One day after a court order was handed down in district court to integrate the Natchez-Adams School District in 1989, consolidating the two high schools and creating two elementary zones for the county, the students were talking about what it all meant for them.

&uot;Adults made decision but the students must make the plan work,&uot; read The Natchez Democrat headline July 26, 1989, just two days after the ruling. Students said they would make it work, even though no one asked them what they wanted.

Too fast, too confusing, too soon &045; all phrases students used to describe the decision to consolidate the two high schools before school started Sept. 5, 1989.

As the news was announced, many students, especially the seniors, were worried about their identities as two separate schools now morphed and were forced into one.

What will the mascot be? What will the colors be? How will class rankings work? Will people from North Natchez say something to me if I wear my South Natchez letter jacket? What about our class rings from a school that no longer exists?

So, will all of the lingering questions and uncertainty, how did it all turn out in the end for these students?

Chris Hutchins, one of the class of 1990, the first graduating class from Natchez High School, said it was a &uot;nonevent&uot; to him.

&uot;I thought we had a great senior year,&uot; he said.

Joycelyn Hooker, also a 1990 graduate, said everything just fell into place.

&uot;For us to come together in the end, when it was time to introduce the class of 1990 to Natchez, we were together,&uot; she said. &uot;We were the first united class in Natchez, Mississippi.&uot;

A proponent of the merger, Hooker said she was not afraid to move from North Natchez High School to the consolidated Natchez High School but was concerned about her academic status and the school colors, like many were before school started.

Hooker said she saw the North Natchez facility as &uot;underpar&uot; and thought the move together was good for everyone, to provide everyone with the same education opportunities.

&uot;We wanted change,&uot; Hooker said. &uot;Every student, every child &045; the same education.&uot;

Rhonda Calcote came to the combined Natchez High at the beginning of her junior year. She had attended school in Jefferson County. As an outsider looking in, Calcote said it seemed like a smooth transition and the teachers made the topic an open forum.

&uot;We would have discussions,&uot; Calcote said. &uot;I remember particularly in my English class, (the teacher asked) what did we think about the schools getting combined.&uot;

She answered they merged &uot;perfectly.&uot;

So what made it work?

Like the headline read, the students made it work.

&uot;Especially being a senior, you only had one year there to go and you were going to make the best of it, no matter what,&uot; Hutchins said.

There were not any problems, everyone got along and all three said they made many new friends; Friends Hutchins and Hooker said they would not have made without the merger.

&uot;It was the first time that the children, the kids, came together and showed the adults, you know, this can really work,&uot; Hooker said. &uot;We were able to come together throughout the controversy and say, we can do this.&uot;

But the Natchez High alumni have mixed emotions about whether lifting the court order would be a good idea.

Calcote said she sees no problem with lifting the order. The district needs to do what it can to improve the schools academically and if more schools are needed or whatever needs to be done, do it, she said.

Calcote hoped lifting the order would mean more schools would open so class sizes would be smaller.

But Hooker thinks the order should stay.

&uot;We need one system to put us together,&uot; she said.

Hooker said she does not see the district as limited by having to answer to the courts.

According to the order, if the district thinks the schools are overcrowded, it would have to have court approval to open any new schools under the order.

Hooker said if the schools are overcrowded, the courts can see that and would give the district permission to make changes.

She said the order is needed for the students to continue to coexist; she does not want the history to be erased.

&uot;I would not change where we are going,&uot; Hooker said. &uot;I think the merger finally connected us together.&uot;