By Grace Malloy
Before the incorporation of Delavan-Darien High School, students from Delavan and Darien attended separate high schools in their respective towns. I had the privilege of interviewing the first valedictorian of DDHS, Kathleen Kilkenny. Kathleen told me how her senior year, 1958, was the first year in the “new school.” The “new school” was called the Delavan-Darien Union Free Consolidated Public High School. The students were asked to choose a simpler name for the school, and Delavan-Darien High School was the name chosen by the student body and accepted formally by the administration. Despite having a graduating class of only 88 students, Kathleen found many ways to be involved at DDHS and loved her high school years.
Kathleen fondly described her high school memories, which included being editor of our first student newspaper, the Union Times (it became The Cometeer a few years later). She was also our first student council president and played the few intramural sports open to girls (this was standard for the time). She competed in the girls’ intramural basketball team, where athletes would play against each other on a half-court. She is very happy with the development of sports for female athletes over the decades. Kathleen explained that playing a full court would have made for a more competitive game, yet she is still proud that her team won the intramural championship competition.
In addition to basketball, Kathleen was also a cheerleader and still recalls her favorite cheers and steps. Back in the day, to earn a spot on the cheer team, a prospective cheerleader stood before the whole school and performed a cheer. Then the students would vote on whose cheers were the best, and the girls with the highest points became cheerleaders at the football games, a high honor, as the entire school and town would attend the football games. Kathleen was part of the synchronized swimming team and laughed about the memory of the hideous knit swimsuits, not to mention how each size of swimsuit was marked by a different color.
Kathleen’s time at DDHS inspired her to find her calling as an English teacher. Kathleen loved the Teacher for a Day program, where a student would plan a lesson and teach a class for a day. She especially credits her English teacher senior year, Mr. Peterson, with helping her to find her passion for English. After high school, Kathleen graduated from Mount Mary College in Milwaukee.
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