Join host Elias Kilbridge and Mr. Hildebrand as they talk all things Clayton traditions. From the past to the present, learn how traditions have evolved, disappeared, and appeared.
Transcript:
Kilbridge: Hello everyone and welcome back to “the Orbit.” My name is Elias Kilbridge, and today I have on Mr. Hildebrand, coach of the golf team, business and marketing teacher… he really does it all. Most importantly, he’s a former Clayton student, in terms of the purpose of this podcast, which is Clayton traditions. So welcome, Mr. Hildebrand. Thank you.
Hildebrand: Thanks for having me. I’m really excited.
Kilbridge: Yeah, so as I just mentioned, Mr. Hildebrand was a student here.
Hildebrand: I think it’s more fun if I don’t tell you the year and tell you to go check the hall. You can find my high school picture down, headed towards the Stuber gym.
Kilbridge: Is it at least in color?
Hildebrand: It’s in color. It’s in color. In fact, though, you can actually find my mom in there, too, which you may have seen her at some point. Yeah, hers is black and white. And by black and white, it’s actually like brown and white at this point.
Kilbridge: My mom made it to color. Anyways, today we’re talking about Clayton traditions, so I just wanted to ask you a little intro question: What were some of the traditions that you were part of as a student? Like, what were some of your favorite things that you were able to participate in?
Hildebrand: Yeah, I’ve been thinking about this a lot since you asked me to be on this podcast, and again, thanks for having me. I love talking about all things, Clayton. First of all, let’s focus on things that are still here and I can tell you that one thing that has been a tradition for Clayton and every time I tell my colleagues whether it’s fellow golf coaches, DECA advisors, just other teachers, when I say to them we have open campus, their mind is just blown. I hate to be cliché, because we all know that that’s like the coolest thing, but hopefully it’s something people don’t take for granted. I don’t mean to take advantage of it, I just think that it’s important to understand how very lucky we are, that that’s a thing, that we can just leave campus, go grab lunch, head to Starbucks, you know, go to Kaldi’s, whatever, whenever we want. That is not what normal high schools are like. And it’s not even just for students, too. It’s even for staff members. I worked in different buildings, and staff are expected to be on campus and check out just like a student would. Even Ladue, right, our biggest rival, they have parking passes and they can only leave during certain times, and you have to pay for the pass itself, whereas we just kind of have open reign on the city, which is pretty cool.
Kilbridge: Yeah. I’ll say I just came back from Chipotle, and I actually saw you coming back from a run. So both of us are definitely exercising our right to an open campus. I think definitely at times, that’s something I take for granted, but definitely a very cool part of the Clayton experience. What are some other ones that are still here, maybe some that have gone away? I think something that I’ve noticed as a student is that at times it feels like we’re lacking in tradition so were there any–like my mom mentions like some stuff that she’s done in the past or like things were a bigger deal, you know, we still do have like homecoming royalty stuff like that, but that it’s just not the same as it used to be. There also just seems to be a little bit less school spirit. So I just in general I was wondering what your take was on that in relation to um school traditions.
Hildebrand: Yeah, I mean, I’ve got some more positives, but we can circle back around and maybe the episode on that. Yeah, things that maybe aren’t around as much. It’s hard to say what traditions do not, I guess know, or aren’t around because you don’t know what you don’t know. And I say one thing that I wish we still had, but I know it’s really hard to plan, is what was called the Peppers dance. And it was kind of just like a role reversal of who asked whom, but it was basically the winter dance. And that was pretty cool for me personally. Besides, again, getting to be asked by someone else, and not that these gender roles matter as much anymore, but it was just kind of a different approach to prom and homecoming. The court was different, too; it was all of the male athletes, usually the varsity male athletes, who were put onto the court as well. And so that was always in February-ish. I was just telling the story the other day to a couple of students in class that, I know times have changed, but a lot of the varsity girls athletes would actually kidnap whoever was on court the morning of the week before, and basically dress us how they wanted to dress us in some pretty fun unique outfits with makeup and things like that, and it was just kind of an honor to be chosen for court. And of course it is too for homecoming and for prom, but it was a little bit more a little more silly, so that was kind of a big tradition that I wish that at some point we could bring back. I don’t know, let me ask you this, because I don’t really know what is done after prom. Is there an after-prom still?
Kilbridge: It’s nothing with the school, like kids will meet up after a prom. Like, there’s obviously parties and stuff like that.
Hildebrand: You guys will have late-night study sessions at the library and things?
