1995

The school was updated in ‘95, bringing in new classrooms and simply space in general. Articles show pictures of the groundbreaking to begin construction, and of the mountains of dirt that had to be moved for work to continue. 1995 was also the year that the Rocky Mount Academy soccer team won its first state title. Elsewhere in the book there are short quizzes in case you ever wanted to know what was cool and uncool in the 90’s. Even more unusual than some of the trends is the costume of “The Mask” worn at the fall festival.

1994

The 1994 yearbook doesn’t contain too many interesting events as compared with previous years. It does, however, show the condition of the soccer field before it was updated as well as yearbook photos of one of our media office heads, Mrs. Gross, and Ms. Knox, an upper school english teacher, in 7th grade.

1992

The cover of the 1992 yearbook has an interesting design. Its title is Ties that Bind and has a ribbon “binding” parts of the book together. Flipping through it, I can say that the prom theme was slightly unusual. While it shared the same theme of prom 2017, Under the Big Top, prom 1992 was filled with bright colors, circus clowns, and Bubba, a mechanical gorilla owned by a local gas station. For other unusual events, the school was visited by Mr. Eustace Conway, a cultural anthropologist who had been living in a tepee for the past twelve years.

1991

Traditions started long ago are still going strong. The senior class still makes shirts and has a party before the first day of school. They also come in very tired, noted many different times at the beginning of the book. Another relatable article is Murphy’s Law quotes made by the students (if it can go wrong, it will go wrong). Stationed in the center of the yearbook are two smaller pages. These make up a “mini yearbook” with fun articles and games inside.

1990

It is nice to see that some things never change. Students always end up sleeping in class once in a while. Two entire pages of the 1990 yearbook are dedicated to these pictures. An interesting note in the book is the page on the class of 2000. The second grade class of this year would graduate only a few days before I was born.

1989

School events include trips outside the country this year, such as one to Europe, as well as outings to the coast and other points of interest. The all school sing-along has obviously been around for a while, as teachers can be seen singing to students in holiday themed shirts. An obvious but interesting realization I had while reading this book is that before cell phones, RMA allowed students to use payphones located around campus during breaks between classes. After it became common for people to own cell phones, these were removed.

1988

Rocky Mount Academy obviously bought more computers this year, as seen by the long row of them in a classroom pictured. This is also the first appearance of the Ann Weaver scholarship and its recipient. Other pages include the trends of “Then” and “Now,” back in 1988, as well as an interesting picture of many senior class members in a hot tub.

1987

When opening this yearbook, all I can say is that I’m thankful we have graphing calculators now. Inside the senior pages, James Warren Leggett is the first person to have a superlative stating “Most likely to become a pilot.” (I would hope so since he appears to own his own airplane.) Ms. Wiggins is also pictured for the first time next to Ms. Avent in the page for RMA staff. The rest of the yearbook is not very serious, and contains many amusing pictures.

1986

There weren’t too many pictures to mark in the ‘86 yearbook. The Fall Festival seems to be very similar to the one we hold now. I will admit thought that I was confused about the Hunter’s Safety club. There was no description on what the club actually did  and their dedicated page only has a few pictures of a car with no wheels as well as (possibly) one of its missing tires hanging from a deer crossing sign. Ninth grade is still weird with two students spooning each other ice cream while blindfolded. Thankfully, there is an interesting as well as serious historical picture and article to end the book. It shows what appears to be a yard sale happening along the tracks in Rocky Mount.

1985

In 1985 the book incorporates many more color pictures than other years. Drama class and school performances are still held in the music room, which obviously hasn’t changed much. In the administration, Mr. Bailey is now headmaster, and interestingly the high school SGA only has three members.This also brings up the way the school was separated. On two pages dedicated to the SGA clubs, it can be seen that they are divided into middle school and junior high, not grouping grades 9 – 12 under high school.

Art classes were well represented in 1985. Many works were even displayed in a public exhibit. One other major change from previous years was the size of the staff on the school newspaper. The BEAK staff has shrunk to only seven members. Amid all these changes, however, the yearbook staff still managed to take some interesting, although possibly painful, pictures.