Abilene High School - Orange and Brown Yearbook (Abilene, KS)

Page 16 text:

Education in Abilene NE OF ABILENES most outstanding achievements is the establish- ment of an efficient school system which places a high school educa- tion Within the reach of every student who is willing to receive the op- portunity at his disposal. The struggle for the erection and equipment of these schools was long and difficult, physically as well as financially. But aided by the untiring efforts of those leaders of the past whose desire it was to secure for their posterity an opportunity to grasp for higher learning, the worth-while task was accom- plished. 4 al 1, ,aerii-ima, ,,ll: Q o 4 , , v -'v ,- ' ' ':.l those of today! The first school dates back as early :: :A AZ . ' . ll: , V V , f PJ N U I. How different are our schools of yesterday from ' as 1870 when a few of the broader-visioned parents 5 responded to the call for education for the coming , 0 14,7 generations, and exemplified it in the erection of a ,TER pD small stone school building located on South Waliiut Lkggg Street. The teacher was W. C. Wiley, an early pion- eer in AlJ1lC11C,S educational field. Later improve- ments were made, and more schools were built, until Abilene now boasts of six modern school houses fully equipped with suffi- cient facilities to accommodate fifteen hundred students. A similar striking comparison can also be shown in the number of grad- uates completing the four-year high school course. In 1880, only five stu- dents Were graduated, while the graduating class of 1929 numbers ninety- eight students. A corresponding increase has also taken place in the num- ber of teachers employed. The first year the high school was in existence, only one teacher constituted the faculty, while today the teaching force con- sists of twenty-five efficient instructors. Today students who attend Abilene High School have the privilege of choosing among several fields of specialized work offered in the school cur- riculum. These include Professional, Normal Training, Commercial, Home Economics, Manual Arts, and Vocational Agriculture. Each department is complete in all details and provides proper equipment for the advancement of learning. , Abilene High School has always ranked high in scholarship, athletics, debate, music, and oratory, and schools all over the State are willing to recognize her as a progressive institution, turning out men and Women of merit who will ,later launch into the world's work and carry out the same high ideals which have been instilled into them during their high school days,

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, 1 1 v' ---f M- . --., sl fSl.r53.lEf.fa. L g .315 54 FH-Ti M. R. GRAY, Principal Dartmouth College, B. A. University of Chicago, M. A. LORlC'l lIX Q'.XI.1,,Xl l-XN Secretary

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45 LASSBS Im fl xilx :lid W4 try our sklll, and bravely sought our heads to fill.