In the beginning, Nova High School was an experiment. Partially funded by the Ford Foundation, it was created to explore new teaching methods, apply modern classroom technologies, and be a key part of an innovative vision for learning from kindergarten to graduate school. 

As the Class of 1972, we were there to experience (a few might say be the lab rats for) the very best years of that experiment. Some in our class were the first to attend Nova Elementary. In eighth grade, we benefitted from a major expansion of the school - both in physical facilities and enrollment - and took advantage of new spaces for the study of science and technology (Nova was STEM before the acronym was invented), music, social studies and English. Later, there were additional athletic venues, including a pool. And we survived snack bars and The Patio to be the first seniors to have a cafeteria.

Through all this, the world was watching. NBC’s Today Show with Barbara Walters was broadcast from the TV studios at Nova. Walter Cronkite’s 21st Century came to do a segment on the future of education titled “From Cradle to Classroom.” There were numerous articles in the press and in professional journals. The campus even had a visitor center to orient the endless tour groups who came to see Nova - all in an attempt to explain and assess what was, for us, our Space Age high school experience.

Members of the 50th Reunion Committee, with help from our classmates, have started assembling some of the coverage of Nova’s early years and, as our collection grows, it will be posted here. We hope you enjoy this embryonic effort to remember and celebrate the Nova Experiment. And if you have memories or photos or documents you would like to share, contact us at webmaster@novahigh72.org!

1962

School Won’t Woo ‘Gifted’ Only