A vist to Central High School

In early June I had the pleasure to accept an invitation of the Central Arkansas Coin Club to speak at a special meeting of the club. As it was my first visit to the city, I asked to make a long weekend out of it.

A very pleasurable three days was spent with Tom Dodson out and about town.

High School has been on my mind a bit this spring. April was my 30th reunion of the class of ’77 from Brooklyn Technical High School. I was the coin club vice president while a student, and I am now the Alumni Foundation’s archivist. It was a great school experience for me, and still is a fine NYC Public High School.

So, with the recent congressional gold medal for the “Little Rock Nine” and this year’s silver dollar commemorative, I asked Tom to include a visit to the Central High National Historic Site – it turned out to be Tom’s alma mater. It is a Most impressive building, and as school was still in session, active with student life. The NPS has restored a nearby Mobil Station to serve as the interpretative center, and is constructing an even larger facility across the street.

I’ve given some thought to other sites depicted on coins that I have visited – the list continues to grow, and that is a nice subtle way to tie our hobby into other interests. As a scout I got to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Lexington and Concord, Independence Hall, Mount Vernon, Monticello, West Point,Jamestown, the DC sites of the Capitol,White House, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, the Smithsonian, Civil War battlefields of Gettysburg and Antietam. If you include the circulating 50-state quarter program, I have even been over the New River Gorge Bridge. Now only if I can find a way to get me to Diamondhead.

So there are many ways to include numismatics in trips!

George ?uhaj