Wandering around Tacoma's Stadium High School on Saturday, I saw stickers on chests.  Naturally, I read these stickers because they told more stories than words ever could.  They had names and numbers, telling of the person, and the year that person was an active part of the history of the school.  I saw ’52, ’62, ’70, ’79, ’80, ’82, ’92, ’99.  I saw a dad with his sons, whose stickers read 2016 and 2019.

I saw groups of people lingering in the courtyard, but rather than the groups being segregated into “geeks,” “jocks,” and “stoners,” the groups were segregated into eras, only specifically evident by the stickers on their chests. 

They all had come to celebrate a school whose identity is as strong an identity as any human celebrity could be.  A current student manning the main office desk smiled broadly as she talked about her love of the school, and her excitement to be a part of “the castle.”

“I carry a card with a picture of the school in my pocket,” she explained. “I tell people ‘this is where I go to school.’”

The stadium itself was hopping with activity, from the booths to the bounce houses and on the stage, the sound check echoing off the concrete steps added to the feeling of vastness.

The perfect weather â€" not too hot, not too cold, not raining, come clouds adding contrast to the super-blue skies â€" broadened the smiles of the range of people who came to pay their respects to the ageless Grand Dame whose architectural identity has served as a historical centerpiece in Tacoma for a century, and whose architectural integrity will now serve Tacoma for a hundred more years. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler