We recently had our High Point Central High School Class of 2000 25-year reunion. As part of our reunion weekend, we went back to Central for the first time in 25 years to tour the school. Shout-out to Jimmy Mitchell, Tommy Cary, and the other organizers who made it happen. Thank you to current HPC Principal Mike Hettenbach for coming in on a Saturday morning, in the middle of the summer, to conduct the tour. We appreciated it. We had a lot of fun. To any HPC alumni who are considering doing this for your reunion, I highly recommend it. If I recall correctly, Mike has been the principal at Central for three years now. During that time, he turned Central around, from being the most dangerous school in Guilford County to the safest. Central was the first school in the county to set up a security checkpoint with a metal detector, etc. No weapons have been found inside the school for two years now. I heard Central had gone downhill since the time I graduated. Then again, a student set the school on fire when we were there in 1997. It appears Mike has really started to turn things around and my view of the school is optimistic with him at the helm. He's proud of the work that's been done since he became principal. I think Central is in good hands with Mike, who is motivated and seems to have a genuine love for the school. I was at Central 1996-2000. During that time, I got cut from the golf team at Blair Park (coach Ray Keever), our girls basketball team won two North Carolina state 3A championships (coach Kenny Carter, who was one of my PE teachers and beat me badly in basketball), and our football team won the state 2A championship (coach Gary Whitman). We went 15-0 and beat Southwest Onslow at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill. A bunch of us were there. Academically, we had the IB (International Baccalaureate) program with kids commuting from places like Greensboro for it. I know many students from my class (2000), and shortly before and after, who went to great colleges and experienced lots of success. Many have moved away from High Point, which is sad for the city (brain drain). High Point isn't alone in that. A couple of my favorite teachers at Central included Gary Wilson (electronics, computers, networking) and James Hewitt (history). In addition to AP classes, I was in the Fast Forward program, so I graduated from Central with six hours of college credits in history from UNCG. I took most of my vo-tech classes with Mr. Wilson, was in the Vocational Education Honor Society, and got a full ride to Guilford Technical Community College. I was also in Beta Club and NHS, but was particularly fond of my vocational distinction. I enjoyed those classes which included keyboarding, drafting (Mr. Smith), and computer applications. Under Mr. Wilson's instruction, we built computers from scratch and actually got certified in things like networking, as high school students. If anyone has contact info for Mr. Wilson, I'd love to hear from him again. Another one of my favorite teachers was Karen Hogan who, according to her LinkedIn profile, was at Central from August 1977 to June 2007 -- almost 30 years. She also taught my oldest sister, who was HPC Class of 1989. Mrs. Hogan taught math and led the yearbook staff, which I was on my senior year. Yearbook was fun. Random teacher story: I ran into my 10th grade English teacher, Sylvia Samet, in Alaska in summer 2005. We were both on cruises and our ships docked at the same port around the same time. As for the reunion tour, we only got to see part of the first floor, the new library (where the cafeteria used to be), the new cafeteria (building extension), and the girls and boys gyms. This was because they were waxing the floors while school was out. The tour ended at the boys gym where current men's basketball and golf coach Josh Prince played a Bison men's basketball hype video on the gym's new $75K jumbotron. He also played a special Class of 2000 slideshow, which I believe was made by a current student(s). The tour was quick, lasting just over an hour. Thanks to Josh for his time as well. The big screen was possible thanks to Bison Pride, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization, committed to the revitalization of the school. Find out more and donate to Bison Pride here: https://hpcbisonpride.org/ The old real bison that used to be inside the gym's lobby was taken back by its original owner. Also, there are a couple websites for Central. The one listed on Yelp is the Guilford County Schools version. This version has more Central-specific info: https://nc01910393.schoolwires.net/high_point_central_high read more

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