Charm Bracelet

Donor & Story Contributor: Nancy McEntire, Class of 1958

Authors: Morgan Janosick, Andrea Suarez Espinosa,

Abigail Jennings, Class of 2028

Webpage Designer: Jade Farley, Class of 2027

Dangling from Nancy McEntire's Highlands-focused charm bracelet are many pins-turned-into-charms. These charms carry memories from her high school career. Since its origin, Highlands has always been rich in tradition and focused on the future of its students.

Charm bracelets have been around since ancient civilizations, however, in the 1950’s and 1960’s they became the height of fashion for teenage girls. Charm bracelets were a way young ladies collected and displayed personalized charms with memorable life hobbies, awards, or travel mementos. Famous actresses, such as Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Crawford, helped to heighten the popularity of charm bracelets. Let's look into the story of some Highlands charms on Nancy McEntire's bracelet.

Gold, silver, and bronze pins display her hobbies, academics, athletics, travels, and accolades. These were all memorabilia that completed her charm bracelet. Throughout her high school career, Nancy collected the pins she received from Highlands for recognition and awards. In the 1950's at Highlands, they gave these awards out as lapel badge pins. As high school concluded, Nancy's mom cleverly reconfigured these pins into charms for a memory charm bracelet to remind her of high school.

“My mom gave it to me my freshman year at Indiana University when I came home for Christmas. She had a jeweler convert each of these pins into charms so I could wear them on the bracelet and remember them forever.”

Nancy McEntire, (Vail) class of 1958

The Football charm

The Football Charm

Most girls at the time would have the football pin from their boyfriends on the team. They would show them off by having them “dressed around their necks”. On the other hand, McEntire had the football pin with a more sentimental value. The football pin was the most special one on her memory bracelet.

“It was probably my favorite charm, not because I was going steady and wearing it around my neck. I received mine because Coach Hauck had a handicapped child, and I visited with him often. I had dreams of coming back to Fort Thomas, after physical therapy school, and teaching him to walk someday.”

The Sub-Deb Charm

The Sub-Deb Club was a large sorority Nancy participated in during high school. She was inspired to do it since her cousins and upperclassman friends were also in the sorority. She stated she was very close to the girls in the club. Sub-Deb pledging involved lots of dares and light hazing. Nancy was never afraid to finish the dares that were presented to her in the club no matter the circumstance... she preferred the dare over the consequences of not completing the dare.

“That's the charm (the SDC charm) I got as the best pledge because I accepted all the challenges.”

SDC charm

GAA pin

The GAA Charm

Nancy took part in many after-school clubs and was very active in participating in all that she did. She took part in the GAA which was an organization that stood for Girl's Athletic Associations. Even though (in the 1950s) Highlands did not have a girls’ basketball team, she still took part in basketball plus other athletics by being in this organization. “The most interesting part was basketball because with basketball you only played half-court, and I was defense so I didn’t cross the court line.”

Her charm bracelet shows what it would be like to be a teen girl at Highlands during that time. Highlands tradition and culture are very important as we see going back through the years. This bracelet holds cultural, religious, academic, and extracurricular activities that hold a special place in Nancy’s life. This bracelet also gives us insight into a popular fashion trend of the 1950s.

“I was from Highlands High School, and I was very proud to be.”

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