May 04, 2006

The Secret Room

Most secrets around school last a week or two. Kids are congenitally unable to keep a secret. A decade ago, when my car was egged, all I had to do was keep my mouth shut for a week before I knew the name of all four culprits – good kids who got bored on a Saturday night in the little hick town where we all lived.

And then there are the campus legends. Every school has a place – usually the gym or the auditorium -- where some kid committed suicide or died in a tragic accident – but the school hushed it out. Or there is the janitorial closet where a couple of teachers got locked during a “rendezvous” before, during, or after school. Such legends are usually false, and even when true don’t stay secret for long.

But at one high school, a secret was recently discovered that goes all the way back to the Ford Administration, 31 years ago.

For 31 years, a hideaway in the rafters of Smoky Hill High School has served as a refuge for select drama students - a secret getaway whose whereabouts were passed down every year from class to class.

Unbeknownst to teachers and administrators, students had hauled up chairs, a radio and candles to furnish the lair above the lights. The room was actually a space created by the vents and walls of the ventilation system, accessible only by perilous traverses across catwalks.

Knowledge about the room had become a sacred Smoky Hill rite until the school newspaper last month revealed the secret. The April 14 article in the Smoky Hill Express prompted administrators to shut down access.

In its wake, newspaper students learned the power of the printed word. Drama students learned that their unsupervised exploits above the rafters could have been deadly.

"It's probably a pretty good idea to keep the kids safe," said Brian Pelepchan, 45, one of two teens who created the room during the school's first year in 1975.
Pelepchan and his best friend, Gary Walker, were sophomores, avid rock climbers and drama- department "techies" who were allowed on the catwalks above the stage.

"We went up into the catwalks and saw this little opening, climbed up the structure and, lo and behold, we found this little cavelike place that we could hang out in," said Pelepchan, now an engineer with three children who attend Smoky Hill.

Pelepchan and Walker started the log book, which later filled with the names of everyone who had visited the room. Rumors about activities in the room ranged from sex to drugs to rock 'n' roll. Students changed the room's location in the rafters at various times over the years.

For better or for worse, the school newspaper found out about the secret room and published a report, and the school shut down access o the room. But much to my surprise, there was a bit of common sense exercised by administrators.

[Activities Director Kathy] Daly and [journalism teacher Carrie] Faust met with the drama department. Students who had used the room were given amnesty. The department was given the log book.

A good decision all around – let the tradition be preserved, but shut down the potentially dangerous element – and not punish anyone for participating in what had been, in a very real sense, harmless rite of passage for a group of kids who historically are outcasts in a school setting.

But you know – a little bit of me hopes the “secret room” is resurrected in some way. After all, it is a tradition!

Posted by: Greg at 12:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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