Thursday, October 1, 2026
It's not every day that students get to take part in a centennial celebration, but the current classes at East Elementary have been gearing up for the school's 100-year anniversary since they arrived in September.
"I think we've been planning it for, probably, eight months or so, since the beginning of the school year," said East Elementary PTA Co-President Joanne Kapp.
The school will host an outdoor "block party" on May 19, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Students will present a recorder and chorus concert; the City of Long Beach is expected to present a proclamation; and Track 9, a classic rock band, will also perform songs from across the decades.
One key feature of the evening will be a "decades walk" — displays commemorating each decade of the school's existence, highlighting East's progression over time. The Long Beach Historical Society archives have played a critical role in helping to find documents and photographs from the years.
"We've also gotten a lot of donations from alumni going back to the '40s up to the '90s," said PTA Co-President Meghan Curley-Chapman. "We're going to situate East in the history of Long Beach as well as the world."
The school district has also sent invitations to East Elementary retirees, broadening the opportunity for every former staff member to take part in the unique celebration. "We've had a tremendous amount of interest. I've gotten emails," said Curley-Chapman. "People who live now in Massachusetts and Florida, they're like, 'I really want to come up for this.' So there is a lot of excitement from a lot of alums."
The centennial has been an overreaching theme in classrooms throughout the year. "We have a program called WINGS — what I need to grow as a student," explained Principal Kathleen Connolly. "Students in grades three through five, in that program, have been researching about the decades and what school looked like long ago and what was going on in the world in those decades."
More than 230 people have already RSVPd and the list keeps growing. "We've been emailing Billy Crystal, because him and his wife went here," said Kapp. "We have not heard back. Maybe he'll make a guest appearance."
Anyone in the Long Beach community interested in attending this rare occasion can find information, look at — or upload — classic photos from East, and RSVP by visiting eastschool100.org or by emailing eastpta@gmail.com.
