Every child who goes to St. Albert the Great school dreams of the day when they will be a 7th grader. The 7th and 8th grade classes were true royalty at St. Albert the Great School and are given responsibilities that the other classes do not get. Representing the school in CYO varsity sports, being a server altar boy to earn money at weddings, taking tickets at the school fair … these and many other opportunities were afforded to the 7th and 8th grade classes. The Class of ’75 came into 7th grade that year anxious about what the future held for them.

The 7th grade room felt like a good fit for the little friends and they took their seats as the teacher entered the room. Rather than the customary friendly “welcome back, how was your summer?” greeting, the entire class was told to stand up and line up against the back wall.

“When your name is called please step forward and line up by the door” the teacher said. She then began reading off names and as she said the names, those students stepped forward. After the names were read, the class had been split right down the middle. The students standing by the door were then led from the room, and half of the other class was being moved in. When the dust settled the two classes had been split and mixed together to form two new classes.

Within two weeks after this move the teachers informed the students they had a surprise planned. A special recess was called for the following afternoon and the two 7th grade classes were to play each other in baseball. The nuns said each class would separate into two teams and simultaneously two baseball games would be played. This was the first time anyone remembered the teachers setting up a baseball game between the classes. Several students thought the games were designed to help make the new classmates bond quicker, but no one really knew for sure.

Miss Shea’s class won both games and when they began kidding their little friend counterparts about their sweep, Tom V and Mike O from the other class replied that the only reason their class lost was because Miss Shea’s class had more depth and if they would have taken the top players in each class then Tom and Mike’s class would have won easily. A controversy that was never settled.

As the weather got cooler the annual science and art fair approached. One of the few interested in it was Mike O who would slap together a mess of paint and anything that would stick to paint, call it an abstract, and submit it. For some reason the judges (who were college art students) would understand the abomination and Mike would at least win an honorable mention ribbon.

This year the Principal came into Miss Shea’s class and said she needed extra space for the 5th grade science projects because they could not fit more in the 5th grade class and the science fair room was still being set up. She said that since Miss Shea’s class had submitted very few art or science projects that there was plenty of room in their classroom and she was going to put it to use.

The little friends felt insulted by this. The little friends were in the 7th grade and deserved respect and were not to be used to host a lower grade’s crappy science projects. The Principal asked the teacher to help with the science room and said she would watch the class from the other building. Since the shades on the window were open she reminded the class that she had a direct line of sight from the junior building to their classroom and she did not want any trouble out of them. The teacher and Principal left and the little friends watched as the Principal walked to the other building, staring back at the little friends as she opened the door to enter the junior building. She was now out of sight but the little friends knew she would be periodically looking in on them so they had to be careful.

The little friends looked at the crappy 5th grade projects and two caught their attention. The first was a light bulb that lit up when the two wires were stuck in a lemon. The second was an obvious store bought skeleton model called “Mr. Bones”. The little friends got a string and a battery from the teachers drawer and did a little rearranging, being careful to stay out of the sight line of the Principal and entering her sight line only when absolutely necessary. Once the arrangements were done, several of the classmates crawled on their hands and knees to the window, each crouching beneath the Principals line of vision. Once they got the signal that everyone was ready, the four students grabbed the ropes on the shades and pulled them down simultaneously. Since the windows were now blocked by the pulled down shades, the students did not have to crawl back but instead ran to their desks and with good reason. They knew full well that pulling down the shades would draw the Principal to the class like a shark to blood, and they did not want to be seen out of their seat when that “angry shark” arrives. Within seconds the door to the other building opened and here came the Principal. The class could only see her between the gaps in the shades but she was coming and moving fast.

The door opened to the classroom and there was not a peep as the little friends were studiously immersed in their studies. The first words out of her mouth was “How Dare You…” but before she could finish that line, there was Mr. Bones hanging from the ceiling with the lemon light fully lit and impaled in the skeletons crotch, the lemon having been discarded for a battery taken out of the teacher’s drawer. The Principal was stunned and no one in the class said a word. It was as if the hanging skeleton with the light in its crotch was as normal as the clock on the wall as the entire class continued to diligently work on the book assignment the teacher had given them earlier.

The Principal left the room in a huff, and a few minutes later she returned with the teacher and a custodian with a ladder to cut down Mr. Bones. Mr. Bones was tied to a light fixture and when the custodian pulled on the string the light fixture opened up which caused the entire class to laugh at the custodian holding Mr. Bones with one hand and the light fixture panel with the other while trying to remain balanced on the ladder.

“That’s not funny” the custodian informed and the classroom went silent. The students who brought in the science fair projects were then called back and the science projects were moved to the science fair room which was now ready to receive them.

This was the first act of “rebellion” that this new incarnate of a class did since they were merged together earlier in the year. Throughout the history of St. Albert School, it was not uncommon for a couple students to go from one class to another, but it was unheard of for two classes to be split up and the two split halves merged into two entirely new classes.

It would be an interesting year for this 7th grade class.