Homecoming had special meaning for the students, parents and alumni of North Forest High School Saturday. It was more than just a football game, more than the morning parade, more than the tailgate party with refreshments, door prizes, and music leading up to the game. Saturday was about their history, their memories.

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Moms, dads, grandparents, teens, aunts, friends, and youngsters strolled up and down tables with mementos from the former North Forest school district and were able to take home items that had meaning for them.

“Oh, it means so much,” said former student Tina Mott. “Our teachers just gave so much to us, our teachers were dedicated to us. They encouraged us, nurtured us, and we just owe so much to them, so when I see all of this it means all the world to me.”

“It does my heart good to see it’s a possibility for us to retrieve some of these things,” said Smiley HS alumnus Russell Smith. “Just because the district has changed, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t mean anything to the people who grew up here, who started from elementary, to middle school, and all the way to high school. It does my heart good to see that they are giving the community the chance to come back and retrieve some of the items and mementos that were achieved by the community itself.”

Thanks to the generosity of HISD Trustee Rhonda Skillern-Jones and State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, many of the sports trophies, music competition plaques, yearbooks, and sports jerseys will become treasured keepsakes, preserving the legacies and memories of the schools of the North Forest community.

“I thought it was really important to help them preserve their history and to have some mementos of a long-standing tradition, a long-standing district, and outstanding alumni,” said Skillern-Jones.

The day continued the tradition of achievement for North Forest High School with a landslide victory over Austin High School, 64 to 0.