Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School

What is for school lunch next week for the following week of May 14, 1983?

Whittier 1986 Yearbook Cover

“Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School”

Say that ten times fast. Most of us back in the 80’s were drawn to Whittier for many different reasons. Some of those were:

  • Alternating weeks of academics and shop.
  • We hated regular school and sought an alternative.
  • Actually wanted to learn a trade.
  • Enticed by the rumors of how easy the school was (workload).

Whatever your reason was, once you began your freshman year you suddenly realized you made the right choice. You realized you made the right choice because:

  • New pool of females to date. Whatever nauseating habits that kept you from getting dates at your prior school, well no one new them there- yet.
  • Definitely no dress code.
  • Fire drills almost everyday.
  • New friends.
  • Less regular academics
  • You either learned a trade or realized you spent 4 years learning a trade you didn’t want to make a living at.

Obviously with any school you learn only what you put into it. Whittier was no exception.

What is your Whittier memory. I graduated in 1986…

4 Responses to Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School

  1. My fondest memory was in Mr. Lyons physics class when somebody passed all the papers back to this one kid who started a fire with the worksheets . Poor old Mr. Lyons being half alseep “or something” got up after a bit and yelled out , “What are you ? , Some kind of physcho ? ” If I remember he sent him to the office ( or tried to ) Can’t remember if the pyro returned after that episode …but entertaining nonetheless…

    The best hangout was the “West Terrace” …Sounds like a luxury resort feature , which it was to us “smokers” … Gosh to think we could smoke at school !

    J. Frost October 30, 2009 at 7:47 pm Reply
  2. Another fond memory was a day of a snow storm that started in the morning and came down pretty quick . Anyway the excitement began when a “student” who lived nearby decided to take his snowmobile out on the football field for some fun …next thing we see is some crazy guy drive out with his pickup and try to chase him off ! I think he was one of the school admins… Very good entertainment for a snow day , which we got an early release on , which was just the start of the adventure home in a snowstorm on a bus ( not known for there traction in snow ) Anyway we were coming down a hill toward the Merrimac River which the bus spun out and was headed toward the bridge ( backwards ) Miraculously it stopped in time …Not a good day for a swim …

    J. Frost October 30, 2009 at 7:55 pm Reply
  3. Would the person that posted the image of the school lunch menu contact me, I would like to see if I can get a higher res image for an exhibition I am working on at the Smithsonian Institution. Thanks very much!

    Nanci Edwards February 19, 2014 at 11:15 am Reply
  4. My brother (Barry Hayes) attended Whittier Tech when it opened and some of the classrooms were not finished so they would have classes in the auditorium and the cafeteria. I attended Whittier from 1976-1980. The building was very glum inside and reminded me of a prison…grey walls and carpet. Freshman year we had to pick 4 shops to try….mine was Health Careers, Cooking/Sewing, Printing, and Machine Shop. I was put into Machine Shop as 1 of my shops I picked was full…I was pretty hesitant about going to that class and being the only girl, but it ended up not being half bad….I made a lead hammer (which I still have) and also had my own restroom! I picked Health Careers as my shop for the remaining years and had Marcia Basso for Freshman and Senior year, Carol Ouellette for Sophomore year and Angelina Soroka for Junior year. We learned how to be nurses’ aides, as well as childcare and worked in different parts of the hospital, as well as nursing homes. At Whittier you had shop one week and academic classes the next week. Some of the academic teachers I remember was Jerry Hall for history, Mr. LaBranch for English, Mr. Ventresca for Math, Mr. Mitcheson for Math, Mr. Charron for history, Mr. Kuhns for English, Mr. Fury, Mr. Brennan for Science, and last (my favorite) Mr. Dirsa for Science and Chemistry. Everyone liked Mr. Dirsa as he was a pushover and would pass you just for showing up. I remember 1 experiment he was demonstration in front of the class…he realized he did something wrong and told everyone to “duck” and the glass beaker exploded, but thank God no one got hurt! I didn’t trust him after that, so every time we had to use the Bunsen burner, I would make my lab partner do it while I stood several feet away….lol! I also remember my shop class being on the 4th floor and gym class was on the 1st floor (but you had to go down another level for the locker rooms. One year I had gym right after homeroom and then class after gym on the 4th floor again….I didn’t like it to much and I hated gym anyway. The cafeteria was a good size and had carpeting (which was harder to clean if there were spills). We also had an outside smoking deck where they would allow you to smoke cigarettes out there, but there were a lot of kids smoking other things as well (I doubt they let kids smoke out there now)! The school also had its own gift shop, restaurant, and hair salon…all run by students in those shops. Back then, the store was right inside the main entrance, but on a recent visit for lunch with an old classmate, the store has been moved to the hall where the restaurant and hair salon is, which makes it convenient for visitors. Back then, it was very cheap to get your hair done at the salon then have lunch there, so a lot of senior citizens used to come in. There is also a bank now across from the restaurant. I am happy I went to Whittier as it gave me the educational foundation for my careers in the health industry throughout my life as a nurse assistant and massage therapist. Also, now it is a little harder to be accepted into Whittier as they only wants students who are serious about learning a trade, where back in my day they would let anyone in.

    Maria April 25, 2018 at 12:21 pm Reply

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