Kilbridge: It’s usually at Wash U, because their library’s open 24/7,
Hildebrand: Smart.
Kilbridge: Yeah, I think that Pepper’s/Sadie Hawkins, I think that would definitely be like a cool thing to maybe circle back to as a school, I think we tried to do it a few years ago, having a little. Dance in February that didn’ didn’t end up working out.
Hildebrand: Well, and to go back to the after-prom conversation, there used to be a really formal after-prom, and it was put on by the PTO, and essentially, and this was back when I was here, it was at the Galleria. So you did prom, and they had this kind of party/get-together and it was like a casino night, but you weren’t gambling with money. They would give you a certain amount of chips, and they’d have a bunch of snacks, pizza and things like that. But then, as you played these games, you accumulated fake dollars, and then you could buy stuff for college. So I bought my first mini fridge during this event and they had just a bunch of things that were donated by either parents or community members, and again, it was kind of like a really safe atmosphere and environment, almost like a last hurrah for juniors and seniors to build up stuff to take to college. So that was kind of a neat little thing, and it wasn’t all night. It wasn’t at my previous school, with the bigger lock-in for seniors after prom,
Kilbridge: I think that was a thing when my mom was here, like a lock-in and stuff like that.
Hildebrand: This was only like an hour or two. And then if you wanted to go do some other type of social thing with your friends afterwards, you could do that, so that’s one. You asked the question about school spirit, and you know, one thing that I was a part of that I don’t think really exists anymore was called the C club. We all know that when you could become a know, a letterman, or you know, you get to be on the varsity team, you get the big Clayton C and then obviously, if you can be a captain, you get the small C too. But anyway, we had a club called the C club, and it was for basically all athletes who played any sports throughout the course of the year. And if you were not participating in sports that season, the unspoken agreement, if you were in the club, is that you would go to other sports and support them. And it could be to go to the girls’ tennis match or to the water polo tournament or go see basketball, football, whatever it was. Even like a smaller caveat, or what we called the Mad Hatters, these people would wear pretty extravagant, large hats and get dressed up in Clayton regalia, and they were like the main cheering squad. It was just kind of neat because we really had a lot of people. I was a big golfer, a hockey player, and played some other sports, but I wasn’t particularly good at them. But when it wasn’t my season I was there, I was at as many games as I possibly could and I feel like there was a lot of school spirit, athletic support, and I’m not saying there isn’t any anymore, but there was like an organized system that kind of created that and it was a lot of student run stuff, too, which that’s—speaking of traditions —something super cool about Clayton is that most things that happen here are all about student involvement. You guys make the clubs and you guys make the organizations run, so yeah.
Kilbridge: Some students did Clayton Spirit, which is still around, but it was definitely pioneered by some seniors who graduated two years ago, like Erin Connolly and Zach Newmark, who were kind of the two big ones that were involved in that. When you are going from them passing it down, it just like it lost a little bit of [traction] because they were so passionate to start the club, it just lost a little bit of that.
Hildebrand: That is a challenge. It’s not just now, it was back then as well. We like to start a lot of initiatives, clubs and organizations, but one thing that people forget is that it’s not about starting it and growing it, it’s also about transitioning it. So, who takes it over when you leave, and that way, the one person in the room that started it, once they’re out of the building and graduated, it doesn’t just die. You want to keep it going and flourishing for sure. For all those of you listening that want to start a club, think about how you’re gonna grow it, but also think about how you leave it to your predecessors.
Kilbridge: Indeed. You said you had a few more positives that you wanted to talk about, some things that you maybe still see going, some things that weren’t here when you were here that are things now? Do you wanna speak to that a little bit more?
Hildebrand: Sure. I’ll start with some things that were not here when I was here. Again, back to the amount of organizations and clubs that are here now. DECA was here, but it wasn’t at the same level or involvement number that there is right now. HOSA, a new club that just got started this year, with a ton of success. Even Dance Marathon. I’m just kind of thinking about organizations that are around now. One thing that Clayton has always been good at, and that’s certainly something that we should continue to be proud of, is our excellence in academia. I mean, we really, besides loving the niche rankings of number one or number two school in the area, there’s a lot of other metrics to look at too. We really care about being good at school. And by being good at school, as I say that grammatically incorrectly, it’s not to say that it isn’t important in other school districts in the area, but I didn’t remember this when I came back to start teaching in Clayton, having students thank me. As an educator, it was super—I mean I kind of get choked up thinking about it. I’m here because I want to be here, and I enjoy trying to impart some type of knowledge or at least help you guys in some capacity, but to have students thank me on a daily basis, like “thanks for taking the time,” as if it’s not a job. It really means a lot, and it speaks to the quality of students we have, and again, the importance of education.
