Belleville Township West High School - Bellevinois Yearbook (Belleville, IL)

Page 25 text:

Six Belleville West students received superior ratings in the Illinois Junior Historicol Society ' s annual regional meeting held at West on March 30: Karen Berry and Judy Brown for their diorama of Belleville’s original Philharmonic Hall; Anne McLaughlin and Kitti Taylor for essays; Cindy Barwick and Mike Anderson for paintings of Belleville ' s Court House. Man is tlic subject of the social sciences — man and his relationships with others, man and his surroundings, man and his cultural heritage. C n ics is a course in active citizenship made more interesting by the team teaching approach and closed circuit r ' , and more meaningful by the nc‘edv Family Project, lield trips, and visiting VIPs. American llisto ’ prescaits the story ol how the American {xxjple have lived and worked from the discover) of America to the present time. 1 his year an honors course in American Ilistor ' has Ixen added to the curriculum for those students who wish more rigorous study. Two approaches are used. The chronological approach examinees issues and problems in each historical jxriod and the topical approach traces and issue through history. Scxiology is concerned vyith human Ixlu ivior, international relations keeps us aware of current world problems, and economics show how we support ourselvts. 1 he structure and growth of our kxal, state, and lederal go ' emments is analyzed and compared with other political systems in government classes. I hus one sc’es that on the basis of our knowledge of the past and prescait, we can build for the future. SiK ' ial studies relate inau to his world Freshman Diane Barnes observes world happenings reported on a civics class bulletin board. The sixth annual Southern Regional Meeting of the Illinois Junior State Historical Society wos held at West this year. It featured a history foir, a program on Illinois, and a bus tour of Belleville ' s historical architec¬ tural landmarks. A student could enter a research paper, piece of handi¬ craft, model, diagram, or art work on o historicol subject which per¬ tained to some phose of local or state history. These meetings ore designed to give young people an opportunity to learn more about the historic backgrounds of their state and region. It olso showed that his¬ tory is not only important, but exciting and fun. 21

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German conversation and customs are viewed in plays given by fourth year German students. ic gflus! Bon jour! Como cstiis! Siilvatc! These’ sounds iirc lrec|iK’ntIv heard in tlie loreign language de partment, uhieh oilers eourses in (k ' rman, Freneh, Spanish and Liitin. C erman classes read and study novels written bv Cier man authors. But what alxtut the Hitfel Tower? What is France really like? Mr. Stover has these and many other cjuestions to answer in his French classes. A great deal of the cillture and history of Spain is studied in the Spanish classes. Students study Latin as a part of Roman civili¬ zation and a basis for the Romance languages. Kathy Stumph dreams o f speaking Spanish during her Mexican travels. Students take advantage of their new labs to aid them in their French conversotions. 20

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Misunderstandings and wrong interpretations stem trom poor communications between individuals. Clearer expression of thoughts and ideas are essential for the prevention of misunderstandings which might eventu¬ ally lead to serious conflicts. Since studying the past provides standards for evalii ation of the present, English classes study history through greiU literary works and their authors. Enthusiasm lor these Studio ' S sometimes reaches a low ehb but is quickly re ' i ’ed with frequent field trips to plays, movies, and other jx ' rtinent events. This vear many classes enjoyed seeing The Comedy of Errors, Merchant of Vetiice, ( imelot, and other plays. English is not confined to a study of grammar me¬ chanics and g(X)d literature but tends to help one develop his own character. I his is accomplished by the compari¬ son of ideas through classroom discussions and evaluation of ideas through research. There are some course ' s designed e ' speciallv for expre ' ssing and examining ieie ' as. Preparing for the Hy News staff, Steve Bishop and Kathy Kniepmann count characters for headlines during journalism class. Combining individual efforts, Mrs. Philip ' s senior English class completed a booklet on American teenagers for a Vietnomese student. 22