{"id":367318,"date":"2026-06-19T16:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T16:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/367318\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T16:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T16:46:10","slug":"west-elementary-school-celebrates-100-years-with-a-look-back-herald-community-newspapers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/367318\/","title":{"rendered":"West Elementary School celebrates 100 years with a look back | Herald Community Newspapers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe are so proud celebrating 100 years at West school,\u201d Principal Amy Dirolf said. \u201cWe have spent the year doing various events that highlight 100<\/a> and what it means to be 100.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a full school year of recognizing the school\u2019s 100th birthday<\/a>, the students and staff of West Elementary spent June 16 taking an imaginary journey back to the 1920s. Dirolf, whose father graduated from West in 1959, explained that the fourth- and fifth-grade classes turned the school gym into an interactive museum, guiding the younger students through a series of educational exhibits to highlight different aspects of life during the school\u2019s earliest days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is beyond our expectations,\u201d Assistant Principal Sarah Kugelman said. \u201cThe students really were able to gather so much information about what life was like 100 years ago and then come up with a plan on their own about how to teach the younger students and bring history to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

A series of 10 stations were set up throughout the gym, each featuring a different aspect of life in the 1920s. Students learned about silent movies by watching clips of Charlie Chaplin. And because they live in a beach town, lifeguarding was one of the highlights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wore wool bathing suits in the summer,\u201d said fifth-grader Fiona Petruso, who researched the lifeguard station. \u201cThat was crazy. Now they wear highly functional gear that\u2019s water-friendly, and it won\u2019t be so heavy when they get out of the water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attendees learned about the Charleston and the fox trot while listening to music from the Roaring \u201920s. Orchestra teacher Noelle Bach, accompanied by several students on stringed instruments, played \u201cBoogie Blues\u201d to set the mood.<\/p>\n

Participants used an old-fashioned telephone and typewriter, and had a chance to ride in a makeshift Model-T car \u2014 a cardboard-covered Little Tike push cart. Students also saw jacks and yo-yos \u2014 popular toys of the era \u2014 and had a chance to work on an assembly line.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the younger kids, I think this is really going to give them a glimpse into history in a way that is meaningful to them,\u201d Kugelman said. \u201cI think it\u2019s something that will stick with them for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most directly relatable presentation was \u201cschool life,\u201d in which students viewed photos from West Elementary\u2019s own history. Pictures of the original cafeteria, playground and classrooms connected the past to the current building, with two very distinct differences made clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would wear this yellow hat, with the \u2018dunce,\u2019 if they weren\u2019t paying attention or listening,\u201d explained Erica Parler, a fifth-grader who oversaw the display. \u201cThe teachers would put this on them and they\u2019d have to wear it all day. There was also physical discipline, but that was only on rare occasions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lisa Pignataro, a teacher in the WINGS program<\/a> \u2014 What I Need to Grow as a Student \u2014 emphasized the self-developed nature of the presentations, with the fourth- and fifth-grade students being loosely guided and largely left to their own research skills. \u201cThey created all the exhibits themselves,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd they created hands-on activities for the younger students to learn about the decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each class spent a full period in the museum, soaking up the local history, taking part in the activities and seeing the connections between the school\u2019s centennial and the work they\u2019ve been doing throughout the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur second-graders have been working on different service projects,\u201d special education teacher Dana Wachter said. \u201cThey\u2019ve collected things like 100 pairs of socks, 100 cans of food. Everything that we\u2019re trying to turn into 100 years. One hundred acts of kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe are so proud celebrating 100 years at West school,\u201d Principal Amy Dirolf said. \u201cWe have spent the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[148972,148973,43492,148976,148975,131,133,132,16735,4694,148974,148971],"class_list":["post-367318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-100-years","tag-amy-dirolf","tag-centennial","tag-dana-wachter","tag-lisa-pignataro","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-long-beach-school-district","tag-new-york","tag-sarah-kugelman","tag-west-elementary-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}