Kilbridge: I think that is a big thing. I think generally, as like as a student population, students are very happy to be here, happy to be involved in things,
Hildebrand: Let’s use that as a good segue, because something else that still exists, speaking of being here, is senior skip day. That is something that has been around since I was here, and it’s still the Monday after prom.
Kilbridge: We have it coming up this next week.
Hildebrand: I think it’s a pretty fitting day. So that’s pretty cool. I was talking to a couple of seniors and was asking them what they’re going to do, and the same tradition holds true. They’re going to their friend’s house, they’re going to a farm, they’re going to a lake, they’re gonna go swimming, whatever it is they’re going to go hang out with friends and take a last day to kind of regroup yourselves before AP tests start and finals begin and the end of school. So you need that day, like time to maybe just shut things off for a little bit.
Kilbridge: I’m very excited for that, just a little bit of a relaxed day. I do have to work the night before, but, you know, no school is better than—as I just said that students are happy to be here—I still like some time to myself. So yeah, for sure.
Hildebrand: I got one more thing that I want to speak to besides the amazing teachers, education and just the atmosphere in the building. I loved Sixth Grade Camp. I got to go to Sixth Grade Camp four times—not because I flunked sixth grade three times, but I went in sixth grade and then I also went as a sophomore, junior, and a senior as a camp counselor. Just the amount of bonding I had with all my friends, peers, and other counselors. There’s a whole retreat, a couple of weekends beforehand, but just going to experience that with sixth graders in our school district. Even seeing them grow up years later, I just think Sixth Grade Camp, for me, was one of the coolest experiences that I had, and that’s why I kept going—I would have done it all four years, but I wasn’t allowed to sign up as a freshman. That was something that even if you haven’t been since sixth grade, even if you weren’t in the district at the time, be a counselor because I think it’s super rewarding and just a blast.
Kilbridge: For sure. Do you have any parting thoughts, words of advice? You talked about passing the torch in clubs, but just to students who want to get involved? People who want to start a tradition or revive one? Do you have any parting words of advice there?
Hildebrand: I mean, I think that the number one advice I can give is just put yourself out there, get involved. It’s okay to fail, just fail forward, right? And it’s a cliché thing to say, but starting a club or getting involved in an organization, you’re not going to be the best. You’re going to learn, and all it is about is getting your foot in the door and meeting people, right? And that’s just from the professionalism, the networking component of it. There are so many people that I met in high school clubs, organizations, sports, peers and teachers that have helped me along the way as a professional. You don’t know it and then all of a sudden five years down the road, you’re like, oh my gosh, I worked with them doing this, or I was in this organization with them and and you can ask them for help or you can get advice for them and just build that network. And don’t be afraid to just do stuff, get involved. It’s okay to be a try hard, I try to use one of your guys’ cool terms, right? It’s okay to care, but don’t care so much that if you don’t do that well or if you fail, it’ll ruin your day. As long as you put yourself out there and you try, I think that is always a success. So really, other than that, go Greyhounds!
Kilbridge: For sure. And sorry, I’m just going to touch on what you just said. Putting yourself out there. We talked about students loving to be here, our teachers always love to be here, love to help students, love to help them get involved. Chances are, if you have an idea for a club, there will be at least one teacher, if not two, five, ten, that would love to help you start it and help your dream become a reality and help you follow your passion.
Hildebrand: We have an incredible staff here, faculty and staff that are so supportive, and I just hope people don’t take it for granted because it’s not like this everywhere. You’re right, teachers are here, staff members are here, they will stay here when they’re not supposed to or don’t need to. They’ll take time during their lunch, they’ll show up before school, they’ll reply to email at any time of the day or weekends or evening. Ask them for help. They want to help. They’re here for you. I’m very lucky to work with such amazing educators, it’s just a great school district and great community.
Kilbridge: And just shout to our teachers and a big shout out to you, Mr. Hildebrand for all that you do in our community, all the things you’re involved in, we touched on some earlier: DECA and whatever. So yeah, a lot of our programs are really thriving because of you so thank you very much.
Hildebrand: That’s really nice, thanks. I’m happy to be here. This is awesome. Like I said, go ‘Hounds.
Kilbridge: Sweet.
