Kettering marking its 50th anniversary with celebration

Waterford Kettering High School is marking its 50th anniversary this year, and a party is being planned to commemorate the milestone.

There is currently a page on Facebook dedicated to the school’s anniversary. It states that an open house is being planned, and it that will include activities for present and past teachers, staff, parents and alumni.

Former Kettering teacher Hal Farah, one of the anniversary celebration’s organizers, said that no date for the open house has been confirmed yet because everyone is still busy with the start of the new school year.

Another organizer, current Kettering teacher Jesse McLean, said that a couple of year-long projects being planned include a mini-documentary and a commemorative book.

“In the documentary, members of WKHS-TV, the television class that I teach at Kettering, are going to get in touch with former Kettering grads and see them in their current jobs,” McLean said. “We hope to see how Kettering prepared them for what they are doing now. We have grads all over the nation doing some really amazing things: NASA scientists, radio hosts, writers, musicians, teachers, professional sports players, etc.”

She added that organizers are also hoping to do a brief history of the building and that Brian Wilson, a Kettering language teacher, is going to have his students write some of the stories that make up the school’s history.

In the meantime, the anniversary’s Facebook page is calling for Kettering alumni to help out in the making of the DVD through submission of story ideas.

Other suggestions include digital videos of alumni in their place of work saying “I Am Kettering,” or volunteering for interviews by students.

Alumni are also encouraged to post memories on the wall of the Facebook page.

For more information, e-mail Farah at wartval@netzero.com or McLean at mcleaj01@wsdmi.org.