The memories are indelible: Walking past its white columns as a nervous first-day freshman, straining up its hill in a cross-country race, making friends who would become family to me, and being pushed by teachers who commanded my attention and earned my respect.
I remember the old lockers; a dress code that required ties; the fun of participating in plays, and band, and the newspaper; and the sense that this was a good town, with good people, and that life was a steadily unfolding wonder.
If I had a complaint about the old Norwood High, I don’t remember it. I woke up each day and looked forward to the 20-minute walk to school. And after classes, there were high school sports - cross-country and track - that occupied every season of every year I went there. Walking home, sometimes in the dark, was a mellow, reflective time of tired but sweet satisfaction.
Through it all, I admired the building, whose clean, classic lines echoed the style and sensibility of a small New England college. What a loss, I thought, when I heard that this hometown icon would be laid waste by the wrecking ball.
But the past cannot linger forever, and a tour of the replacement showed that newer, indeed, can be better. Walking through the halls with principal George Usevich, who was a Norwood High administrator when I was a student, was a magnificent revelation.
Wide corridors dotted with images of Norwood history will lead to spacious, technology-fluent classrooms. An 800-seat auditorium that doubles as a deep-stage theater will be a community jewel. The old cafeteria has been replaced by a college-caliber dining hall. And two full-length basketball courts stretch end to end in an 18,000-square-foot gym that is girdled by an upper-level walking track. The new football field, with state-of-the-art artificial turf, is stunning.
There will be a grand staircase inside, a grand lawn out front, and 12 golden mustangs - reflecting the school’s nickname - spread throughout the school.
