[168] Campus School Celebrates 80th Birthday Nov. 6

Oct. 29, 2009
Editorial Content: Megan McSwain, Tom Tozer 615-898-2919

CAMPUS SCHOOL CELEBRATES 80TH BIRTHDAY NOV. 6

MURFREESBORO—Eightieth birthdays normally are quiet celebrations, but the Homer Pittard Campus School is opening its party to the public, which will take place at the school on Friday, Nov. 6, beginning with a light breakfast at 8 a.m.

The school is located at 923 E. Lytle St.

In honor of its birth in 1929, Marrie Lasater, who has been teaching at Campus School for 21 years, said the school will be decorated like that time period. Students will be dressed in costumes, classes will have themes and attendees can play games that people in the late 1920s might have played.

“Everyone’s invited,” Lasater said. “We would love to have everybody there. It’s going to be a great 80th celebration for you to come and enjoy.”

The event will also showcase the school’s new look, said Campus School sixth-grader Ryan Whitefield. The school’s renovations include an elevator and an ADA-compliant access ramp on the northwest side of the building.

Following the breakfast and gathering time, a formal program will begin at 9 a.m. featuring welcoming remarks and a musical performance by the children under the direction of Campus School music teacher Karen Blooding.

From 10 to 11 a.m. the school’s second-graders will offer attendees a ride on the new elevator, and teachers and students, including young Whitefield, will conduct tours of the building. Lunch, provided by Friends of Campus School, will be served at 11 a.m. for those who registered. Those having lunch may pay their $10 at the door if they haven’t already done so.

In its 80 years, the school has created memories and lasting relationships. John Green, a local attorney who first attended Campus School in 1960, said he thinks this birthday celebration will be a bit like a reunion for the school’s former students. He said most of the students from kindergarten attended school together throughout the 12th grade.

“It was, to me, the neighborhood school,” Green said. “But I recognize, particularly as the years go by, what an educational institution it is and really, for Murfreesboro, almost a cultural institution, because of the quality of academics, the quality of the curricula that’s available and the social networks that those relationships continue to spawn and continue to foster.”

The school’s given both teachers and children the opportunity to work with university students and professors, Lasater added.

“Campus School’s a really special place,” Lasater said. “We have the chance to mold young teachers as they come in to watch our lessons and teach lessons. It gives them a real safe place to practice their skills before they go out into student teaching.”

Green said the event will be a great way to show the public’s support of the school by bringing everyone together.

“I think that folks like myself—and I’m not alone in this—who will continue to come and support the school and support projects at the school and participate in and support the celebrations for the school, are a reflection of our loyalty to the school and the effect that the school’s had upon our lives,” he said.

Those interested in having lunch that day still have time to e-mail Charlotte Peay at peaybrain@juno.com.

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MEDIA WELCOME.

With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.