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Mount Rose Elementary Goes Back in Time for
100 Year Anniversary
Old Fashioned Themed Picnic on Sunday, Oct. 2
Reno, NV (Sept. 30, 2011) - In celebration of Mount Rose Elementary School's centennial anniversary, alumni, students, families and neighbors will travel back in time this weekend for an old fashioned themed picnic and an afternoon commemorating the school's legacy in Reno. The picnic on Sunday, Oct. 2 marks 100 years in which the school has educated Reno's children in the southwest and downtown neighborhoods.
As a part of the celebration, the anniversary event includes:
- An open house with displays of archived postcards, newspaper clippings and worldly events from the era in which the school was built
- A musical performance by Reno musician John Lenz, who performed at the school's 50-year anniversary celebration when he was a middle school student in WCSD
- Picnic games like sack races and a melon eating contest
- Rides on two of the carnival rides from the former Idlewild Park amusement grounds
Mount Rose Principal Krissy Brown said everyone in the community is invited to attend the celebration as they look back on the last 100 years of the school's operation. "As the oldest school in the District, Mount Rose has gone through the full cycle from being the central focus of community life for the downtown and old southwest neighborhoods to near demolition and years of changed population demographics. The pendulum in now swinging back with families recognizing that the small school size, unique building and grounds, a multicultural population, and proximity to cultural amenities makes Mount Rose an attractive educational environment."
Mount Rose Elementary School is one of only two remaining "four sisters", a grouping of schools approved by voters in 1908 and 1910 that commissioned schools built in a similar Mission Revival architectural style. The other remaining school is the City of Reno's McKinley Arts and Culture Center. Orvis Ring and Mary S. Doten complete the four sisters group.
Mount Rose Elementary School almost met the same fate as its sister schools in the 1980s. The school was saved from the wrecking ball by the advocacy of neighborhood parents. The committed resident activists persuaded the school district Board of Trustees to reverse a decision to close the school and rather to renovate the building that had fallen into disrepair so that urban Reno children would have a school within their neighborhood.
Newlands neighborhood resident Ted Schroeder was one of the leading proponents to save the school. "The neighbors felt the school was the heart of the neighborhood and to close the school would rip out the neighborhood's heart." Schroeder explained that old southwest Reno residents advocated for a school improvement bond that was approved by the voters and secured funds for Mount Rose's renovation and for that of other schools. "So in that way, other neighborhoods won by our activism in also having their schools improved."
In addition to the anniversary picnic, efforts to document the school's history are planned for this year including, a three-part rotating exhibit in a display cabinet at the school's entry to be curate by Nevada Historical Society staff. Other events and activities are also scheduled for the 2011-2012 school year.
More information about Mount Rose Elementary's centennial celebration can be found on the school's website at http://www.washoecountyschools.org/mtrose/.
Event Details
What: Mount Rose Elementary School's Centennial Anniversary Picnic
Where: Mount Rose Elementary School (915 Lander St., Reno)
When: Sunday, Oct. 2 from noon to 4 p.m.
Who: Alumni, current students and families, current and former teachers and staff, neighbors and all community members are invited to the picnic.
Contacts:
Jenny Brekhus (Mount Rose Parent) - 544-1694 or 828-7438
Krissy Brown (School Principal) - 333-5030
Clarissa Crisalogo (former teacher now at Roger Corbett ES) - 333-5180
Scott Hall (Mt. Rose Parent) - 232-0129 0r 329-0435
Ted Schroeder (Newlands Neighborhood Resident) - 750-8887
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About Washoe County School District: The Washoe County School District includes the Reno/Sparks metropolitan area, Incline Village, Gerlach, Empire and Wadsworth, Nevada. The District provides each of its 63,000 students with a superior education in a safe and challenging environment and is committed to graduate every child career and college ready.
For more information visit: www.washoecountyschools.org. Follow us on Twitter at WCSDTweet.
Washoe County School District
425 East Ninth Street
Reno, NV 89512
