School Turned Lives Around, and the Students Remember

Many of the students who have attended Apollo Continuation High School in Simi Valley in the last 22 years had given up on school.

“For whatever reason, the kids that came to us were not supposed to make it in society,” said Brad Greene, former principal of the high school.

But many who are gathering for a reunion Sunday say the school turned them around.

Richard Lockett, class of 1974, became part owner of a fiber-optics firm in Simi Valley.

Dennis Zonn, class of 1971, named in his yearbook as “the biggest threat to a teacher,” is now a senior marketing representative at Random House books.

More than 1,500 students have graduated from Apollo, and 40% of them have gone on to college, said Greene, who was principal from 1969 until last year.

Named Apollo as a tribute to the first moon landing, the school uses the teaching philosophy of psychologist William Glasser, known for his research in reality therapy, Greene said.

Many of the students came from schools where they had ideas shoved down their throats, and then were booted out the door, he said.

“Glasser taught us how to recover some of the written-off students,” he said.

Reunion organizer Rick Hill, class of 1971, said teachers didn’t push students beyond what they were capable of doing, because they felt students could accomplish anything they set their minds to.

“This is going to be very much like coming back to family,” Hill, 38, said.

Hill, who won special notice in his yearbook for having the longest hair, is now working on a doctorate in English literature and is teaching summer school at Apollo.

But there are no guarantees for success at Apollo, alumni said. Some students went in quite the opposite direction.

“I had a friend who died of a drug overdose and another who went to prison,” Hill said.

The last reunion for the school was in 1983, Greene said. This is the first comprehensive one since the school opened in 1969. It begins at 1 p.m. on the campus at 3150 School St. Food and nonalcoholic beverages will be provided, but guests are encouraged to bring potluck dishes.