Pocatello students, alumni celebrate ‘100 years of excellence’ at middle school

POCATELLO (Idaho Ed News)— When Irving Middle School opened its doors in 1925, Calvin Coolidge was president, and “The Great Gatsby” was hot off the presses.

The world has changed since then, and so has the school. But 100 years later, its doors are still open.

Students and alumni  — from the young to the silver-haired — came together to roam Irving’s hallways once more and reflect on its past at a centennial open house Wednesday. 

The school — named after writer Washington Irving of “Rip Van Winkle” fame — was once the “centerpiece of the old part of town,” Principal Stuart Johnson said. “This is where the community was built around.”

In Pocatello, where district leaders recently decided to shutter a historic elementary school due to budgetary constraints and declining enrollment, the evening was an opportunity to celebrate a school that has had a different fate. 

One family brought four generations — from 92-year-old Howard Armstrong to current sixth-grader Jett Hancock — who attended the school over a 70-year period. 

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“I’m just glad that they’re keeping it going and making improvements,” said Clayton Armstrong, who attended the school as a student and used to teach there. 

In a nearby gym, staff, students and alumni gathered to look at displays and memorabilia put together by the school’s yearbook students — including football helmets, letterman jackets, old school blueprints, yearbooks and newspaper clippings. 

Teena Talbot was thumbing through a 1930s-era yearbook, scouring the pages for a mention of her mother, who attended the school at the time, while her husband Don reflected on all the changes the school has undergone. 

He attended the school from 1969 to 1972, and said Wednesday was his first time back in more than 50 years. 

Much of it was unrecognizable — a Rip Van Winkle effect, if you will.

“It looks way different, way bigger,” Don said.

The school’s centerpiece auditorium, for example, was nowhere to be seen.

Principal Johnson said the auditorium’s old stage is still part of the school, but it’s obscured by an added wall and has to be accessed by a winding staircase. 

It’s one of many changes the school has gone through — from catching on fire in the 1930s to multiple remodels.

Choir teacher Andrew Bell said former Irving students stopped by his classroom Wednesday and informed him it used to be the wrestling room. And a portion of the building seen out his window — currently serves sixth graders — used to be a separate school altogether: Jefferson Elementary. 

Decked out in school gear, Tom Chatterton said he attended Irving as a student, met his wife there, and is now in his 19th year teaching history at the school. And four generations of his family passed through Irving’s halls. 

“I love the history. I love the tradition,” Chatteron said. “There’s just something about (a school) that’s been around for 100 years. To see something last — I just really love that.”

Originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on April 24, 2025