The year 2000 seems like a different lifetime for most of us at BHS… because it is, for us born 2007 through 2011! But although it was a quarter-century ago, the similarities between Boulder High in 2000 and today, as revealed by archived Owl editions from the turn of the century, may surprise you.
Although the iPod, Facebook, and even MySpace hadn’t been invented yet, we seem to share many interests with the Class of 2000. Students debated whether school should start earlier, whether seniors should be allotted more parking spots, and the Boulder-Fairview rivalry dominated every sports page.
In 2000, Boulder High constructed the ropes course that still stands today at the West end of Recht Field, the first in the district! According to staff writer Brecken Roper, the course was a $13,500 investment funded with the help of YOAB, and was initially constructed using three repurposed telephone poles. 2000 was also the first year Challenge and Adventure was added to the course curriculum, and has remained one of the most popular gym classes for twenty five years.
Our girls volleyball team won state, our football team… did not. Troupe 60 put on the Broadway production of Cabaret – dubbed “an impressive success,” by staff writer Anna Silverman – and pulled a Y2K prank on the audience, faking technology bugs and black-outs during the show and intermission to poke fun at the 1999 fear of a global technology malfunction occurring on January 1st.
A survey of 200 BHS students revealed their opinions on the “hot topics” of the time, including the legalization of marijuana, abortion access, gay rights, and gun regulations, as well as the Gore v. Bush election and the War on Drugs. 95.9% of surveyed students said “yes” to increased funding for the school, and students raved about the 1999 releases Fight Club and American Beauty, while categorizing the movies of 2000 as falling “somewhere between terrible and tolerable,” according to staff writer Devin Kenney.
Ultimately, life at BHS was not so different in Y2K than it is today. Boulder High students worked at the Boulder Bookstore, went out for pizza during lunch, and skipped school to spend a day on the slopes at Eldora. If, like low-rise jeans, the 2000s are truly back in fashion, perhaps we could even benefit from adopting some more aspects of their lifestyle… like catching a movie with the school Cinema Club (which has since disbanded), and playing our music on Walkmans or portable radios. If you’re interested in finding out more about BHS through the years, visit Colorado Historic Newspapers for archives of our paper from the early 1900s on. As the staff writers from 2000 would likely say, “Keep it fresh, BHS!”
