Shaare Tefila nursery school, 1981. I’m in the red shirt in the back row. I’m standing next to a girl (pink dress) who was born on the same day, in the same hospital as I was. We also went to middle school and high school together. Sheri Goff is in the pink shirt standing two over from my right. I went to Hebrew school and college with her, where we had a Hebrew class together. Here’s an article about what happened to her and her family.
Mrs. Woodcock. Kindergarten. 1982. Beltsville Elementary. I’m sitting on the right side in what I called my Dukes of Hazzard shirt.
Ms. West (not pictured). 1st Grade, Beltsville Elementary. I’m sitting in the bottom row on the right side, in my E.T. shirt.
I moved from Beltsville to Silver Spring in the winter of 1983. I ended up going to school with many of these folks for years to come. This is Mrs. Simantiras’s 2nd Grade class. I used to button my shirts all the way, even though that was stupid.
Mrs. Mack – 3rd grade.
Mrs. Tootle, one of my favorite teachers. 4th Grade.
I had Mr. Wood for 5th and 6th Grade.
Here you can see me change from a nerdy kid to a punky kid. I mean, jean-jacketed folks were tough, right? This was actually the last 6th Grade class at William Tyler Page Elementary. The 5th graders came to Benjamin Banneker Middle School with us the next year. I only went there for 7th and 8th grade before going to Paint Branch High School.
Of course, we didn’t really have class photos taken in middle school and high school (maybe a senior all-class photo, with a few hundred folks), but here’s one a friend dug up:
It’s our Literary Magazine class photo, taken in 1993 when I was a junior. I learned recently that two of the folks in this photo ended up getting married years later. My father saw my picture here and swore it was my brother, Zach. Oddly enough, I still have a skull-and-crossbones shirt.