Charles Precht:  

I'm from Louisiana (born in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie) originally, but moved to Houston when I was five, as my dad was transferred from New Orleans to Houston. I went to elementary school in Houston, from Kindergarten through seventh grade. I started at Ashford Elementary. I took the Vanguard test, and moved from Ashford to Jewel Askew for grades four through six. Paul Revere Middle School then opened, and I went there the first full year it was open in 1980-1981. During the summer between the 7th and 8th grades, my dad was transferred again. I will admit I was not too happy at the time leaving my friends and Houston behind. I was also going to miss the Astros, Oilers, and Rockets, too! But everything worked out fine in the end. Our family moved to Pearl River, on the North shore of Lake Pontchartrain, near the larger city of Slidell. I attended the 8th grade at Pearl River Junior High. The next year it was on to Pearl River High, go Rebels! If I had stayed in Houston, I would have gone to Robert E. Lee, with probably 3,000 students. At PRHS, we averaged about 500 students, total, each year! My graduating class in 1986 had 88 kids. I took my studies pretty seriously, and finished second in my class. But I still managed to have fun, attending most of our sporting events, as a spectator or a statistician. I even managed to warm the bench a bit in Freshman and JV basketball, and varsity baseball. The "highlight" of my basketball career was scoring 10 points in a freshman game versus Slidell High. "Don't wake up!" coach Beaushaw implored me at halftime. I have lots of fond memories of Pearl River, and treasure the friends and re...Expand for more