The village of Imperial in Chase County, Nebraska, maintained a high school for the ninth grade prior to 1900, then for the tenth grade; in 1915, the eleventh grade was added, in preparation for the organization of Chase County High School the next year. The first students to graduate from the twelfth grade of Chase County High School was the class of 1916.

There were 91 students graduated from the Imperial High School during the years from 1895 through 1915. None were graduated in 1900, 1906, or 1915 due to changes in the course of study caused by adding another grade to the course.

Chase County High School was organized in 1916, and in the years since, 2430 students have graduated. Thirteen died in military service; eleven in World II, including one at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, one in an accident at sea in 1963 and one stationed in Germany in 1971. All four members of the first graduation class of 1916 are still living at this writing, and three attended their 60th anniversary celebration in 1976.

CCHS alumni are scattered about the world, in all the 50 states and in foreign countries; from Iceland to Micronesia, from Africa to Alaska; on nearly every continent of the globe, and on far-flung islands in the seas. Yet many have remained in Chase County, or returned after sampling life elsewhere. Four foreign students graduated here as part of an exchange program; one each from Germany, Holland, Australia, and Argentina and have returned to their homes there.

There are CCHS graduates in all walks of life--doctors, lawyers, and merchant chiefs. There are laborers and college professors; nurses, plumbers, veterinarians, teachers, and policemen; dieticians, dentists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and pathologist, ministers, missionaries, and mechanics. There are many scientists--nuclear physists, biologists, pharmachists, and engineers; economists, conservationists, researchers, and architects. The arts and culture have not been neglected; there are artists, writers, composers, and musicians. There are carpenters, electricians, and cement workers. There are bankers and business men, computer operators, and filling station attendants, waitresses, insurance agents, realtors, postal workers, airplane pilots, and factory workers; soldiers, sailors, and marines, including several who chose a military career--and there are a lot of farmers and ranchers.

Although many of our alumni have been highly successful in their chosen fields, no one has achieved great national fame--no movie stars, big-leauge ball players, presidents or astronauts, but CCHS alumni have had many books published and one song writer made the "hit-parade". We have had sheriffs and lawyers, mayors and state congressmen, and judges, but no politicians beyond the level of local government.

But on the other hand, although some have no doubt run afoul of the law on occasion, there is no evidence that any one has been convicted of a major crime, or served a long term in prison.

In enumerating the diverse talents of our schoolmates, we won't overlook the wives and homemakers, the girls whose main occupation has been the bearing and rearing of a new generation of Americans. In many cases they have produced the first, second, and third, yes, even a fourth generation of CCHS Alumni!

These Chase County High School Alumni are great bunch of people!