Photo courtesy of Cherokee Bend Elementary.
A photo of the Cherokee Bend cheer team in 1974 is one of many pictures and scrapbooks the school will put on display for its 50th anniversary.
Cherokee Bend may be the youngest of Mountain Brook’s schools, but it hits a major milestone this month: its 50th birthday.
The elementary school first welcomed students on Sept. 2, 1969, Principal Sandy Ritchey said. The staff and PTO are planning events this month to celebrate all that has changed and stayed the same at Cherokee Bend since that day.
“We are hoping to invite all former students, teachers or past principals, anyone who has helped Cherokee Bend get where it is now,” Ritchey said.
PTO President Caroline Woods and the other parent volunteers have been working with Cherokee Bend staff on plans for the school’s birthday party over the summer. They plan to hold two events so that both current and former students and teachers get a chance to participate.
The first event will be on Friday, Sept. 6, since the school’s actual birthday is on the Labor Day holiday, Ritchey said. The school will have cake for kids and teachers to enjoy, and they plan to have the student body stand in the shape of the number 50 on the field for an aerial photo.
During the course of cleaning out and moving to different classrooms over the summer, Ritchey said the faculty has uncovered a number of photos, yearbooks and scrapbooks from Cherokee Bend’s history. They plan to set out tables of the memorabilia in the hallways for people to enjoy.
“We’re really excited for all the pieces we’ve been able to find,” Ritchey said.
“I think that’s what’s going to be so exciting, just to celebrate the amazing school that we are, where we’ve been and where we’ve come,” Woods said.
As this is only Ritchey’s second year as principal of Cherokee Bend, she said she doesn’t know as much about the school’s history as she would like to. Seeing the yearbooks and talking with former staff and students will be a good chance to hear those stories from the past.
“Anybody who had an opportunity to make a mark is going to be exciting for me because those people will bring stories with them that will teach this new principal more about the history of the school,” Ritchey said.
She said teachers will also include activities with the number 50 in their classrooms, and there will be dress-up days the week of the celebration. This year, the school logo used on T-shirts will include mention of the anniversary.
The second birthday event will be on Sunday, Sept. 8. The annual Red & Yellow Run, to be held at the school at 4 p.m., will be followed by music, food trucks and a community celebration. The run is a fundraiser for the school.
“We’ll eat together, have fun together, celebrate together, so we’re really excited about that too,” Ritchey said.
Ritchey and Woods said they would like to welcome anyone with a Cherokee Bend connection to be part of the school’s birthday.
“I really want that to be a chance for the community to celebrate all of the wonderful things that are happening in our school, but we have a lot of grandparents who went to Cherokee Bend and a lot of parents who went to Cherokee Bend, so the community’s well-invested, and I can’t wait to meet all of those wonderful people because it’s been three generations,” Ritchey said.
