Students, parents, teachers, and alumni of the Lake Avenue Elementary School in Saratoga Springs celebrated 100 years of history this weekend.
Food trucks, face painting, live music, and two-square games are bringing generations of Saratogians to school on a Saturday.
It’s all part of the school’s centennial celebration, which some students, like fifth-grader Olivia Mayo, have spent weeks preparing for.
“We have been putting up all the photos, and we’ve been setting out artifacts and things like that. It was really fun, we went down to the basement and we just looked for whatever we could find that was really kind of old,” said Mayo.
Mayo is a part of the Centennial Club, which tasked students with researching and presenting the history of the school.
Third-grade teacher Amy Ellsworth is the club leader.
“Indescribable. And certainly one-of-a-kind, unique, most people don’t get a chance to do this in their career. And having taught here for 25 years it was so nice to connect to some of those people and share some of those stories with current students and have them make connections to what they’re experiencing here, to realize that although things have changed there’s still a lot that’s the same and that we pass down from generation to generation,” said Ellsworth.
Indoors, the walls of the school’s gymnasium are lined with 100 years of history, including the building’s time as a private home and stop on the Underground Railroad before it was sold to the school district in 1922.
Linda Cocozzo and Karen Brown, class of 1962, are reminiscing about their time at Lake Ave when it served as a high school.
The building looms over the city’s East Side and today is one of six elementary schools in the district.
Cocozzo is thinking of her family’s basset hound Stretch.
“At that time, dogs didn’t have to be on leashes or anything. He got best attendance here, every year at the cafeteria,” said Cocozzo.
“They let him in?” asked Brown.
“Yup they did. It was a different time, yeah he had more fame than I did,” said Cocozzo.
Brown remembers lunches a bit differently.
“I probably went to the diner at lunch time sometimes and I think everybody that went there smoked. It’s true! It’s true, that’s what I remember,” said Brown.
While Sandy and Joe Regan didn’t graduate from Lake Avenue, their kids and grandkids all went to the storied school.
“This community cares about its history, it’s past quite a lot. And I think it carries over, you know, from that,” said Sandy.
“Lake Avenue especially seems to be its own alumni association, it’s kind of fun,” said Joe.
“We could even sing the school’s song, I’m not going to,” said Sandy.
ASL: You’re not going to. OK, well, you know.
Sandy continued, “But we do know it, still, the words.”
Outside, second-year Principal Elizabeth Carroll can’t walk more than a couple feet without saying hello to a familiar face.
“Because we’ve had so many people go through here and this building and what has happened inside of it has been so significant in their lives and really contributed to who they are as people. I think that’s why you see people are so connected and it’s such a big part of this community. And we have generations of people,” said Carroll.
Dr. Barbara Messier, Carroll’s predecessor, says the job was like winning the lottery.
“It’s so exciting to see everybody, it’s truly a community, it’s kind of the flagship school because it’s 1923 when it was built. And just to see so many people come back and celebrate all the wonderful experiences they had here including me. It was a wonderful, wonderful run,” said Messier.
With all the celebration of the past, students and faculty made sure not to forget about the future. They have prepared their own time capsule to be opened in 2074, when the school celebrates its 150th birthday.
