Evans High graduates plan dance

May 6 will mark the final night for a group of former Evans High School students to create a lasting memory in their old school.

The group, representing the 1978 through 1981 graduating classes, is organizing Evans High: Last Chance to Dance, a celebration to say goodbye to a structure that currently operates as Evans Middle School but was once their high school.

"We just loved our school," said JuliAnne McIntosh Roberson, a 1980 graduate. "We loved going to school, we loved our friends, and we decided before they tear it down we would try to have one last memory of it."

Tickets to the dance cost $25 per person, and registration forms are available at the dance's Web site, www.evans highlastchancetodance.com. Roberson stressed that tickets are limited and the registration deadline is April 21.

"Anyone who went to the school when it was the high school is welcome to come and attend," Roberson said. "We are not going to leave anybody out."

Any teachers, staff and administration from the former Evans High also are welcome, she said.

Evans Middle is slated for demolition after this school year to make way for a shopping center. A new Evans Middle under construction on Hereford Farm Road is expected to be completed in time for the 2006-07 school year.

In addition to food, drinks, music and dancing, the organizers are working on a slide show highlighting the school's history, Roberson said.

Proceeds from the dance will be donated to the school to help move the pillars in front, the only surviving remnants of the old Evans Consolidated School, which was destroyed by fire Oct. 11, 1955, Roberson said.

"A lot of people may not have had the chance to come to their class reunion," she said.

"This not only gives them the chance to come and just do that, but a lot of other classes will be there as well."

Roberson said the dress code for the dance is dress-casual.

The gym will be decorated, and organizers hope they will be allowed to open up the rest of the school so the former students can tour it one last time.

"We're all going to be sad when it is torn down," Roberson said, adding that she and many others plan to watch the demolition.

"... We're going to remember back to all the good times we had."