Five Question Challenge - School Memories

Julianna Smith, at 24/7 Family History Circle, has challenged everyone to record the answers to five questions each week on a specific topic. The topic for Week #1 was School Memories.

I thought I'd try and take this one step further and also record my mother's memories for each week's topic although they won't follow the question format. Her school memories are here.

• What was your favorite subject in school?
• I didn't have a favorite subject, I loved learning. My least favorite would have been Trigonometry.

• In what extra-curricular activities did you participate? Sports? Drama? Music? Academics?
• In middle school I was in the chorus. I went to NYSMA competitions and scored very poorly, one of the only things I did not excel at. I still love to sing, as long as no one is grading me.
  
• I played in the band, alto clarinet and alto sax. The year I lived in Clayton, NC, I was in the marching band and remember practices where we had to march to a very quiet cadence when we approached the revival tent. I also still remember the trip to march in a parade in Wilmington. Because I hadn't been with the band in the spring, when they ordered uniforms, I marched in a navy concert blazer and really stood out from the rest! I had to practice in the barn and if I wanted to go to practices I had to get my own rides. Dad and Ann never came to a single concert or parade. When I moved back to NY with my mother she struggled to buy me a sax (I played a school instrument in NC, the school in NY wouldn't provide one) and she managed to get to every concert. I didn't join the marching band because of the cost and my work schedule.
  
• Did you go on field trips, and if so, what was your most memorable field trip?
• I went on lots of field trips. The two that were most memorable were a trip to the Everson Museum in Syracuse when I was in elementary school. They had pictures of naked people and I was shocked and quite worried that I'd be in trouble have having looked at them. The other memorable trip also involved nudity. In NC we went on a trip to Raleigh to see the movie Romeo and Juliet and there was a very steamy scene that we talked about for weeks. The bus broke down on the way back so we missed our ride home. That was the only time I was ever on a bus that broke down before I started driving them.
  
• What teacher influenced you the most?
• My fourth grade teacher is the only one that stands out. She taught me to be tough when the other kids picked on me. She also taught me to speed read so I could devour books at warp speed.
  
• Did you buy a lunch at school, or bring one from home? What kind of lunchbox? What was your favorite lunch?
• I know that I had several metal lunch boxes but I don't remember what was on them. They usually had a PB&J sandwich wrapped in wax paper and a leaky thermos. I did buy my lunch now and then, especially on pizza day. When I was in NC I discovered fried bolonga.