Over the past 48 years, 28 students have walked the halls, graduated and reclaimed the Sandie title years later. When it comes to staff alumni, there is no shortage of teachers who still hold the same pride they did as students. 

In 1974, Librarian Tammy Richardson became a Sandie as a sophomore. Before the 90s, students began high school as sophomores instead of freshmen. The campus that students now know had only recently opened when Richardson arrived. In 1970, the original Amarillo High School caught fire and burned down, and in the 1973-1974 school year, the new campus opened to the community. Richardson’s class of 1977 spent all three years on Danbury, only the second to do so at the time.

“It was such a brand new place, when I came here,” Richardson said. “And it’s changed, lots of add-ons and all that so it is a little different in that respect.”

In the very next year, 1978, Latin teacher Laurance Martin also entered high school. While not much had changed between 1978 and his graduation year of 1981, by the time he returned as an instructor, the halls had aged and the student body had shifted.

“If you look in the halls, it’s a much more fun, diverse group of people,” Martin said. “It was a little bit more homogeneous in my day.”

Three years after Martin left, Coach Jeff Williams began his own high school career in 1984. While the student body has always shown up and shown out for Friday Night Lights, students used to have things like spirit ribbons to show their support and brew excitement for all games. These ribbons were branded with phrases such as, “We’re number one” or “Kick the Rebels.” Despite the loss of the ribbons nowadays, keeping tradition alive remains just as important.

“Amarillo High’s got such a strong tradition, from academics to athletics, to our band, to our choirs.” Williams said. “I think just being a Sandie means something.”

Out of about 400 students in the graduating class of 1995, four returned to teach and take part in the education of the next generation at the very same place they spent their primary years.

Journalism teacher Amy Burchett, calculus and SAT prep teacher Jennifer McKinney, English teacher and volleyball coach Kirk Stokes and Instructional Practices in Education and Training (IPET) teacher Jennifer Wade now share the campus once more. In the 90s, school spirit and town rivalries ran rampant, as spirit week brought chaos and excitement to the interschool rivalry.

“It was pretty crazy,” McKinney said. “They would bring up beat-up cars and put them in the parking lot, and people could pay money to sledgehammer the cars. They would spray paint Tascosa on it and silly things like that.”

In 1997, calculus teacher Stephanie Trevethan joined the cross country team as a freshman, finding a family within the team. By the time she graduated in 2001, she considered Amarillo High the best of the best and continues to carry that same sentiment with her today.

“The school part’s not the fun part, it’s all the extra stuff: it’s the friends, it’s the extracurriculars, it’s going to the homecoming parade,” Trevethan said. “So I just say, make friends. You’re never going to be in an environment that’s similar to high school ever again.”

13 years later, English teacher Micah Adams entered as a freshman. As the last to experience constant unlocked doors around campus, the class of 2014 did not have to worry about waiting for the office to buzz them in anywhere. Additionally, the school day lasted from 8 a.m. to 3:35 p.m., with students only having seven class periods.

“I think in some ways, school is a place where you go to finish what you have to do, and I feel like it used to be like ‘school is a part of who I am,’” Adams said. “It’s part of my schedule, and I think this is probably just the general trend of school becoming more and more a preparation for the workforce, which I’m always trying to push back against because school is kind of an opportunity to learn about yourself.”

Ansleigh Houchin, the latest Sandie alumni to come back, as well as one of the youngest teachers, returned to her previous athletic achievements by coaching the next generation of Lady Sandie Basketball players. In 2018 and 2019, she joined the varsity team in winning two back-to-back championships, the team falling short in her senior year. She also became one of the students most impacted by the COVID-19 lockdown, as quarantine consumed her last months of school. The class of 2020 received three separate graduations, and they missed out on traditions and events such as prom when the world came to a standstill.

“Just enjoy every moment that you have because this time in these four years goes by really fast, and so just try to sit back and enjoy every moment that you have,” Houchin said.

Students now flood through the halls from 8:05 a.m. to 4:03 p.m., with nine class periods to fill the day. Black gates surround the campus, doors remain locked and security cameras keep an ever-watchful eye. Yet, even as the school has changed drastically over the course of almost 50 years, the core values of Sandies remain the same.