Reshaping the District

Balloon releasers included faculty, administration, staff and athletes from both schools, along with superintendent Williams and City Councilman Sharp.

With the school year drawing to a close, the last major sporting contest between Ruskin High School and Hickman Mills High School was held today. As the reader may recall, Hickman Mills High School will close at the end of this year. The district decided to have a little bit of ceremony to commemorate the occasion, most memorably a release of orange and blue balloons into the windy sky before the girl's soccer teams took the field. The two school's drum lines played together and apart, there was music and dance, and free refreshments.

The day was windy, but warm and sunny, clear as could be. Aside from an excess of waiting time before the festivities, it appeared that all went well. There appeared to have been one fight but I never saw it, and it didn't seem to last long. (How did I know there was a fight? All the kids in the bleachers ran to the top seats, yelling "Fight, fight!". They weren't there long.) The police presence was obvious, including two mounted officers.

Blue and orange balloons take off into the blue sky carried by the strong wind.

First half play between the two teams.

The girls played a scoreless first half. Hickman Mills scored about midway through the second half. Unfortunately, I could not see the game to its end, and I have not been able to find out if that one goal held up for a win for the Hickman Mills Cougars in the last major team sport contested between two high schools in the Hickman Mills School District.

Update: Hickman Mills High School girls won the game with a final score of 2-0. Always good to go out on a winning note. Other district teams should note that next year's combined team may be pretty good!

All photos by The Observer.