Paul Duca
OPC ‘91

Being a “lifer” I had a rare experience to begin in a coed Kindergarten class which quickly became the last all-male class ('91). I remember making friends with a few of the girls in K only to find out that they were not able to move onto 1st grade with the boys. It was quite odd going through K-12 with the girls always lagging a grade behind us, which caused them to almost be non-existent in our minds as lower school students. However, the transformation of coeducation from lower school to middle and upper schools brought about stirring changes in and out of the classroom. Separate locker rooms, sports teams, and finally mixed classrooms for some of the elective and AP courses meant finally interacting with girls in the classroom. One tradition which fell by the wayside was the “Senior Stairs.” Growing up it was always a sight to see when underclassmen tried to walk the stairs and if caught, in the showers he went with a crowd of people following. With girls in the picture, this ritual became extinct which was somewhat disappointing for those of us who had been victimized by seniors in the past.

As much as we may have been reluctant as youngsters in lower school, we became that much more accepting of coeducation throughout our later years at PC. The transformation was amazing, as by our Senior Year, I remember many awards, academic as well as athletic, being given to the girls while they were still a minority of the student body.

Overall it was a great time to be a student as the girls were close enough in age to interact with while our class was the last of a 300+ year tradition. This was something that I know made many of us proud, and will certainly be the topic of conversations with our children and grandchildren.