HILLSBOROUGH: Unique Jr. High Class of ‘64 to rock again in same gym

Reunion scheduled for Nov. 8

   On June 17, 1964, 147 young men and women took a giant gulp and walked across the Hillsborough Elementary/Junior High gymnasium stage to receive their Junior High school diplomas from then Board of Education President James Older.
   This class was part of the Hillsborough Board of Education’s grand experiment. They were the first Hillsborough group not to graduate from eighth grade and enter Somerville High School as freshman. Ninth grade curriculum was written, teachers were hired and this group of students toiled their freshman year in the school where they had spent most of their educational careers.
   Now, they are coming back.
   On Nov. 8, 50 years after they left, Hillsborough’s very first class to graduate from the ninth grade is returning to the Hillsborough (now Elementary) School gymnasium to relive their 9th grade graduation dance. Johnny and the Jaguars was the band that had the Hillsborough Junior High Class of 1964 rockin’ and a boppin’ and singin’ those songs. The original Johnny, band leader John Bennett, is still making music and his band “Due South” will be the featured entertainment at the reunion party.
   According to reunion committee member Gene Allen, “This will be more unique than any other school reunion. What other reunion has ever returned to the scene of the crime? We were a special 9th grade class and are still unique!”
   The Class of 1964 reunion committee is appealing to local residents for help in finding former classmates. People move or change their names but their roots may still be here in Hillsborough. If anyone has a relative that was a member of the class of 1964, have them contact the reunion committee at [email protected].