Sixty-five years after graduating, Sequoia High School’s class of ’57 alumni group will be rolling down Broadway among the floats and marchers in Redwood City’s Independence Day parade this Monday hoping to draw attention to its scholarship fund for underserved students.
“We wanted to help kids for whom high school wasn’t easy for them but they showed the energy and the drive to want to go to college,” said Allen Secrest, 83, a leading member of the alumni group. “That’s the bottom line. We want to help these kids.”
Over the past five years, Sequoia High School Class of ’57 has raised thousands of dollars to help two students a year with the purchase of books and other college needs. The fund is focused on serving the city’s most underserved so while grades are taken into consideration, Bob Straccia, also 83, said the group tends to look for kids who have proven their drive outside the classroom as well.
Awardees have been 4.0 students and housekeepers, working students contributing to the household, first generation college students and children of immigrants. All have been well mannered and driven kids from low-income families, said Secrest, and the exact group of students the alumni group wanted to help lift up.
The idea came to them during one of the group’s four yearly get-togethers. Secrest and Straccia, who have known each other since battling it out on the basketball court in grade school, said they and their high school buddies wanted to give back to their alma mater after spending four fun years there together and eventually finding their own success.
“This has been fulfilling for us and our high school classmates,” Straccia said.
Straccia came from humble beginnings, raised by Italian immigrants on Redwood City’s eastside. Secrest jokingly called himself a “westie” who grew up middle class. Straccia went to college. Secrest did not. Neither considered themselves good students but both became successful businessmen who’ve built happy lives in Redwood City.
Their life experiences have helped them identify with the students who seek out their support. Eventually, Secrest and Straccia said they would like to see the fund expanded to offer larger scholarships and a greater number of them to students from the high school and also from trade schools.
“It wasn’t this expensive in our day,” said Straccia, a San Jose State alum who put himself through college with support from his parents. “Today it’s really tough. That’s one of the reasons we wanted to help these kids.”
What money they have raised has largely come from 30 fellow graduates of the class of ’57. The pair hope to draw more attention to their cause, especially from Silicon Valley’s successful corporations, during Monday’s parade. They’ll be riding in a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, blasting ’50s classics by artists like Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
The festivities in Redwood City begin 8 a.m. Monday with a pancake breakfast at the Redwood City Fire Department Station 9 at 755 Marshall St. and activities at Courthouse Square, which also take place Sunday, along with a festival from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the parade at 10 a.m., and fireworks at the Port of Redwood City at 9:30 p.m., with a pre-fireworks concert with the Fog City Swampers at 7 p.m. Go to redwoodcity.org for more information.
The San Mateo County History Museum will also be presenting “An Old-Fashioned Fourth of July” in the 112-year-old county courthouse between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. with half-price admission. Go to historysmc.org/an-old-fashioned-fourth for more information.
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Other events
A number of other Fourth of July events will be happening across the Peninsula. Foster City offers a full day of events starting with the Foster City Rotary Club’s pancake breakfast at 9-11 a.m. at Leo Ryan Park, musical entertainment at the amphitheater and family friendly activities at the Recreation Center and VIBE Teen Center throughout the day before the fireworks show begins at 9:30 p.m. looking over the lagoon.
From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Pacifica’s Fourth of July Celebration at Frontierland Park will feature food and drinks, games, live music and face painting. The city will also permit safe-and-sane fireworks to be discharged from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. until Tuesday, July 5. Maximum code enforcement will be in place and violators of any city firework laws could be subject to fines.
Safe-and-sane fireworks will also be permitted in San Bruno from noon to 9 p.m. July 3 and until 11 p.m. on July 4. Fireworks are prohibited in all other parts of San Mateo County including those marketed as safe-and-sane.
San Mateo’s 4th of July in the Park will begin at 11 a.m. at Central Park, featuring rides, crafts, music and other activities. Millbrae will be hosting a free concert on Monday for its Beats, Brews and Vines event from 3-5 p.m. on Broadway.
The Ol’ Fashioned 4th Of July Parade Day in Half Moon Bay will start at noon after the Lions Club Pancake Breakfast at 8 a.m. at the Portuguese Culture Center and City Hall parking lot. A Chamber-sponsored Red, White and Blue Block Party will follow the parade.
And the 70th annual Woodside Junior Rodeo, starting at 9 a.m. July 4 at 521 Kings Mountain Road, will offer family-friendly entertainment including pony rides, a petting zoo, mechanical bull and other vendors in addition to main events — roping, tying, steer wrestling, barrel racing and pole bending. Adult tickets go for $15, tickets for kids under 18 go for $10 and those 5 and under get in free.
A pre-rodeo dinner dance will be 6 p.m. July 3 with adult tickets going for $25, children tickets for those 12 and under going for $15 and children under 5 getting in free.
To donate to the Sequoia High School Class of ’57 fund, contact Secrest at asecrest@aol.com. Those interested in attending the Sequoia High School Class of ’57 reunion should contact Barbara Radmacher at bradmacher@aol.com for more information.
(650) 344-5200 ext. 106
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