LOCAL NEWS
This student archivist wants to preserve Cardinal City history at San Bernardino High
            





By MICHEL NOLAN | michelnolan77@gmail.com | San Bernardino Sun
PUBLISHED: October 25, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. | UPDATED: October 25, 2019 at 8:01 a.m.
 
San Bernardino High School Museum Director Hazael Perez Carrellos points out a basketball used in a Cardinals’ CIF playoff game. (Photo by Michel Nolan, contributing photographer, SCNG)
 
 
A museum is defined as a building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited.
A challenging endeavor to be sure.
So when San Bernardino High School alumnus Hazael Perez Carrellos, who is studying international relations and history at San Bernardino Valley College, decided he wanted to help reorganize the museum of his alma mater, he was up for the challenge.
Carrellos is 19 years old.
 
A 2018 graduate and campus leader at SBHS, he wanted to remain in the community and do something for the school – “something more,” he said.
Journalism teacher Rochelle Schmidt asked Carrellos if he could help with the Tyro Times school newspaper and he accepted the offer. He told her he would also like to take on the job of organizing the museum, using the shelves and boxes full of historical memorabilia.
According to Carrellos, San Bernardino High School was founded in 1883 – not 1891 – by David Sturges, and the museum tells the story of the 136-year-old school with pride.
Good thing Carrellos liked history, the first edition of the Tyro Times newspaper was printed in 1895.
These days, Cardinal City Museum occupies a second-floor room above the auditorium. Here, there are trophies and other memorabilia dating from 1910 – band trophies; basketball and water polo trophies, uniforms from the 1930s, plaques and other awards.
 
Among the San Bernardino High School alumni are war heroes from World Wars I and II, Korea and Vietnam. A bronze plaque pays tribute to World War I heroes from the class of 1920.
A letter from President Harry Truman honors Joseph Rodriguez, recipient of the Congressional Medal of Freedom and the Purple Heart.
A letter from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, addressed to the student body, is a commendation of San Bernardino High School.
A photo that includes the late Jack Brown was taken at the ceremony for San Bernardino High’s first California Distinguished Schools award.
The original SBHS museum was established in 1963 by history teacher Bryan Burke, a 1943 graduate who loved the school. By 1983 the museum was known as Burke’s Archives, a designation that was not official and did not endure.
Carrellos plans to change that by making sure the new name goes through the proper channels.
He is blessed to have the support of lots of people, he said.
Plans are in the works for a major museum renovation preserving existing murals. The new state-of-the-art facility will be ADA compliant and offer students from 18 to 100 the opportunity to enjoy Cardinal history, the young archivist said.
The Cardinal City designation is not a nickname – SBHS was granted charter as a city, named after the school’s mascot, the Cardinal, in 1963. There is an official document signed by California Gov. Edmund “Pat” Brown, Carrellos said.
On a recent Friday, the museum was dressed up for Halloween with cobwebs, skeletons and dangling ghosts.
“For a long time we neglected our history but now we are embracing our history, reaching out like we never have before,” Carrellos said.
 
 
Michel Nolan appears in The Sun on Fridays. Reach her at michelnolan77@gmail.com.