Sumner Academy Reunion: Honoring Past, Celebrating Future

0:00Sumner Academy and the Sumner High School Alumni Association are joining forces for historic scholarship reception and dance. It's called honoring the past in celebrating the future, 120 years of academic excellence. The event hits Friday, April 24 at Sumner Academy of Arts and Science in Kansas City, Kansas. This marks the first 120th graduating class since the school started in 1905. The partnership aims to mend a rift going back decades. Sumner High School shut down in 1978 amid desegregation, then reopened as Sumner Academy, a top prep school nationwide. The change wiped out much of the old Spartan pride with orange and black colors giving way to blue and silver sabers. Artifacts got tossed, leaving a lasting wound for many alumni. Folks connected to the school fill it deep. Alumni like Michael Hobson, who lived through the closure, talk about family ties stretching generations. His grandma graduated in 1931.

1:00He finished Academy in 1980. Others, like Barton Richardson, boast four generations in the same building, from 1944 grads to kids today. They see this as a true unity moment, not ours versus yours, but all ours. Current students are tuning into that legacy too. Seniors like Malaysia Lopez draw inspiration from the black excellence rooted in Sumner High, carrying it forward as they graduate. Meanwhile, the alumni pushed to preserve history through rooms packed with salvaged relics. This gathering sets the stage for healing, with a full Sumner High reunion planned for September 18th through 20th. It's about pride, reconciliation, and keeping that legacy alive for the next wave. That's your update from Kansas News Today, powered by AI.