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Cottonwood Heights Journal

Ridgecrest 50th celebration set for Sept. 8

Aug 28, 2017 11:44AM ● By Jana Klopsch

The community is invited Sept. 8 to help Ridgecrest Elementary celebrate its 50th birthday. (Julie Winfree/Ridgecrest Elementary School)

By Julie Slama | [email protected]

1967. It was the year of the world’s first heart transplant, the first ATM and 475,000 American troops were serving in Vietnam despite peace rallies multiplying as the number of protesters against the war increased. Gas was 33 cents per gallon, movie tickets cost $1.25 and the Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the first Super Bowl. The Beatles topped the charts three times, with the Monkees and the Supremes each hitting it twice that year.  Flowing skirts, bold stripes, bright flowers, velvet bell-bottoms, calf-high boots and afros were the fashion.  

It also was the year Ridgecrest Elementary opened its doors to Cottonwood Heights elementary children, welcoming them to a brand new school.

Fifty years later, current and former students, staff and faculty and their families are invited back to the school to help celebrate its birthday.

“We want to have all our kids, our former principals and teachers, and our community come celebrate with us,” Principal Julie Winfree said.  

The celebration begins at 5:30 p.m., Sept. 8 at Ridgecrest Elementary, 1800 East 7200 South. At 7 p.m., current and former students are invited to gather to sing the school song.

“We’ve had people in the community ask if we’ll be singing it because they still know it,” said Winfree, who has been principal at the school for the past three years.

She also is hoping to have a drone fly overhead to take photos of the celebration, including having people form the number 50 on the school field.

Also at the celebration will be the unveiling of the new school logo. Since February, Canyons School District graphic artist Jeff Olson has been designing it with the input of the school administration, School Community Council and PTA.

“We’ll have food trucks and birthday cake and some giveaways that will have the new logo, plus the PTA will be selling shirts with the new logo,” she said.

The T-shirts are $10.

Some current Brighton students who attended Ridgecrest are overseeing children’s games as part of the celebration.

Alumni and community members can tour the school with student leaders, including seeing the remodeled front entryway that was completed last summer. The new vestibule doors serve as a secure entrance and are Americans with Disabilities Act compliant.  

“We will have table displays and memory books so former students can see pictures from through the years at the school. We’d love to hear some of their stories of when they attended school here,” Winfree said.

Ridgecrest, the home of the Tigers, serves 650 students and is a Chinese dual-immersion school. For a number of years, the school also housed advanced students in the accelerated learning program.