Bryker Woods celebrates 50th anniversary

BYLINE: J. Cole White  AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN 
DATE: March 1, 1990

Students, teachers and PTA members at Bryker Woods Elementary School have been making a lot of plans lately. They're getting ready to celebrate the school's 50th anniversary.

When Bryker Woods opened its doors in 1939, it had 259 students and eight teachers. Now, 50 years later, the school is celebrating its anniversary with 346 students, 16 classroom teachers and five special area teachers.

Barbara Wilson, president of the Parent-Teacher Association, is helping organize the festivities at the school. And it's easy to tell there is a celebration going on: A big, green birthday banner in the front hall proclaims the dates 1939-1989, and a special birthday cake, made of papier mache and decorated with tiny lights, sits in the office of principal Mary Kinkle.

Students, teachers and PTA members at the school have been celebrating all this school year, beginning with a back-to-school night for students in September that included former principals and faculty. But the celebration didn't stop there.

On Wednesday at 1 p.m., the PTA will sponsor a tea for former students, parents and administration officials. On March 22, music teacher Melody Long will present a special music program that includes dance and music from the five decades of the school's life.

And in May, during the last week of school, the students will celebrate once again by decorating cakes. Each of the 16 regular classrooms will decorate a sheet cake, Wilson said, then the cakes will be placed together to form a large "quilt cake," with 50 candles.

Bryker Woods students and the PTA members have been very much involved in the birthday celebration. The papier mache birthday cake was made by two PTA parents, Mary Ragsdale and Phyllis Wilson. Ragsdale's sons, Sean, 6, and Erich, 9, helped with the decorations. Wilson's daughter Angie, 9, helped make the papier mache.

The PTA at Bryker Woods has always been an active group, Wilson said. In 1939, the first PTA was formed and its first project was to build a playground for the school. This year, the PTA voted once again to work on the playground. As its 50th birthday present to the school, the PTA raised money for a new playscape. Construction began Feb. 26.

"It's been a lot of fun," Wilson said. "I think the music program will be really good. My daughter has already informed me that she's going to be a hippie in the music program."

Students at Bryker Woods have also learned to sing the school's song, Bryker Woods Forever, Wilson said. The song was written by a former student.

"I don't know her name for sure, she was in about the third grade when she wrote it, but we are trying to find her," Wilson said. "Maybe she will read this and get in touch with us. We would love to have her come to the music program, especially, and lead the young choir in the song she composed."