You are standing in the middle of the quad. Beside you are the large benches, and across is a big cement fountain. It’s the start of grunge, and people around you are listening to Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Students are wearing baggy sweatshirts and acid washed jeans, with socks over the bottoms of the tapered legs. It is the ’90s, of course!
Teachers share past experiences
Geri Horsma
Having taught at Gunn for 21 years, Geri Horsma has witnessed Gunn at its ups and downs. Over time, departments, classes and students have changed for the better and worse.
When Horsma first began teaching at Gunn, the enrollment rate was at 1150 students as opposed to the staggering 1850 students today. Class sizes have changed incredibly, making it harder to give individual attention to students.
Technology has allowed for better communication and hands on learning, especially for classes like biotechnology. “Students today are much more comfortable and familiar with the computer compared to a few years back,” Horsma said. However, growing ethical issues have raised questions about curriculum to be covered in Biology courses. “It’s difficult to teach topics that could make some students uncomfortable,” Horsma said.
She also notices that now, more than ever, has stress been a problem with a need to overachieve. Students today feel the need to take as many AP and Honors classes as possible. However, according to Horsma, the students’ perspective on learning has not changed, and the culture still remains.
Jim Shelby
Theater teacher Jim Shelby has been teaching at Gunn since 1983. He remembers the old light switchboards at Spangenberg and has witnessed the ever changing waves of fashion.
Technology has had the biggest impact upon the theater program at Gunn. The large manual switches have become oblivious to the computerized music and light systems in the Little Theater. “Nowadays, everything is digital,” Shelby said. “The lights, sound and music can all be changed using a keyboard.” However, although technology makes life simpler, “we still need intelligence and a sense of design.”
The music has also changed over time. Shelby remembers the different phases of fashion and music: the “punk” era, “pop” period, “hip-hop” phase. “I remember pants becoming lower and lower,” Shelby said.
According to Shelby, the stress levels at Gunn has been increasing over the last few years. Students are now busier; they are occupied with jobs, sports, extracurricular activities and classes. “They seem to be running on hyperschedule,” Shelby said.
Paul Dunlap
Having taught English for 12 years at Gunn, Paul Dunlap has observed the vicissitudes of campus culture. One of the things he has noticed throughout his years has been the sports. Surprisingly, the most popular extracurricular activity at Gunn has changed very little in the last decade. “Gymnastics and cross-country have always been just as good as they are now,” Dunlap said. “Swimming also used to be quite strong, but it has improved a lot in the time that I have been at Gunn.”
As the years passed, Gunn has also changed from a competitive school to a very competitive school. Due to the school’s expansion over time, competition for college spots has increased. “There seem to be fewer spots for more applicants; that pressure has increased,” Dunlap said. “But pressure from parents and other students to do well has always been there.”
Luckily for the Gunn administration, the senior pranks have been toned down over the years. Senior pranks used to be much more severe, and over the years have thankfully become less destructive. “I remember one year students took the desks out of all the classrooms and piled them on the quad,” Dunlap recalls. “It was funny, but there were always a couple students who did more destructive things like putting nails in the benches. I think that’s why there are fewer pranks now than in previous years.”
Ex-Gunn students recall unforgettable high school traditions
Josh Bloom
Welcome to the early ’90s, when neon clothing was still cool and bands like “Faith No More” were popular. It may sound like a long time ago, but for science teacher Josh Bloom, this was part of regular high school life. Bloom first came to Gunn in 1990, the same year as math teacher Sarah Kastelic. Bloom recalls his former high school self as studious, but a prankster as well.
Bloom considered himself an overachiever and hard worker when he was in high school. Although Bloom took difficult classes, he stipulates that the Gunn environment has become more stressed than it was when he attended Gunn. “I took five AP classes my junior and senior years,” Bloom said. “But I don’t think Gunn was as competitive as it is today.”
Though a diligent student, Bloom remembers his attempted senior prank as a standout moment of his high school career. “The night before the first day of our senior year we went on top of the Batcave and filled tarps with water balloons to drop on freshmen the next day,” Bloom said, “We had just finished filling up the balloons when the cops showed up. I made a run for it, but ended up going back because I felt bad for leaving my friends behind.” Even though the cops themselves thought the prank was funny, they made Bloom and his friends take the water balloons down.
Bloom recalls life in the early ’90s without the personal electronics that students now take advantage of, such as cell phones and mp3 players. “The biggest change I have seen since attending Gunn is technology,” said Bloom. “We had a modem and e-mail, but no one had a cell phone and there was no digital music other than CDs.”
Bloom has noticed the change in Homecoming from year to year. “Homecoming was nothing like what it is today,” Bloom said. “During my senior year Mr. Nik and I did our senior Airbands alone. People used to have a good time, and we didn’t have people crying when they lost.” Bloom admits that there has been a lot of positive changes on campus, but feels like Homecoming has turned into a far too competitive event.
Sarah Kastelic
Sarah Kastelic recalls many differences between the style of our school when she attended 16 years ago and today. Besides the popularity of various older musicians, fashion was certainly unlike that of modern Gunn. “Girls used to wear boys’ boxer shorts to school, sometimes over leggings,” Kastelic remembers. Flannel shirts were also a trendy item back in the day.
She also remembers that Homecoming was similar to today, besides having no Airbands. “I don’t think people cared quite as much about winning,” Kastelic recalls. Nevertheless she was involved in the competition and actually hosted float building at her house during all four years of high school.
Some things never change. “Gunn has always had a strong athletics program, but it hasn’t always been the biggest priority,” Kastelic said. While the football team has never been exceptionally strong, Gunn gymnastics took first place at the Central Coast Section championships during Kastelic’s junior and senior years. Boys’ water polo was also very successful in the ’90s.
While many students enjoyed playing sports at Gunn, a group of others preferred to play pranks. Kastelic recalls two seniors who constructed a smoke bomb for the former water fountain on the quad. “The pressure from the smoke bomb essentially blew up the [cement] fountain,” Kastelic said. “Flames shot out in two directions as far as about 40 feet.” Unfortunately the perpetrators faced some serious consequences—exclusion from prom and graduation and possibly a scholarship revoke.
Believe it or not, Kastelic took just one AP class—calculus—during her upperclassman years at Gunn. “It is possible to survive in the real world without taking a ton of AP’s,” Kastelic said. While today many seniors at Gunn apply to as many as 17 colleges, Kastelic applied to five UC’s and two state schools, and happily ended up at CSU San Luis Obispo.
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