It took a year to celebrate, but the Herndon High School Class of 1970 had the best time at their 50 (+1) Reunion. Alumni and guests kicked off the Class of 1970's Reunion weekend on Septe. 24 with a tour of their newly renovated alma mater. It wasn't quite a walk down memory lane with the possible exceptions of recognizing some outbuildings on the football field.
The 54-year-old building looked nothing like the school the Class of 1970 attended from 1967. Major renovations and additions have been underway since early 2018.
Joe Saunders of Hughes Group Architects took the Class of 1970 and others on a nearly hour-long tour, up and down steps and down long hallways. Tourgoers happily sat down and settled in at the desks in the science lab when the opportunity arose.
Saunders explained some of the LEED aspects of the new school, such as how the building harvests daylight. "You got all that bright daylight out there and especially from noon on," said Saunders pointing at rows of ceiling lights not illuminated near the windows.
Following a private tour of the Herndon Depot Museum at 5 p.m., the group was off for dinner at the Mediterranean Breeze Restaurant & Sports Bar. Saturday night was the big dinner event at the Marriot at Worldgate. The weekend concluded with a picnic on Sunday at Bready Park.
Wanda Mitchell, one of the event organizers, said, "We were so disappointed in 2020 when the planning of our 50th Reunion had to stop because of COVID. In April 2021, when things were improving, we decided we could go ahead and start planning again, but we’d call it our 50th (+1). A great time was had by all with lots of reminiscing, catching up, and best of all, lots of laughs."