Today, after walking to my old high school, I found it had a new sign. The GameAbove company is sponsoring Eastern Michigan University’s School of Engineering and Technology, which now occupies what was EMU now calls Roosevelt Hall. In the past few years, Roosevelt Hall has undergone a $42.5 million renovation to turn it into a state-of-the-art technical teaching hub.
Atop the front steps, a plaque reveals the historical origin of the building
Here’s to Roosevelt High: The Story of the Rough Riders is an exhibit dedicated to the memory of Roosevelt High School, the former lab school at Eastern Michigan University. A college well-known for turning out excellent teachers, EMU used Roosevelt to develop new teaching techniques and to give student teachers their first experience at the front of a classroom. At the same time, Roosevelt students became experienced in testing the mettle of these would-be teachers.
Actually, Roosevelt wasn't just a high school, it also included kindergarten and grades 1 through 6. Some students spent fully 12 years attending classes in Roosevelt’s hallowed halls.
Amazingly, this fine exhibit was created in just 12 weeks by students in Professor Nancy Bryk’s Developing Museum Exhibits Seminar. The exhibit opened on April 21, 2026.
Barry LaRue, an ardent custodian of Roosevelt memories, leads his schoolmates in song
VIP Roosevelt schoolmates cut the ribbon to open EMU’s tribute to the fondly remembered high school
A proper celebration must include a cake
Professor Nancy Bryk’s students created this contextual banner for the RHS exhibit
There was a bust of Teddy Roosevelt that was exchanged (not always willingly) between different Roosevelt class-years. The class in possession of “Teddy” enjoyed elevated status. Eventually, perhaps in the process of a stressful transfer, Teddy was damaged beyond repair. The above painted and bespectacled artifact appears to be the head from the legendary bust.
These archival photos depict the bust of Teddy so fondly remembered
A banner on the wall of the Roosevelt High exhibit displays the words to the schools’s fight song
The Class of 1969, the lucky final group to graduate from this august institution of learning
Photos and memorabilia from Roosevelt High
A Roosevelt High athletic T-shirt and shorts
A Roosevelt cheerleader’s sweater and jacket
Mr. Mac was Roosevelt’s last principal
Miss Rankin taught math
Miss Cooper not only taught Latin and social studies, but she even swept the halls from time to time
Athletic coach A.D. Walker was strictly old-school
The above photos are just a sampling of the contents in the extensive Roosevelt High exhibit Professor Nancy Bryk’s students have created. It is truly a great tribute to a place of learning that was like none other. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting those talented students and hobnobbing with many of my old schoolmates at the opening.
Today, as I did from 1961 to 1967, I walked to Roosevelt from this, my childhood home
My first walk to Roosevelt: In the summer of 1961, my father and I walked to Roosevelt High so he could show me where I would be starting seventh grade in the fall. Near a door into the school, I saw the melancholy words reproduced here scrawled on the building’s foundation. I never forgot them. Sixty-five years later, those words seemed to have come true, but, for a while, the Halle Library will provide a place to return and revive my memories of Roosevelt High.
Thank you, Roosevelt High, and thanks to the creative EMU students who demonstrated such capability, insight, and respect!
John E. Johnson, Class of 1967