Silver Bluff High celebrates anniversary with '80s theme

The Silver Bluff High School gym was filled with students and special guests Tuesday - taking in snippets of movies like "Back to the Future" and humming along with music by very young members of the band Bon Jovi, a semi-young Mick Jagger and even Michael Jackson in his "Thriller" video.

As an added bonus, the current students offered a fashion show of '80s outfits, much to the amusement of about two dozen retired Silver Bluff teachers who attended the special ceremony. In a brief exhibition, several Silver Bluff basketball players impersonated Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers players, representing the big NBA rivalry of the '80s.

The high school was celebrating the 30th anniversary of its official dedication, which took place about six months before the school opened formally in August of 1981.

Art teacher Andrea Spano - the only teacher from 1981 who has spent the last three decades at Silver Bluff - asked the Student Council to coordinate a dedication commemoration, said senior Bianca Hankinson.

"This was all about the '80s," she said with a smile, "so why not go back there. I didn't know that Silver Bluff had as much history as it does. There were a lot of people who helped make Silver Bluff the school it is now."

The construction of the new school was a big deal at the time and, for a lot of adults and students, not at all a happy one.

Silver Bluff was the key component of the establishment of the Area 5 attendance area, bringing people together from Jackson, Beech Island and New Ellenton. Students who attended Jackson High, Aiken High and North Augusta High had to change schools.

Dr. Bill Gallman, the now-retired deputy superintendent, was a young assistant superintendent who worked with the late Warren Whitson - the school's first principal - to oversee the construction and opening of the school.

"This was a career-changing opportunity for me," Gallman said. "There were a few people who would rather have stayed where they were. But after the first year when the football team went undefeated, there was much more camaraderie."

Spano, who will retire this year, started her career in Area 5 and, after four years, moved from Jackson High to the new school. She enjoyed seeing many of her former colleagues now retired such as Anne Davidson and assistant principal Johanna Gibbs.

"I've stayed in touch with a lot of them," Spano said in her classroom after the ceremony. "They're like my mothers. It's amazing I've been here this long. I've lived in this room longer than I've lived in my own house."

Al Lown was a rookie athletics coach at Silver Bluff in 1981. He moved to North Augusta High four years later before returning as the head football coach in 1993. In his first year three decades ago, Lown wasn't much older than his players.

"The years have just flown by," he said. "It's amazing that I'm coaching some of the kids of players I coached back then. I've really come full circle."

Another current senior, Victoria Jacks, came up with the fashion show after her mother, Paula Jacks, mentioned her own collection of 1980s outfits. Victoria wore a rather eclectic gold pantsuit.

"My husband proposed to me when I was wearing that outfit," Paula Jacks said. "Is that hysterical or what?"

Anne Davidson was still teaching at Jackson High when she designed four science labs for the new high school.

"When I taught at Jackson, the windows had no screens and lots of gnats and wasps and all of that," she said. "I was thrilled to get into this beautiful new building. It's fun to be back, as this school is a hidden treasure that people don't know about."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.