Merrill continued with its high standards and with its total commitment to the education of its students.
A drill team of twenty young ladies was formed. They gave programs at assemblies, in all school shows and even traveled to contributing elementary schools. They also earned the money and made a trip to Aspen where they talked about integration to the students at Aspen High School and gave a drill team program.
In addition to many of the classes previously mentioned, Merrill now began laboratories in reading and in math to give additional help to those students who needed it.
In 1982 there was a great change when the school became Merrill Middle School with grades seven and eight. In twenty-nine years Merrill had come full circle with now some 425 seventh and eighth graders and twenty-five teachers.
