More than 400 Spuds were first to receive their diplomas in 1968 in the new gymnasium of the former Moorhead High School. Some may be grandparents of this year’s graduates.

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

Fifty-eight years ago, a group of Moorhead teen-agers marched across the stage of the new Moorhead High School. After spending the first half of their senior year at the city’s 47-year-old high school on Eighth Street South, they concluded their final year in the newly built, state-of-the-art facility at 2800 Fourth Ave. S.… where only a pile of rubble remains. The Spud crop of 2024, instead, will be presented their diplomas onstage in the brand-spanking-new gymnasium of the school’s latest incarnation.
The graduation ceremony on Friday, May 24, is not only a “first.” It is been a fitting way to culminate celebration of the Moorhead school system’s 150th anniversary.
This crop of graduating Spuds began their final semester in a setting entirely unlike that of their grandparents’ and parents’ school days, which lies in rubble on the very spot where their high school days began. Unlike its predecessor, the school to which they bid farewell Friday boasts light-infused classrooms, cutting-edge technology, a new gym and swim center, and – perhaps best of all – a vast commons area for eating, meeting and relaxing among their 1,900-plus classmates.
While their elders may reminisce about the “new school” of their own youth, what do the teens in Spuddy’s current crop think about “breaking in” this version of Moorhead High?
“I really appreciate how all the teachers have windows in their classrooms,” senior Heidi Becker replied. She was among dozens of Spuds asked to share their opinions. “I also really like the open commons concept on each floor. It motivates me and allows me to get lots of valuable work done.”
“I like the comfortable areas in the middle of the classroom spaces where you can sit and talk before the next class begins,” freshman Ireland Woodward agreed.
Many of her peers concurred, mentioning the sunshine-drenched open spaces that characterize not only the commons but the classrooms as well. Junior Brenna Clasemann reported, “I love all the natural light, big open spaces, and the gym.”
Freshman Asiya Ridwan appreciated, she said, how the school “feels very breathable and clean. I love the abundance of seating.” One of her favorite memories, she writes, is “just sitting with people I know in one of the seating areas in the Forest wing.”
Said fellow freshman Edda Peterson, “It’s a lot nicer, and it doesn’t smell like the old one.”
Eleventh-grader Brooklyn Van Nevel offered an equally frank assessment: “It looks better and doesn’t feel like jail.”
Students were invited to share favorite memories of their first months in the new quarters. Among top responses: Eating with friends on the Learning Steps (the west end of the two-story atrium of the Commons). Key Club meetings in the Spud Hub. Pepfest and prom in the new gym. Shuttling books and materials from the old classrooms to the new.
Junior Kendra Machart: “Speech camp in the ‘speech beach’ outside of Rebecca Meyer-Larson’s classroom.”
Freshman Zinar Maii: “We’ve had laughs in the Commons. Everything happens there.”
Junior Nakrie Kha: “Studying with my friends in aesthetically pleasing spaces.”
Finally, junior Jenna Kim may have put her finger on the most indelible memory of young Spuds’ first four months in the new facility they call home. Her response about what stands out to her: “Figuring out the layout, and all the conversations that have come with it.”