Memories
WTHS Fight Song
Stand up and cheer for the Skippers of our fleet, we're going to win this game.
Stand up and fight for the team that can't be beat, when victory is our aim.
When seas are getting rough and the going's getting tough, we'll sail on like men of old.
So look up, look out, stand up and cheer and shout for the Waterford blue and gold!!
School is full of hopes and dreams,
of games and proms and dates and things,
of work and play, of come-what-may,
of tears and beers, of passing years,
of me and you and you and me
as we open the gates to what will be.
-- Leigh Robertson, 1976
Class Song: "Mahogany"
Class Colors: Blue and Silver
Class Flower: Rose
A little bit of history ...
WTHS has been a fixture in Waterford since even before it was built. It was preceded by a one-story "temporary" high school on the same site, where 600 students were forced to attend school in shifts duringthe late 1940's; the smaller building had been designed to accommodate only 300, and to be converted to a bus garage when the "permanent" version was built.
After much wrangling over the estimated cost of the replacement school, and one failed bond issue, voters finally gave the project a green light in June 1949, and ground was broken for the long-awaited facility on January 9, 1950. WTHS opened its "shiny aluminum doors" on March 6, 1951, hailed in newspaper accounts as "one of the newest and most modern high schools in the country." Nearly 2,000 people attended its dedication a month later, anxious to have a look at the $1-million-plus wonder. They were treated to speeches, community singing, a dedication prayer, tours and, to cap the evening, square dancing in the gym.
The school was closed in June 1983 due to decreased enrollment, and has been used since as a community center and adult education site. It is estimated that 33 graduating classes earned diplomas at Waterford Township High School. This encompasses nearly 10,000 students.
