BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer
HOLMDEL – Little do most know, but Holmdel High School has an alma mater.
The song written for and about the high school by its first graduating class will be resurrected on Saturday as part of “Coming Home Again,” an event to celebrate the history and legacy of the high school.
Michael Pomarico, a Holmdel resident and member of that fateful class that included Bob Roggy, the world-class javelin thrower and namesake for the school’s football field, has put together an evening of reunion and history, legacy and future building that is meant to provide a link of past to the present.
Pomarico is a director/technical director for ABC’s afternoon drama, “All My Children.” He has enlisted help from colleagues, former teachers, students and staff to film the event that will document the high school’s evolution while shaping its legacy for future classes.
“Tradition and history are important,” Pomarico said. “People need to learn where they came from to know where they are going.”
The idea was born by trying to understand the current problems of the district by looking at the past.
Pomarico thought that by asking why something was would help to understand what to do next.
“If they could only talk to such and such about why they did what they did,” Pomarico said was a way to better understand the district’s problems.
With the high school’s history at just over 30 years, it is still possible to ask those questions; many of those who shaped the school are still around to talk about it.
Pomarico has invited those people to the “Coming Home Again” event to give them a chance to talk about the history of the school and have yet another hand in shaping its legacy.
Part reunion, part historical document, “Coming Home Again” will feature Richard White, the school’s first principal, as well as some of the original faculty. David Bryer, a Holmdel High School social studies teacher since its inception, will emcee.
The entire event will be recorded for posterity by Pomarico and the Holmdel High School Television Society. Volunteers from ABC will work with the TV Society, teaching them how to work the cameras and essentially turn the auditorium into a television studio, Pomarico said.
“Coming Home Again” will be held on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Holmdel High School auditorium. Tickets are $10, $5 for students and seniors, and all the proceeds will go to benefit the Roggy Field restoration fundraising project.
To Pomarico, “Coming Home Again” means more than just the money being raised. It is about what is passed on.
“We’re getting together people from the past and passing the legacy on,” Pomarico said.
“Is it nostalgic?” he asked. “In a way I guess it is.”