Years ago I noticed a school district in south central Iowa called "Interstate 35." My first thought was how could anyone name a school after a strip of concrete. What pride could we take with us into adulthood with fond memories of old I-35.
I grew up around the small town of Laurel, Iowa. It was called Laurel Consolidated School District because it was consolidated from small one room country schools around the area. Then in the early 1960's it consolidated with a near-by town of Gilman to become SEMCO. Then a few years later Laurel, Gilman, LeGrand, and Ferguson consolidated to become East Marshall.
Some schools remain as their name implies- Marshalltown, Williamsburg, Newton, etc. Some today are combined: Adair/Casey, and Aplington/Parkersburg. Another category is quite lengthy: Rudd-Rockford-Marbel-RK Community School District and Sheffield-Chapin-Messservey-Thorton Community School District. Those poor cheerleaders!
The following are some of my favorites. See what you think! The following schools go by letters: BCLUW, AGWSR, AR-WE-VA and H-L-V Community School District. "Give me an A, give me a G, a W, then an S and a R. What's it spell-AGWSR. What were they thinking!
It should be noted that there are 14 schools with the direction West in it, six Souths, eleven Norths and five Easts. I guess the old adage "go west young man" had an impression.
Maybe we should have real estate developers in charge of naming schools. There is an exclusive development near Sioux City called Dakota Dunes. Streets were named: Sawgrass Trail. West Fluire Rd, Spy Glass Circle, Quil Hollow Circle and Sioux Point Road. And, what about Whispering Oaks. A pair of school districts gave it a shot-Morning Sun in Louisa County and Praire View Valley School District.
Let's not forget about the schools like Roosevelt, Lincoln,Washington, and Hoover. Very patiotic and simple. I'm not even going to go there about Turkey Valley. Maybe I-35 wasn't such a bad idea. Actually it probably looks pretty good on a baseball cap!
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