Memories Old, New
BOBBY ARDOIN
St. Landry Now.com Editor
The renovated halls of 100-year-old Sunset High School were alive on Saturday, filled with vibrant conversations from the past as alumni visited familiar classrooms that will soon be occupied by students from a different generation.
In several months, over 200 students from the French immersion Ecole St. Landry will be seated and absorbing their lessons in a language that was once forbidden to be spoken at Sunset High when it opened in 1926.
On Saturday however the community-oriented open house event resembled more of a reunion, as classroom doors were flung open and former classmates hugged and discussed faculty members who shaped their adult lives.
Several wandered inside their old classrooms, perhaps visualizing poignant scenes from adolescence.
“A gigantic reunion.That’s exactly what it is,” said 1966 Sunset graduate Jerry Domeneaux as he viewed the laughter, handshakes and hugs that were delivered on the polished second story wooden floors.
Historical architect Stephen Ortego, who spent nine years designing and overseeing the rehabilitation process, said the several hundred persons who attended the matinee event created an overwhelming presence.
“I expected somewhat of a good turnout, but this is so large, almost like a festival. This is great, hearing the conversations and the memories that were made here. Now it’s time to make new memories,” said Ortego.
The school, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, closed in 1991, as students who had attended Sunset and Grand Coteau moved to Beau Chene High.
A selective demolition of the school owned by the Town of Sunset was part of the $7 million restructuring process which also used tax credits for funding.
Upper grade level students from Ecole St. Landry won’t attend classes at the school until August when the start of the 2026-27 session begins, said principal Lindsay Smythe.
Students will be educated in 11 classrooms of the two-story building which has retained its original exterior facade and the interior dimensions.
“The walls are all original and so are the floors,” said Domengeaux, who has served on the Ecole St. Landry School Board for the last six years.
What’s also new to the school in addition to the paint and repolished floors is an elevator system which transports students and visitors to the upper classroom levels.
Francine Prudhomme, Paulette Counte and Shelly Thompson who graduated from the school during the mid-1970’s, stood on the front steps of the school engaged in talking about their classes.
“This is so awesome. We’re all enjoying this, seeing so many of our classmates. This is a special place, since all of our parents graduated from here,” said Prudhomme.
There were few strangers at Sunset High, Prudhomme said.
“It was such a close-knit school. Everyone knew everyone. When they closed the school, that was hard. And now to see it like it is, it’s like visiting an old friend,” Prudhomme added.
Gwen Jordan Auzenne, who graduated in 1978 from Sunset, remembered a math teacher who was strict about the student dress code.
“She would get out a ruler and measure your skirt. If it was too short, you went to the office,” said Auzenne.
“I went to the office all the time. I was the outspoken one,” said Hilda Brooks, also a 1978 graduate, who attended the event with ex-classmates Pervis Melancon Malone, Callette Lewis and Sheila Roundtree.
