In 1989, the Seneca High School board voted to annex the neighboring Mazon-Verona-Kinsman High School district, a decision that would almost double the school's population and give Seneca High one of the largest school districts in the state in terms of geographic area.

For many of the students and educators in both districts, the union was the final formality of an already close relationship. Many of their sports teams had previously been in a co-op together, creating far more friendships than rivalries.

“It was a perfect marriage between two outstanding communities,” said Kirk Houchin, guidance counselor and coach at Seneca High.

Houchin taught foreign language at MVK High School for five years before he and all tenured educators transferred to Seneca with their students for the 1990-91 school year.

Some students and members of the MVK High community were not excited about the change. Non-tenured teachers and support staff lost their jobs, people feared losing school traditions and an entire school had to adjust to larger class sizes and longer commutes.

“Giving up your high school is a sad thing. People have a lot of pride for their school,” Houchin said. “But this gave both groups of students amazing opportunities.”

According to Houchin, SHS and MVK worked together to smooth the transition. MVK conducted several meetings to explain the decision and its benefits to the community. Both districts traded some of their teachers for a few days during the 1989-90 school year to acclimate students.

Houchin’s father, Keith, also was a teacher and coach at MVK High. He graduated from SHS in 1950 and would be coming back to the school to finish his teaching career. During the last graduation, Keith Houchin sang the MVK High School song, asked the graduates to move their tassels to the other side of their caps and then sang the SHS school song.

“For him it was a homecoming,” Kirk Houchin said.

The groundwork laid 30 years ago led to dynamic changes when the annexation went into effect. Departments doubled in size and the sports teams that weren’t already combined now had a larger talent pool to draw from.

The Fighting Irish football team were state champions at the end of that first semester as one district. The following spring, both the girls and boys basketball teams won second at state.

Jeff Maierhofer, an agriculture education teacher at SHS and president of the Seneca Historical Guild, began his teaching career during the 1990-91 school year and saw his program merged with that of Kent Weber from MVK. He said it was one of his favorites.

“It was great the way the kids blended together and how the sports teams were phenomenal,” Maierhofer said. “The games and events really brought the families together.”

Paige Kovall, a senior at SHS who attended middle school at Seneca, participates on the Scholastic Bowl team. She said many of her close friends are from MVK Middle School, which moved into the MVK High building after the annexation.

“At the start (of freshman year) there’s a bit of a rivalry, but once they get to know each other and make new memories all the barriers melt away,” Kovall said.

Houchin agreed that there is still a bit of rivalry between incoming students from Seneca, MVK and other feeder schools like Milton Pope and Nettle Creek.

“It’s all in good fun,” Houchin said.

Houchin will retire this year after 34 years as an educator at both high schools. He and Weber are the last teachers at SHS still working who made the jump from MVK all those years ago.