1966: A time of pedal pushers, Beatles records, and Pikesville High School’s first graduating class. Starting in tenth grade, high school was only three years back then, and the new opening of PHS provided an exciting experience for the first class. 

                As 8:30 a.m. approached, students zoned for the newly developed school spilled into the halls which students walk in today.  One student, Larry Bridge, the husband to PHS’s secretary, Mrs. Bridge, attended the school when it was “sparkly and clean” as he put it, all the way back in 1966.

                “I entered Pikesville in 1965 as the first class ever. There was no class above us so we ruled the school for 1965 and 1966,” Mr. Bridge said. “The school was ready to be molded by my classmates setting the bar high to kids who did well academically.”

                Academically, PHS had strong promise, as students and teachers both were excited to experience a new educational journey. Society in the 1960s had different job focuses and morals, which the school’s classes reflected. Along with the obvious academic classes, students could take woodshop, typing, and home economics, classes which have lost need due to a changing society over time. However, some aspects of school remain uniform no matter the decade, such as the typical high school social scene.

                “Pikesville was very social at the time and there were many cliques. Clothing labels were very important if you wanted to be in the in crowd. Some of the labels were villager sweaters for the girls and Coxmoor sweaters for guys,” Mr. Bridge said.

                Even though people no longer come to school in the same attire as was popular then, students still enjoy the same fun “rites of passage” that high school promises, like prom. But, imagine dancing the night away in the gym circa 1966.

                “Our senior prom was held on June 9, 1966 and we had an after prom party on the Port Welcome which was called, the Midnight Cruise, lasting from 12:00-2:00 a.m.” Mr. Bridge said. “My band, The Continental Rockers, played the music on the cruise that night. It was fantastic!”

                Alas, amongst the fun and excitement, the first class of Pikesville had to graduate. Therefore, the next got to be the first to go through all three years of high school at PHS, since the first class could not enter right away, for the school was still under construction. The class of 1967 was the first to fully experience Pikesville High School.

                “We were all very excited on the first day. I don’t think they were through with construction yet. I seem to remember the auditorium may not have been completed,” Bill Becker, class of ’67, said. “Overall, the school was great. I had a wonderful experience and we received an excellent education.”

                And thus, Pikesville High School was officially born and swarming with students eager and thrilled to be in the town’s new school. Although 46 years has passed since students first entered the hallways that now house over 900 students, PHS still creates an unforgettable high school experience regardless of the graduation year. For the class of 2012, Pikesville now will become a memory which they can look back on and reminisce about, just like the graduates from the class of 1966 and 1967.

                “It is always very nostalgic as I enter the building,” Mr. Bridge, class of 1966, said. “It was a very cheerful and magnificent time for me… You never forget those high school memories.”