Bradfield parent teacher association president Kamela Aboussie was cleaning out junk in the school’s cabinets when she found a treasure.
In a drawer under the elementary school’s display cases, behind some old sacks, she discovered a stack of scrapbooks. Most were from the 1980s and 90s. But one was from the 1975-76 school year — the year of Bradfield Elementary’s 50th birthday.
In more than 70 pages of words and photos, the scrapbook tells the story of Bradfield’s celebration, both of its own birthday, and of America’s bicentennial.
“I nearly cried,” Aboussie said. “It just was so sweet, and I’m so grateful I found it now.”
The book documents how students celebrated their country’s 200th birthday. Bradfield’s festivities culminated with the release of 300 helium balloons into the air accompanied by notes asking that the balloons be returned to the school. One traveled as far as Birmingham, Alabama.
Other pages tell of the students’ efforts to mark Bradfield’s 50th year. One photo shows fourth graders painting trash cans with 1926, the year of Bradfield’s founding, and 1976. In others, students plant rows of periwinkles, celebrate the groundbreaking of a new playground, and learn to dance the 1920s favorites the Charleston and the twist.
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On one page of the book is the guest list for Bradfield’s birthday party, whose attendees included University Park Mayor Roy C. Coffee Jr., school board members, teachers, alumni, and members of the Bradfield family. Celebrants enjoyed skits from students, who performed in historical costumes, along with slices of Bradfield’s 50th birthday cake, which was frosted with a picture of the school.
For Aboussie, the scrapbooks served as a reminder of the strength of the Bradfield school community in the face of the devastating loss of two incoming third graders, Eloise Peck and Lila Bonner. Both girls were killed in the catastrophic July 4 flooding at Camp Mystic.
“We were starting this exciting 100th year of Bradfield, but we were also all really hurting and sad,” Aboussie said. “There was something that felt really grounding having found this and being able to call on the themes of the past.”
Aboussie has continued to call on those themes in her letters to families in The Blaze, Bradfield’s weekly newsletter. She often includes a piece of Bradfield history, whether a poem, photo, or quote from the PTA president during Bradfield’s 50th year.
In thinking about how to mark Bradfield’s centennial, Aboussie was struck by the parallels between the Bradfield of 1976 and today’s school. She was inspired by the family movie night described in the scrapbook to hold a Centennial movie night on Bradfield’s newly turfed field. Other events planned for this year also hearken back to that celebration in 1976.
At the end of Bradfield’s centennial year, the PTA plans to create its own, modern version of the scrapbook. The coffee table style book will be available for pre-purchase starting in January.
“What a treasure the 50th year was to find,” Aboussie said. “I hope that something that we create … can serve as the same treasure for someone 50 years from now.”
