Alma Mater

I usually like watching college football better than watching the NFL. I like that the networks focus on the crowd and the band and the traditions. An example of a tradition is Penn State’s White Out. I really like at the end of a college game, when the players gather in front of the student section and they all sing the college’s Alma Mater. It seems like the song really matters to all of them.

I must be missing something. I don’t even know what Muhlenberg’s Alma Mater sounds like. Alma Mater is Latin for nourishing mother. Sounds pretty meaningful! Like if you are somewhere and you hear your Alma Mater, it would bring a tear to your eye.

I do remember my high school Alma Mater. And no, hearing it doesn’t bring a tear to my eye. It does, though, bring back great memories. Here are some verses:

Just above the winding Lehigh, Midst the mountains grand, Stands our dear old Alma Mater, Famed throughout the land. High school, high school, our own high school, dear old SHS.

In the ’80s, Slatington High School became Northern Lehigh High School. I guess they had to replace a quarter note with two eighth notes to make the S an NL in that last verse. Right, musicians?

My dad graduated from East Greenville High School, now Upper Perkiomen, in 1928. He never sang his Alma Mater to me, but here was his favorite cheer from football games: Baby in the high chair, who put him up there? Ma, Pa, Sis Boom Bah!

My how times have changed! I hope this post made you think back to your Alma Maters and that maybe it even brought a tear to your eye. Also, maybe you will not sleep tonight wondering who DID put the baby in the high chair!