In celebration of Northside's 50th Birthday, the school looked back in time last week and remembered all the things that have made the school a special part of the Levittown Community for half a century.

Last Thursday, students went through a nostalgic tour featuring musical presentations representing each of the decades in Northside's history and what the students expected to see at the school in the future. According to Northside PTA Co-President Kathy Gilbert, they have been planning the 50th Birthday celebration for nearly two years.

Paula Crayon, who was co-chair of the event along with Jill Castillo, welcomed all the visitors and students and introduced the special guests which included former Northside students County Legislator Dennis Dunne; Levittown School Board member Patricia Parsekian; and Susan Kirsch Duncan, author of Levittown: The Way We Were.

Lorraine Haviken, Northside principal, recognized Castillo and Crayon for all the effort they put into this project and then went on to talk about what a special place Northside Elementary School is. She described Northside as "A family- a group of people who have a conviction, who believe in something." She told the students, "You are all part of a family and we all love you."

Danielle Conklin, a fifth grader at the school was introduced to read a poem about the school. Before beginning the poem, Conklin, who will be graduating from Northside this year, stated, "I enjoyed this year very much. I will always remember how kind and caring the teachers have been to me."

Dr. Herman Sirois, superintendent of the Levittown School District, congratulated the school on 50 years and explained that within three years of the development of Levittown 14,000 homes had been built within a three mile radius of where Northside now stands, thus making it necessary for Northside to be built. "Since then Northside has been a shining star in the Levittown School District," said Sirois. He went on to note that the board of education had passed a resolution commending Northside at the previous evening's board meeting.

School board member Pat Parsekian was then introduced. It was noted that she had entered Northside in the fourth grade, attended the school for grades 4, 5 and 6 and then became a very active parent at the school in the '80s and '90s during which time she served as the co-president of the PTA. She was a PTA Honorary Life recipient and this May will be honored as a Distinguished Honorary Life Recipient. Parsekian noted that she has done all that she did for the school because of the children and wished them the best on this momentous occasion.

County Legislator Dennis Dunne spoke about his history with the school, explaining that he attended Northside for kindergarten and then when Laurel Lane was built he went there for grades 1, 2 and 3 before returning to Northside for grades 4, 5 and 6. He noted that the people he attended Northside with, "Have walked many paths of life." He spoke about some of the exceptional people who attended Northside and stated that he believes they were able to accomplish what they did because of the training they received at Northside.

Author Susan Duncan echoed Dunne's thoughts about the many paths that people have traveled since Northside and added, "You don't know where life is going to lead you but you have an excellent start here." Duncan spoke to the students about how special the school is to her and said she began some lifelong friendships at Northside. She also noted that it was at Northside she learned her English skills which prepared to become a writer. "Wherever you are, all the skills you learned here, you are going to use. You will remember that your learning started at Northside," concluded Duncan.

Students then led their guests on a trip through the decades of Northside, opening in the '50s. Throughout a dance number performed to the music of Elvis Presley, students held up signs depicting what was going on at Northside at the time, such as school lunch costing $0.35 and Ms. Fitzsimmons being principal.

Dressed as The Beatles, students showed their guests what life was like at Northside in the '60s, when Dr. Auteri was principal and only grades 2-6 attended the school.

Performing a dance routine to Staying Alive students dressed to demonstrate the importance of disco, bell-bottoms and leisure suits in the 70s. Through the dance, students informed their guests that at that time Northside held its first book fair.

In the '80s children had a strong voice and demonstrating that today's Northside students performed to We Are the World. They informed everyone that it was during this time their now principal, Ms. Haviken came to Northside and the school became K-5.

During the '90s students were preparing for the new century. Partying "Like it is 1999" students recognized that it was during this decade that the school first got connected to the web.

Looking to the future, students held up signs predicting that aliens would help celebrate the school's 100th Anniversary at which time Northside would have its own swimming pool and every student would have a laptop.

There were stations set up for each of the decades with memorabilia from that period so students could see what it was like and guests could reminisce.

No birthday celebration would be complete without the obligatory birthday cake and Northside's birthday was no exception. A huge paper maché cake was wheeled in for the presentation and students were treated to cupcakes back in their classrooms.