Dear Old West Tech
(A poem….it could be verse)
By Diane Shalala Fritel
West Tech noises were always heard
When we moved to our house on West 93rd
We grew up just across the
street
And followed every game and
meet
We bent the bars of the
fences of pickets
So we wouldn’t have to pay for tickets
And searched under the
bleachers after the games
To find lots of coins and
dollars with names
As kids we played ball—both soft and hard
And picked the mulberries in
the playground yard
Our summer counselor was a
kid named George
The Steinbrenner name he did
not forge
We rode on the roller around
the track
And on the mower, both
forward and back
Our pigtail softball team won
the city title
My role in right field was
not so vital
Finally, we enrolled at Tech in tenth grade
Living so close, we had it
made
Many of you were out of luck
Too young to remember Mr.
C.C. Tuck
He stood in the entry by
Lincoln’s statue
And if you were late, he’d
surely catch you
If you were caught doing
something wrong
You wouldn’t be standing
still very long
You became a member of
“Tuck’s Track Team”
And ran around the block for
miles it seemed
When it was time for him to
step down
He handed the reins to Mr. S.
Dill Browne
The Biology teacher was named Ray Mears
He became famous in later
years
We had only two microscopes
to share
But the teacher was “cute,”
so we didn’t care
The staircase labels were “Up” and “Down”
We needed hall passes to get
around
The “rec” was the place to go
at noon
For board games or dancing that ended
too soon
We had a foundry that was very hot
And the mechanical drawing
kids measured a lot
The shops were printing and
auto mech
Some studied business at West
Tech
We had art, marching band,
and office machines
Cheerleading was great for
some of us teens
Horticulture, Welding, and
Aeronautics
Woodworking, Driving, and
Mathematics
We all took English &
Science & History
To most of us “Millroom” was really a
mystery
College Prep got us ready for
more
When we walked out the West
Tech door
West Tech memories never end
When we look back to remember
a friend
I will always cherish the day
When I began cheering for
Crimson and Gray
Thanks, West Tech, for all
the fun
For alumni, you’ll always be
number one
