The open hallways, bright colors and a state-of-the art rubberized floor surface in the gymnasium - that's what some of the students of the Central High School class of 1978 loved about their new school.

"They had this huge, wide hallway and a nice lunch room," said 1978 graduate Tom Anderson. "It was pretty bright; in the old one the hallways were so narrow. It was just a great facility."

The old school he speaks of is the current Dakota Middle School. The Rapid City High School students were moved to the newly constructed Central High School mid-year of 1978, students remember.

It's been 30 years since that move, and many of the 1978 senior class will meet at the Elks Lodge in Rapid City at 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, to reunite and reminisce.

Anderson attended the 20th reunion and said the reunions are nice because you connect with people you might not have connected with when you were in school together. He's helping organize the event with a handful of other people.

"There was a girl in high school, and she's on the committee now, I probably didn't say one word to her in high school and it's very easy to talk to her now," he said.

Cliques and reservation melt away with time, he said.

"You have that commonality of going through it, you have that common place to start talking," he said.

Dar Voegele, one of the 469 graduates and an organizer of the reunion, said the reunion was organized last-minute because no one had planned anything.

"It should be fun, nothing extravagant or fancy> But for 30th, people are past that," Anderson agreed. "It will just be laid back and people should come."

It's kind of ironic, Voegele said, that the current Central High School is overcrowded again, and the school district has a tentative plan to spend $26 million to renovate it. A recent facilities study recommended the renovations, and recommended a third high school.

"I think we need it," Voegele said, who lives in Rapid City. "Whether the community is ready or not, I'm not for sure."

Their old high school, Dakota Middle School now, was overcrowded then, he remembers.

"They had to use the annexes," he said. "I think every student would rather have stayed inside for classes."

Stevens High School was about a decade old at the time, he said, and there was a sentiment that one side of town had all of the new stuff, he said.

He was hesitant to move to the new school.

"With the old school, there was a lot of history," he said. "I wanted to graduate from the old school."

Some of his schoolmates shared the same sentiments in the Pine Needle student newspaper.

Robin Cline, of the 1979 class, said, "Leaving an old school is like throwing away and old pair of jeans."

Sue Everett, of 1979, said, "Moving is like a dam breaking: All the memories come flooding back."

Others were a little more lighthearted about the change.

Lori Godfrey of the 1978 class said moving is "like hauling boxes with dividers into Mrs. Gaines' class for a plus in the grade book."

Anderson and Voegele are hoping for a good turnout. They have a few activities planned, such as counting down the top billboard magazine songs of 1975-1978.

But the night will mainly be about connecting with old friends and hopefully making some new ones, Anderson said.

"It's about getting to know somebody you wanted to talk to (during school), and it never really happened," he said.

For more information about the Rapid City High School 1978 reunion, call Dar Voegele at 342-1836.

Contact Kayla Gahagan at 394-8410 or kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com