Saturday, March 31, 2018

NPHS Reunion Interview: Roberta Meiser Specht, Class of 1968

Bobbi Sprecht, 2015.  
Describe your career.  
My nursing degree afforded me many rewarding opportunities.  My career started at Overlook Hospital in the Operating Room as a surgical nurse.  Over the 40 plus years I found myself working in OB/GYN, a rehabilitation hospital in the traumatic brain injury unit onto a orthopedic practice and surgery center.  All exciting experiences.
I retired in April 2016.  No regrets!

Where did you leave since leaving North Plainfield?
Leaving North Plainfield in 1970 took me to Elizabethtown, PA, and then Lancaster, PA.  A big move in 1977 to Palo Alto, CA.  My husband and I settled in Truckee, CA (northeast of Sacramento near the Nevada border) in 1980.  We have been here for over 37 years. It is home and my love for the Sierra Nevada Mountains makes it easy to stay put.

What was your sense of community in your class/in the school at NPHS?  
Wow....that is a difficult question.  I remember being a bit of an outlier.  Not really in any one group or feeling a sense of community.  I know it was there, I just did not access it.

What experiences in high school, positive or negative, helped to shape you as a person? 
Being a follower in high school had its consequences.  I no longer follow...I have learned to be a Leader.

Do you have any regrets about your experiences during your high school years? 
Of course...let’s leave it there.
 
Now, 50 years later, has your perspective on your high school years changed at all?  If so, how? 
I am more realistic of my NPHS days.  Not all good and certainly not all bad.  Take what you like and leave the rest!

What is your fondest memory of your years at NPHS?  
I loved the Saturday night dances, weekend sporting events and the theatre opportunities.  I am fortunate to have benefited from a few really great teacher student conversations.  Loved the insight into myself that a caring teacher brought to light.

What was the craziest or stupidest thing you did in high school?  
Who in their right mind would disclose that?!  I am sure there were more than one event that was dumb.  Hard to say which one gets the prize.

What was your proudest accomplishment in high school?  
Turning it around and being accepted into Nursing School.

Who was your favorite teacher? 
Katie Gordon, English
 
Antwerp, Belgium, 2011.
What was your worst class? 
Mr. Justus, German

What is your most powerful or haunting memory during your years at NPHS?
Two deaths that occurred. A teacher took her own life.  A student was hit by a school bus.  That was the first time I experienced the death of a young individual.  Very difficult to understand the finality as a teenager.

I have no idea how our current school students recover from the devastation of a school shooting.  A tragic unacceptable event that needs to end.

How did growing up at a child of the 60s – and all the social baggage and impact that it may have entailed – impact you at the time and in your young adult years? 
I loved the 60s.  The music and feeling of freedom that was emerging was awesome.  The impact, for me, was I was willing to take a few risks that maybe were not in my best interest.  I survived and brought all those experiences into my adult life.  It helped me to be an understanding and better parent to three boys.


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