Tom Shrump still remembers the afternoon in 1958 when his mother told him and a bunch of basketball-playing teenagers that their school in Irwin was merging with North Huntingdon High School.

"You're going to be Norwin," she said.

"We were in shock," he recalled.

The new school system was placed on a referendum in 1958, and opened that fall on a trial basis. It officially became a district in 1960.

Fifty years later, Irwin Borough, North Irwin Borough and North Huntingdon Township are holding a yearlong celebration of that school jointure.

Mr. Shrump, of Irwin, is on a committee organizing nostalgic community events.

"At a recent meeting, we began to reminisce, remembering how well everyone got along. The faculty was great," said Mr. Shrump, who graduated from Norwin in 1960 and became a teacher and basketball coach there.

He remembered teachers and administration agreeing it was the district's early graduating classes that "made it work."

"I can't recall any major problem. It was a smooth transition," said Chuck Terbot, a Norwin teacher at that time. "The kids from both schools had a lot of character,"

The 1958 merger was actually the second birth of a Norwin School District. According to Dr. Ronald Surmacz, former administrator and the author of several histories of the district, the first occurred in 1915, four years after the adoption of the Pennsylvania School Code.

That code mandated that each district provide a four-year high school education for all students.

For the benefit of students in North Huntingdon, Irwin and North Irwin, officials signed a 30-year agreement to build and maintain a joint high school.

Previously, students from all three communities -- and those from Penn Township, Sewickley, Manor and Trafford -- attended North Huntingdon High School on Main Street, where Queen of Angels is today.

Throughout the 1930s, Norwin High School underwent several additions to accommodate a growing student population.

This first merger also marked the use of the district's name, formed by taking three letters from each of the communities.

In January 1944, a fire in the original section of the school destroyed 18 classrooms, shops, science labs, the office and auditorium.

A dispute over the capital outlay and upkeep to rebuild the damaged part of the school, combined with crowding in the undamaged areas, caused Irwin to withdraw its students in 1946. They attended Sixth Street School in Irwin, and remained there until 1958.

By 1958, North Huntingdon had since rebuilt what was designed to be Norwin High School on Main Street in North Huntingdon. Community expansion resulted in the reunification of the Norwin School District.

According to the district's master plan of the time, one advantage of the merger was that one large district would be eligible for more state aid than the individual districts collectively.

"Most people thought they should have never split," said Tom Butler, of North Huntingdon, a former school board member and a 1948 Irwin graduate.

Dances at the Irwin Rec Center, where Rosendahl's Appliance Store stands today, helped to ease the transition into a growing district, Mr. Shrump said. It was there that the students socialized while being entertained by the likes of the Skyliners and Tina Turner.

During the 50th anniversary celebration, Rosendahl's and other shops along Main Street in Irwin will display memorabilia from the early years of Norwin in their windows. Included are pennants, yearbooks, trophies and newspapers. There is even a large picture of the 1963 boys' basketball team, a WPIAL champion and state runner-up.

Irwin High's success in boys' basketball -- five WPIAL and four state championships in eight seasons (1947-54) -- carried over to Norwin, which has a distinguished athletic tradition.

In 1960, the baseball team won the first WPIAL title for Norwin. Then came the John Naponick-led basketball squad in 1963. And from 1973 to 1993, the girls' volleyball team took 15 WPIAL and 12 state titles under coach Sheron Watson.

First organized in 1924, the Norwin band has grown into a nationally competitive group. It has won more than 1,500 first-place trophies since the early 1970s. In 1982, it earned the Grand National Championship for Marching Bands of America.

The district's major building plan in the 1960s saw many physical changes. In 1965, the present high school opened to grades 10 through 12. Built like an "E," the original concept was to give each class of students its own educational wing.

More recent changes in population and curriculum caused less segregation among grades. In 2001, another renovation closed the gaps of the "E" and added 92,000 square feet.

"We've changed the face of the district with $100 million in renovations in the last six to nine years," said Superintendent Jack Boylan.

Mr. Terbot said the merger was "one of the best things that ever happened."

"Things worked out real well," Mr. Shrump said. "The community bought into this as well."