Check out those poodle skirts worn by members of Catalina High School's class of 1960, the first graduating class that spent four years at the school, which is marking its 50th anniversary this month. The students gathered in front of the school with Dr. Lee Starr, their counselor.

courtesy of Lysa Nabours-childree

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Graduates-to-be and long-ago alumni of Catalina High School are working together on a special event for anyone who has been part of the Catalina High School community in the past five decades.

The school held classes for the first time 50 years ago this month, and the class of 2007 is holding an open house for everyone who came before them — custodians, students, teachers, administrators — from 5 to 7 p.m. on Jan. 19.

It's an occasion to celebrate the school's history as well as all that has changed since it opened, said Emily Morrison, whose last name was Kittle when she a member of the first four-year graduating class in 1960.

The school's present-day clubs will have tables set up in the cafeteria so alumni can see what has changed since the days when they were in those extracurricular activities. Student Council members will lead visitors on tours.

Morrison's husband, Ted, also was a member of the 480-student class, and the two reconnected at their 20-year reunion, she said.

The school's football field is walking distance from where the two grew up and from where they live now.

"It was special, being in a school that was brand-new. We took a lot of pride in it," she said.

When she was there, the boundaries of the area that fed into the school reached all the way to the Rincon Mountains, she said.

"There was nothing. There were no schools," she said.

If someone lived in that area who happened to be high-school age, Catalina High was their destination.

Mary Hines, 77, has fond memories of the school where she taught physical education from 1957 to 1985.

Around the turn of the millennium, the district named the school's new gym after her.

"That was wonderful, a real thrill," Hines said. "I'm just glad they did it before I died."

When Catalina High School opened, it was known as Disneyland throughout Tucson Unified School District, she said.

Apparently the front entry area was so modern-looking at the time, the school just looked like a fun place to be, she said.

The PE program was limited in the beginning because the athletic fields were still being outfitted with sprinklers and the like, so she had to teach classes inside for a while.

The only interscholastic sport for girls was tennis from the time Catalina opened until 1972, when Title IX came into being, opening the playing field for girls to have as many sports as boys, she said.

Volleyball was the first girls' interscholastic team sport, and Hines coached the team to the state championship the same year.

Her teaching era was during a time when athletics formed the center of most social activity, she said.

Everyone went to the big game and the dance afterward, if there was one.

Poodle skirts were so popular when the school first opened that most girls' PE lockers had portions of the frilly clothing poking out the sides and corners, Hines said.

The girls' locker room always looked as if it were decorated for a party because of that, she said.

Ted James, who began teaching at Catalina in 1969 at the age of 24, said by the time he retired in 1995, the school demographics had changed a lot.

Where there had been little to no diversity in the beginning, the student body was composed of 30 percent to 40 percent minorities by the time he left, he said.

In 1969, the school had about 2,800 students but was down to around 1,000 when he retired.

The population has gradually increased since then, something Morrison attributes to its status as a magnet school, drawing students from all over Tucson and not just the immediate neighborhood.

Many of the same people who lived in the neighborhood 40 or 50 years ago still live there, she said.

But they don't have high school students living with them, which contributed to the declining enrollment numbers.

Now Morrison and several alumni are working to form a Catalina High School Foundation — similar to Tucson High's Badger Foundation — to support student activities at the school.

Folks who attend the open house on Jan. 19 will have a chance to join, she said.

As for what advice she might give to today's graduating class as they look toward 50 years from now, Morrison said, "As long as the friends that you have chosen are achievers, are people with goals, they'll achieve great things. Choose your friends."