High school to commemorate 100 years June 5-7

Jay Harper’s work with the Department of Homeland Security took him all over God’s green earth.

Qatar. El Salvador. Japan. Columbia. And those travels reinforced what the Shreveport native already thought.

“Having been all over the world and seeing how other kids grow up all over the world, Byrd is as good or better as anywhere else in the world. The students are good or better than anywhere else in the world. Any kid who comes out of Byrd should hold their head up high, knowing that they are going to be well prepared for whatever the world throws at them.”

Harper, who graduated from C.E. Byrd High School in 2001 and now lives in Washington, D.C., will return home June 5-7. He is one of thousands expected to attend the Byrd Centennial Celebration.

“A lot of Byrd folks move away. There’s only so much opportunity in S’port for a lot of folks, and so many people move away. This opportunity to reconvene at the Centennial with so many friends that you’ve kept in touch with a little bit, but you were really close with back in the day, is such a special and unique opportunity to get everybody in one place and catch up and tell old stories.”

Planning for Byrd’s 100th birthday party began two years ago.

“The response has really picked up,” said Kenneth Favrot, the school’s Alumni Association president. “We’ve been gaining a lot of momentum throughout the year. People have really been looking forward to it. It’s something for us to really celebrate. Not only for the school, but for the city in general. I feel like Byrd is a landmark — symbolically, literally, figuratively. There are just so many graduates who have come out of there from Shreveport, and it keeps everybody connected to the city of Shreveport. Even those who move off.”

Not long after opening in 1925, Byrd’s future looked bright.

“There were so many successful people early in the school’s history, with it being the first public high school in Shreveport,” Favrot said. “We had our first principal, Grover Koffman, who was an excellent educator and organizer. The students really respected him, and (the school) produced a lot of highly successful people early on.”

But in 1980, there was no guarantee that Byrd would live to be 100. Favrot remembers the superintendent saying the school had one more year before closing.

“It went through some trouble. The neighborhood around the school changed. It grew older and really started to lose students all the way to the point where they were getting ready to close it down. They didn’t want to put money into a dying school. But those who came before saw the value of the school and the history in that place and banded together and made sure (the school didn’t close). The school was able to fully recover and thrive again. That shared history is something that everybody celebrates. It brings pride back to the school.”

Harper was a two-sport athlete (football, lacrosse) and is still friends with many former teammates. But it was in the classroom where Byrd made a lasting impression.

“I think the quality of education is second to none in Shreveport. The way the classes are structured, and the way they are so interactive and engaging, and promote participation by everybody in the class, is the most applicable thing to the business world that I see. You weren’t being spoken to, you were being spoken with in class. You weren’t being talked to, you were being talked with this larger community. The style of the teachers at Byrd is similar to what you see in the business world or other community organizations.”

Several activities planned for the Centennial should make for a fun three-day weekend. Harper is bringing his wife and has begun preparing her for her experience.

“I’ve already told my wife that this reunion is going to be a lot like Disney World.

It’s best if you just give yourself into it. If you try and fight it, you’re not going to have that much fun. But if you give yourself into it, you’re going to have a lot more fun.”

But there is a deeper purpose for the Centennial.

“I see it as a promise,” Favrot said. “We’re going to continue to honor those from the past who put in that hard work to make the school successful, and it’s a promise to continue to do that into the future.”

To learn more about the 100 Byrd Centennial Celebration, visit cebyrd.com.