Buca High School graduates collect signatures for Baltazzi Mansion

Graduates of Buca High School, which gave education between 1966 and 2011, came together with their teachers. At the meeting where emotional moments were experienced, alumni and teachers gathered signatures for the reopening of the school with the same name and the restoration of the Baltazzi Mansion in its garden.

Baki Kanıcı, a graduate of Buca High School, who explained that their school has been giving education under different names since 2011, said, "Our high school is used as Buca Kız İmam Hatip High School, Mehmet Akif Ersoy Social Sciences High School, İnci Özer Nail Science High School and Işılay Saygın Anatolian High School. There is also Buca Secondary School. "But Buca High School was destroyed. As Buca High School graduates, teachers and residents of Buca, we want our historical Baltazzi Mansion building, which was used as an administrative building during the Buca High School period and now houses the Anatolian Imam Hatip High School for Girls, to be urgently restored and turned into a museum. We are collecting signatures for this." spoke. Stating that the historical school moved away from its original state, Kanıcı stated that the building resembled a ruin in its dilapidated state and said: "In our time, we had a music room, physics and chemistry laboratories. There was a physical education hall, a hostel building, an infirmary and a dining hall. Buildings were built. The original state of our school has deteriorated. We want the Buca High School sign to be put on. Our school, which started to provide education as a secondary school in 1930 and a high school in 1966, should be restored. Some buildings look like a ruin with their dilapidated state. We will give it to the Supreme Council of Monuments."

Memories refreshed

The graduates, who brought their black and white photographs taken during their high school years to the meeting, had emotional moments. One of the oldest teachers of the school, 93-year-old mathematics teacher Mehmet Ali Akgün was also longing for his students who kissed and hugged him. Zümrüt Özmen, the first graduate of high school, refreshed his memories. Explaining that he graduated in 1968-1969, Özmen said, "I received the number 1 diploma of Buca High School. My mother and father were accountants. My father started working in 1948. I carry the spirit of Buca. I know all the teachers. I became an art teacher. I want the community to be an association," he said.

'This feeling is indescribable'

Filiz Töngemen (74), who attended the meeting with her husband Mustafa Töngemen (72), said, "My wife and I both taught at the same school. I worked for 19 years. I retired in 1991. I was a science teacher. Now I am among my children. The feeling I have is indescribable. "The love and respect they have for me has made me younger, my spirit has been renewed. I am proud of both myself and my children. It is a wonderful feeling to be loved and not forgotten after years." Osman Aytekin Keskin, who taught at Buca High School between 1973 and 1994, said, "I retired from this school. Years passed, but we never broke up. We communicate through social media. I came from Dikili with my wife." His wife, an English teacher, Şenay Keskin, said, "I recognize my students from their eyes as they enter the door. I am very happy, I love them all."

Three generations of graduates together

Süleyman Gülova, who graduated from the school in the 1971-1972 academic year, said that his brother, wife, daughter, son and son-in-law graduated from Buca High School and said, "My wife was the head of the conservation association at Buca High School for 6 years. I worked in the family union for 9 years. Buca High School His love is different. Experiences are not forgotten," he said.

Source: İz Gazete