Memory Lane with Nancy (Minear) Chadwick [‘62]

“What years did you attend Newbury Park Academy?” “What were your favorite subjects?” “Did you have a favorite  teacher or staff member?” “What did the campus look like when you attended?” were just some of the questions queried by the freshman English students interviewing NPA/NPAA alumni who, in turn, painted a varied picture of the history of the school.

Mrs. Tracy Harder, 9th grade English teacher, discovered that many of the freshmen are children of her former students. Always looking for ways to make generational connections, Mrs. Harder states, “It’s a positive experience for students to discover that adults remember high school in many different ways. Students who are second or third generation warm my heart.” Creating interview questions and recording the interviews expands 9th grade perspectives,

Lacie Chadwick with her grandparents.

One such student, Lacie Chadwick, had no problem finding someone to interview. Her grandmother, Nancy (Minear) Chadwick, graduated with the class of 1962. Being a child of a staff member Mr. John Minear, who ran the poultry farm, Nancy relates her high school experiences from being scared of not getting to classes on time the first few days of 9th grade to loving her senior year of high school most of all. Living on campus as a staff family rather than a dorm student was different from what others might have experienced. 

Nancy (Minear) Chadwick, ‘62

John Minear, Nancy’s Father & Former Poultry Farm Manager

When asked about the campus and what it looked like, Nancy spoke of the “beautiful Zinnias fields grown in front of the school” and the “dairy and poultry farms and the highway store where they were sold to the community.” Students helped to pay their tuition each month by working in the industries like woodshop, broom factory, bakery, laundry among others.

Identifying a favorite teacher was easy as Nancy had a real interest in biology. She remembers Mr. Wilcox as a funny quirky teacher who made science so interesting and especially helped her to “understand math.” 

Want to hear more stories? Join us for Alumni Weekend, 2022!

H.B. Wilcox, Former Teacher