The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
The 2026-27 school year will mark the 100th anniversary of Wilson High School—but in typical Bruin fashion, they’re not waiting to get the party started. The school put on a Centennial Kick-Off party at Marni’s in Seal Beach last weekend with hundreds of staff, alums, and community members. The event kicked off a year-plus celebration of Wilson history and pride.
Longtime Wilson activities director Erin Fekjar unveiled the school’s Centennial calendar for the upcoming years’ festivities, and said she couldn’t have been happier with the kickoff event. The evening featured the alumni drumline band as well as a Sublime cover band that kept things rocking.
“The word is ‘magnificent,’” Fekjar said. “We were all so happy. We’ve been planning this for six months.”
The event featured a silent auction, raffle, and perhaps most importantly, committee sign-ups for people who want to help plan and staff the year’s various events. The events will include:
August 15: Wilson ‘History Hang Out’ at Historical Society of Long Beach
September 4: Home Opener Football Game vs. Huntington Beach, Hall of Fame Induction
October 30: 100th Homecoming Football Game, vs. Millikan
January 29, 2027: Re-Dedication of Wilson High School
January 30, 2027: Gala Event
April 18, 2027: Community Picnic
June 2027: 100th Wilson Graduation
“It’s exciting, we’ve been planning this for six months and it’s great to see it out and about on the streets,” said Fekjar. “We’ve had so much excitement from alumni saying they’re glad there’s so many different kinds of events.”
The football game against Huntington Beach will be a special one for Wilson sports fans with a bent towards history—the Bruins’ first game ever played was against Huntington Beach. Representatives from the Meyer and Smitheran families will be on hand for the contest—both families had patriarchs on the first-ever Bruin football team and have remained active and prominent families in the Bruins community.
The Bruins have Centennial merchandise, which was on sale at Marni’s but is also available on the Wilson Centennial Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/wilsonhs_centennial/.
Fekjar said the goal of the year’s celebration isn’t just to appreciate and enjoy the school’s unique academic and athletic history, it’s also to help out the next generation of Bruins. They aim to raise $200,000 for the school including $100,000 to be given out over the next four years, with $1,000 going to 25 students in the school’s next four graduating classes.
“We’ve got a lot of different events speaking to all sorts of different people who want to come celebrate,” she said. “We’ll also have some special events on campus for the current students.”
Fekjar said it was fun having so many families come up and tell their multi-generational Bruin stories.
“People love this school and love everything about it,” she said. “My daughter is a Wilson alum and she came up from San Diego with her boyfriend, he said he had to come up and see this—he was amazed by the school spirit.”
That multi-generational history at Wilson was highlighted by the location, as Marni Gaylord hosted at her restaurant; Gaylord is a class of 85 alum whose two children also attended Wilson.
“The love and the pride is there and it’s exciting,” said Fekjar. “It’s going to be a great year to be a Bruin.”
Photo from Marni’s courtesy Wilson history teacher Daire Brown
