Bishop Amat High School - Tusitala Yearbook (La Puente, CA)

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Setting The Records Straight aide, senior Eddie Martinez, carefully enters endance records. Students as well as faculty ed the new system for the benefit of the entire iooi. s. Leona Lemeiie Mrs. Barbara Meraz :endance Office Bookkeeper During the summer a pilot adminis- trative computer system was intro- duced to the campus. The system's functions were meant to improve the efficiency of the school tremendously. Not only was it cost-efficient, but pro- cessing information at school rather than resorting to outside services, made the school more independent as well. Future plans were also made to further assist administration by expanding the computer system. The program to computerize the school was actually started as a test by the Los Angeles Archdiocese. During the first week of school in September, scheduling did not run smoothly. Mr. Anthony Victoria, Data Processing Ad- ministrator and chairperson of the Computer Department, explained, There were simply too many students who changed their schedules. Because of inexperience with I.B.M. and the new software, we could not interact the attendance file with the schedule file, thus creating confusionf' The computers, which were located in the rear of the attendance office, dealt chiefly with student information. They handled everything, from grades to tardy records, that could be added to student statistics. By owning comput- ers, the cost of processing data was sig- Mrs. Edith Torado Mrs. Lena Vaileio Registrar Bookkeeper Maintenance: Mr. Sai Ojeda, Mr. Jose Gomez, Mr. Sixto Pala- cio, Mrs. Concepcion Pa- lacio, and Mr. Esquivel Zavaia nificantly lowered. Administrative pur- poses such as tuition billing and report cards were processed at school and sent directly to the students' homes. Each student had a personal file in the com- puter that included locker assignments, membership in clubs and organizations, scholarship potential, and even car- pools. The computers allowed the ad- ministrative department to perform tasks that were previously too compli- cated and tedious to do manually. The system, which consisted of four modules, was still considered small- scaled although it revolutionized the method of record-keeping. The school hoped to buy at least two more comput- ers to aid individual departments. Emergency health information and dis- ciplinary records were in the process of being added to personal student files. In all, the computers helped the ad- ministration a great deal, not only be- cause of their capabilities but because of their investment value as well. Their convenience enabled the school to func- tion more efficiently and the addition of new computers in the future could only lead to progress. The project that began as a test for the archdiocese de- veloped successfully into a permanent part of administration and paved the path for technological advancement. Mrs. Mary Pat Wiard Kitchen: Bookstore Manager Mrs. Mary Moniz and Mrs Connie Almeida Science!New Computer System 161

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160 Academics Examining print-outs, Mr. Anthony Victoria works in the new data pro- cessing room. He spent much of his time at the terminals and printer. Teach IVle Knowledge What is science? The for- mal definitions are: 1. a knowledge of facts and laws arranged in an orderly sys- tem 2. a branch of such knowledge 3. a skill, a tech- nique and 4. the search for truth. Sr. Lorita, head of the Science Department, said that the goal of the depart- ment was, to teach the pro- cess of science not just the facts, to involve students in the learning process of hands on experimentation, to teach students to analyze and think critically, and fi- nally, to teach the scientific method used in Koh joyll later sciences. At least two years of sci- ence were required for gradu- ation. One course was taken freshman year, Introduction to Earth Science, Earth Sci- ence, or Introduction to Physical Science. The second course was Biology, taken ei- ther sophomore or junior year. Once the two selected courses were completed, a student could choose to go on to Chemistry or tGod-will- ingj Honors Chemistry. After completing Chemistry, some students advanced to Physics, Human Physiology, and Introduction to Human Anatomy. Science asks the students to learn, to think, to ask questions, and to use meth- ods of education not used in other subjects-for example, experimentation and hands- on activities, said Mr. Brian Miller. Experiments ranged from flipping coins to deter- mine probability to building your own alien for a specified planet. Yes, science classes were demanding and hard to ace. One had to have patience and the will to succeed. Sometimes it was hard to Mr. Dave Medina explains the up- coming lab. Experimentation was an inherent part of the science pro- gram. comprehend exactly why sci- ence is useful in life. Ms. El- len Ybarra gave the explana- tion, Science is used in ever- yday life. Cooking is chemis- try you can eat, and photog- raphy is chemistry you can seein

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Seniors Rodney lnjarusorn, Ollie Cantos, and Tess Escobedo are sworn into office by Nlr. Dave Me- dina. They were installed along with other Student Council and Student Senate members on September 22. Junior Vo Cheng marches with the Golden Lancer Band during a balt- time sbow. His musical talent cone tributed to the performance of the band. We 've of fhe '.:1'-1,-'NQ 1'2 -Q 'Q- LLSEXB- X' is - X .I :: x-,. X --.iw . RSAQX .. .- .. W- A , idllli'lll,,gie 'N or2oAixiizATioNs 162 Organizations