UCS schools to celebrate turning 50 in October

UTICA — Three Utica Community Schools buildings will celebrate their 50th birthdays and welcome back former staff and students next month.

The schools reaching their golden anniversaries are Eisenhower High School, Oakbrook Elementary School and Havel Elementary School. Each has a special event planned.

• Eisenhower High School, which was dedicated by former President Richard Nixon, will host its 50th anniversary celebration from 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 1. The school is located at 6500 25 Mile Road in Shelby Township. Special displays about Eisenhower during the past five decades will be featured throughout the building. The celebration will begin with a short program honoring the school’s history in the commons.

• Oakbrook Elementary will hold its celebration from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6 at the school, located at 12060 Greenway Drive in Sterling Heights. The program will begin with the planting of an oak tree on the school grounds.

• Havel Elementary will celebrate 50 years from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at the school, which is located at 41855 Schoenherr Road in Sterling Heights. The program will begin in the school cafeteria and honor students and staff from 1972.

Superintendent of Schools Robert Monroe said this will be a great opportunity for former students and staff to return to where they once went to school and to see how much has changed over the years.

“We are proud of our legacy in Utica Community Schools and look forward to honoring those who built our school district. We want to give all former students and staff the opportunity to come back, reminisce with friends, walk familiar halls and reconnect with their roots,” he said in a press release.

He said the schools are the “focal points” of the community.

“Our 50th celebrations are an important way for us to honor our legacy and the people who built Utica Community Schools. In our past celebrations, we have seen how meaningful it is for people to reconnect with schools that are so much a part of our lives. UCS is truly a community in the best sense of the word,” he said via email.

Sherman Abdo, who graduated in 2005 and is the president of the UCS Foundation, said he is looking forward to Eisenhower’s anniversary celebration.

“As a former student, I can’t wait for the flood of memories to come back when I visit Ike. It is such an honor to come back and reminisce with former teachers and classmates,” he said in an email.

For more information, visit uticak12.org/50thcelebrations.