There’s no truth to the rumor that Lincoln Middle School was built around science teacher Dorothy Satriana.

Still, the two have existed on Lema Road together for 25 years.

With its gymnasium packed with students, staff members, alums and special guests, the school celebrated its silver anniversary last Friday. Satriana, 62, was one of the featured speakers.

“You have come a long way and done an outstanding job,” said Mayor Tom Swisstack, who had two students read his official proclamation, which contained a flurry on an unfamiliar word, “whereas,” for them.

Rio Rancho Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Sue Cleveland said, “Many things have changed and many things have remained the same,”

Cleveland said she had been overwhelmed with a “flood of memories” when she entered the building. “I was so impressed with the staff and the students and the overall program” in 1995.

The school’s only teacher to have a wing named after her, Satriana recalled the school’s origins in 1983, when it was built and then part of Albuquerque Public Schools. Rio Rancho Public Schools became an entity in 1994, and LMS’s student enrollment was relieved when Eagle Ridge Middle School opened in 1995.

Originally a school for grades 6-8, eighth-graders throughout the district headed to Rio Rancho Mid-High when it opened in 2002. Eighth-graders will again be part of the district’s middle schools, by then numbering four, in 2009-10.

Satriana easily remembered the controversy that existed when students had only a three-minute passing period between classes.

“The eighth-graders planned a strike, to sit down in the halls,” she said. “They didn’t win.”

Be that as it may, the passing period eventually was extended to five minutes.

Satriana, who began her teaching career fresh out of college at brand-new West Mesa High School in 1966, chuckled as she told the gathering about the “Teachers Talent (less) Shows” and when “School dances were a blast and students actually danced during the dances.”

A recent highlight for the school, which has had as many as 1,600 students back in 1990 (and 847 now), were the Rail Runner Express train rides to and from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair at the Albuquerque Convention Center last spring.

Speaking of science, Satriana also told students about the “two school-wide gas evacuations caused by the science department.”

“This is the best middle school academically and socially,” Satriana concluded, to rousing applause.

Olivia Kent had the distinction of having been a former student and a current teacher at the school.

Although she couldn’t remember any of her teachers’ names, Kent, now a physical education teacher at LMS, said she enjoyed playing in the band.

Kent said her parents moved to Rio Rancho from a small town with a school that had just 26 students.

“It was pretty terrifying,” she said of the move, providing sage advice to the students: “You need to find a class you really enjoy.

“Enjoy being a kid,” Kent continued. “You’ll have the rest of your life to turn into cool, awesome adults like we are.”

The audience, which was entertained by the LMS symphonic band and “Singing Sensations” chorus, had a moment of silence for six staff members who have passed away in the school’s existence: Tom Ash, Joan Bivens, Kathy Braman, Mark Dold, Wynn Olmon and Charles Russell.

Lincoln Middle School’s principals

1983-89: Jimmie Luedder

1989-91: Charley Tafoya

1991-96: Katy (Baca) Harvey

1996-97: Dr. Kathryn Weil

1997-2004: Richard VonAncken

2004-05: Dr. Sue Passell

2005-now: Myra Renwick Roosevelt