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Attendees of Orem Elementary School's 50th birthday celebration walk through a hallway of past staff photos and other memorabilia on Thursday, May 18, 2023.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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The Gibson family looks through past yearbooks and scrapbooks during Orem Elementary School's 50th birthday celebration on Thursday, May 18, 2023.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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A choir of Orem Elementary School students sings the school song during a celebration held Thursday, May 18, 2023.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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Ashlie Mann looks through past yearbooks and scrapbooks during Orem Elementary School's 50th birthday celebration on Thursday, May 18, 2023. Mann attended the school from kindergarten until sixth grade.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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Orem Elementary School Principal Ryan Rocque records the student choir's performance of the school song during a celebration held Thursday, May 18, 2023.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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Student wait in line for the bounce house during Orem Elementary School's 50th birthday celebration on Thursday, May 18, 2023.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald

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The school itself was a little nontraditional. Everything was in one open space with the library in the center of the room and different classes around the sides. LaDell Gillman did his best to speak loud enough that his fifth grade class could hear over the sounds of their second grade neighbors.

“I feel sorry, to this day, for that poor second grade teacher because she, you know, it was hard for her to teach with everything that was going on,” Gillman said.

The year was 1972 and the now 92-year-old Gillman was among the inaugural group of teachers at Orem Elementary School. The school held a celebration Thursday to recognize its 50th anniversary with a choral performance, food trucks, bounce houses and a literal walk through memory lane.

As people entered the building through the main doors, they were led from the present further into the past. First were drawings and pictures from current students, most wishing a “Happy 50th birthday” to the school.

Then came the brick hallway plastered with group staff photos from the past decades and tables with OES T-shirts and hoodies donated by parents and both current and former teachers. Then came the physical history — scrapbooks and yearbooks going back to the school’s inaugural year.

One former student, now past 60, came up to Gillman to say hello and introduce his family to the former teacher.

“(He) put his arm around me and said how much of a difference I had made in his life and how much he loved me — he may have been flattering me a little bit,” Gillman said.

The idea it was just flattery, though, was shot down quickly by Jessie Martell, the school’s first secretary. Now in her 90s as well, she and Gillman have maintained their friendship for decades. “When they remember a teacher, he was a good teacher,” she said.

The celebration has been a focus for much of the school year by faculty, members of the PTA and others in the community, according to first grade teacher Megan Carter.

Students sang the school’s song, first written by longtime second grade teacher Becky Conover, and a video was displayed with dozens of former students sharing their memories of the Orem institution.

First-year principal Ryan Rocque understood the task ahead when he began his time at Orem Elementary, leaning on the longer-tenured Cubs to help the process along.

“This is all new for me. I wasn’t part of Orem Elementary,” Rocque said. “For the most part, it’s really been parent-driven, which just goes to show, you know, so many people just love the school. It’s the heart of the community.”

He was responsible for making the videos and didn’t expect the number of hugs it would involve. As former faculty members visited the school to film their portions, students would run up and greet them.

“Schools change our lives. So I think for all of us, it’s nice to be able to stop and pause our busy lives and look back and remember all the wonderful times people had here at one,” he said.

The scrapbooks were lined across a table outside the school’s gym, set up for people to either walk past quickly before the performance or to stand and linger.

Carter was among the parents and faculty members able to look through the scrapbooks with her children and point herself out — she was a student from 1992 until 1994 at OES.

“It was overwhelming, honestly, just going through and seeing how our community started small and grew and grew and how times have changed, but how all these people still wanted to come back,” Carter said. “As I’ve watched teachers that have been here for 30 years go through these books with me and just the memories they have and the emotions they’re feeling — that’s what it’s about,” Carter said.

Families would walk past the books, sharing memories of old classmates and teachers, pointing out pictures of younger siblings and, frequently, older relatives to the youngest members of the OES tradition. In the process of gathering everything together for the birthday party, Carter showed a picture to one of her students. The student said she didn’t recognize the girl in the photograph but that she “kind of looks like me.” Carter showed the child a picture of her own mother from her tenure as a Cub.

While the school’s interior and exterior have changed, sometimes dramatically, over the decades, the purpose never did. Every year, hundreds of children from kindergarten to sixth grade walked the halls and learned. They learned match, science, English, social studies and, most importantly, about themselves. They learned they would forever be part of Orem and the history it holds.

“I hope the kids remember this and go come back to this area when their parents move on and raise kids here and remember this history, how proud we are of our school,” Carter said.

Next comes an unknown future. Gillman, Martell and their colleagues in 1972 could not have envisioned what Orem Elementary is today, and today’s faculty can’t predict the next 50 years. They just hope students and the wider community are prepared for whatever comes next.

“The family and the home and the teachers in the school, we’re partners, and together we create this beautiful partnership and relationship that makes everyone happy,” Rocque said, choking back his emotions. “Makes me grateful to be in education.”

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