Seven seniors share a day in their lives in this 1993 program, including one from Broken Bow, highlighting culture, routines and connections across communities.
Welcome to From the Archives! I’m Alexis Scargill, Media Archivist here at Nebraska Public Media. Each month, I’ll highlight treasures from our collection spanning more than 70 years of broadcast history in our great state.
School's (Nearly) Out for Summer!
Welcome to a new month! It’s May and we all know what that means. Time to whip up those May baskets and revel around the Maypole! I have to be honest–I did not grow up in the midwest, so I only became familiar with these traditions upon moving to Nebraska, where everyone has heard of them, despite claims they are no longer “a thing.”
Speaking of regional differences–I also learned that the school year in Nebraska typically ends in May (not late June, like I experienced in New England). For high school seniors, graduation is on the horizon. What better time to travel back to May 5, 1993 and visit with seven high school seniors who were in the same position–including one right here in Nebraska.
High School Stories: One Day in America’s Schools brings us a slice of life–taking us through the day for seniors from seven schools around the country, and investigating the differences (class sizes, learning approaches) and commonalities (mullets, oversized Looney Tunes t-shirts, backwards hats).
A Media Mystery
My first exposure to this program came while doing inventory of boxes of tapes. This box had no label on it. The tapes themselves had labels that were mysterious (“Broken Bow cruising,” “cattle wrangling,” “political science class”). Sometimes, a box of mystery tapes will really pique your interest to the point that, until you can solve the mystery, you can’t eat, you can’t sleep, you can’t even think (am I exaggerating? Who’s to say?) After some sleuthing through our old program files for specific keywords, and even searching newspaper archives, I was finally able to crack the code of High School Stories.
We did not have a copy of the complete program, or even the complete segment we contributed, in our archives. Just a few “field tapes” remained. So, I’m internally grateful to Ann Wilkens, archivist at PBS Wisconsin, for going through the effort of putting it online so I (and the world) could watch it in full. And the full program was produced by Wisconsin PBS. What a collaboration!
A Blast From the (Broken Bow) Past
I’m a nostalgic person (what archivist isn’t?), so when it came to choosing a single clip to include here, naturally I picked something that gives us a look at Broken Bow, and more specifically, Broken Bow’s first McDonald's, in 1993:
Those cup designs are a thing of beauty. Someone hop on social media and tell McDonald’s to bring them back. If it worked with Szechuan sauce, we have a shot.
The Full Cast of Characters and Communities:
- Destry Oxford – Broken Bow High School – Broken Bow, NE
- Produced by: Joel Geyer, Nebraska Public Media
- Adeleine Rodene – Cambridge Rindge & Latin School – Cambridge, MA
- Produced by: Leda Zimmerman, GBH
- Michelle Long – Souhegan High School – Amherst, NH
- Produced by: Eliza Hobson, New Hampshire PBS
- David Lindstrom – homeschool – Rochester, MN
- Produced by: Laurie Stern, KTCA (TPT - Twin Cities PBS)
- Mary & William – Harvey Milk High School – New York, NY
- Produced by: Jacqueline Leopold, WNYC-TV (now WPXN-TV)
- Serina Paul – Ocracoke School – Ocracoke, NC
- Produced by: Karen Archia / Ted Harrison, PBS North Carolina
- Matt Warbus – Lummi Middle College High School – Lummi Reservation, WA
- Produced by: Marsha Leslie / Robin Minietta, Cascade PBS
My High School Stories Observations and Trivia:
- Serina Paul’s dancing choreography with the kids was not too different from the show choir choreography in Broken Bow
- I don’t know which niche hobby delighted me more - David Lindstrom’s love of fractal geometry, or Matt Warbus’ beautifully intricate wood carvings
- My high school was one town over from Michelle Long’s, but way less experimental or fun (boo!)
- Actor Casey Affleck was in Adeleine Rodene’s graduating class (though I didn’t spot him in her acting class)
- Some beautifully 1993 fashion choices: mullets, a name shaved into someone’s hair (with a bonus rat tail beneath), shoulder pads, turtlenecks and flannels, windbreakers, lots of teal and purple, and graphic t-shirts galore (Looney Tunes, Mickey Mouse, House of Pain (Jump Around!))
Where are They Now?
Program host Dave Iverson ends the segment wondering what May 5 would be like for each student 5-10 years from then. How about 33 years from then? If you’re featured in any of these stories, I would of course love to hear from you–you’re like a celebrity to me.
You can view High School Stories in full on the WPT Archives site.
What would you like to see from the archives?
I would love to hear from you! Send me your feedback at fromthearchives@nebraskapublicmedia.org. I’ll see you next month!