Cranston High School - Cranstonian Yearbook (Cranston, RI)

Page 14 text:

1 QRANSTON allIllllllmllllllllllllllllllllll . c'willlllllllllltllllllllllltlII IW 5...- u u -4 Thrrteen years after 1ts erectlon the present bu1ld1ng was filled to overflowmg wlth more than SIX hun dred students Consequently part t1me sesslons were held unt1l a wlng on the Pontlac Avenue s1de was ready for occupancy m 1917 Thxs w1ng relleved the congestlon tempo rarlly but durmg the last two years the crowded cond1t1ons have made rt necessary to resume the part t1me ses slons The lncreased enrollment has been paralleled by advancement rn ll other llnes The faculty has grown from the first sole xnstructor who taught n1ne subjects to thxrty teach ers especlally tramed 1n the1r respec t1ve branches Several of these be srdes those already mentroned have served the school for many years MISS Barrett since 1907 Mr Burt and Mrss Carpenter s1nce l9l0 and both MISS Holt and Miss Kane for more than ten years The scholastxc standmg has been steadxly ralsed unt1l now the s hool 19 rated 1n class A among the other hr h schools 1n Rhode Island I 1904 the certlficate prlvllege was granted by the New England Col lege Entrance Board and has been constantly retamed ever s1nce on ac count of the excellent records made by our graduates at Brown Unrver slty and other hlgher mstltutlons Among the graduates of whose rec ords the school 1S justly proud IS MISS Ruth Lothrop who after leav mg college was granted a scholarshlp Gfltltllflg her to one years study 1n France Many of our graduates have been elected to Phr Beta Kappa or Slgma Psx One or two have had the honor of belng elected to both soc1et1es The graduates of the com 0 merc1a1 course have also met w1th s1g nal success Employment offices of Provldence state that there are no bet ter prepared graduates from any bus1 ness course than those from Crans ton Not only busmess firms m the C1tV but also some of the ofiicrals at the State House demand Cranston graduates to fill therr vacancies When the Hrgh School was first founded three four year courses were offered the Englrsh the Classlcal and the Commerclal Later a two year and a one year Commercral Course and a four year Greek Course were added It IS 1nterest1ng to no t1ce that only three of the or1g1nal courses remam wrth the Engllsh Course d1v1ded mto two parts the Englrsh College and Engllsh General In addxtron electlve subjects have been offered from t1me to t1me draw 1ng mus1c manual trammg and phys1cal tramlng In compllance wlth the state law phys1cal tra1n1ng IS now compulsory An lnvaluable 1nst1tut1on of Cranston Hrgh School IS the school lrbrary The present Room 17 was furmshed for thxs purpose through a glft from the Alumm Assoclatlon When the books had lncreased t about 500 and the locatlon changed to Room 5 the name Valentme Almy Memonal Lrbrary was wrrtten upon 1ts door In 1920 MISS Car penter offered to organlze and super v1se the llbrary Under her manage ment xt became an lmportant factor 1n school lrfe and 1ts value was soon students The1r shown by many gxfts whlch have ralsed the number of books to two thousand These are supplemented by newspapers and magazmes a vlctrola lantern sl1des real1Zed by the lnterest has been S - - . . . . , . .1 r ' : . - . . . . - - - - nn , - -, ' ',- .. .- .. - . . . 2 , , - .- - . . . . .- 1 1 ' -' . . . . .- 1 , - ' .1 .- . . . Z r - . . . . - . I 1 , . - - .. . ' - .1 -. , -u - - - , - 1 -I ' . . - : ' T 1 1 Z ' ' - - - 1 1 - . . - : 3 ' - , .- - , - .- - . .. - - - - 1 ' I . . . . .. n , -n Y - .-' - Q - ' t . .. . - 1. -. 1 1 ' n . . - . un nu , 1 : .. . . - I '1 - - . , . . . an - - p . - - . . - . ., - - , 1 1 1 . .. . - ' - U . ' . . .- un - Q ' ' un ' ' nu ' - . ' ' . . . . . . : f - ' - . . . . Q , 1 .1 - - ' Q U - as - I1 ' - . .. - . s .4 , . 1- . . .. - - - . U , Q - O - - . . - -: - , a . nu , - 1 , u , an ' ' ' , u - : . . . . . - . 1 . . 1 ' nn , nu 1 - - : . - 4 - . in . ' - . . . 1 nu , , - : . . . . . 1 1 - .. , .' . . nu - . an un ' - , . . . - I- - - nu . . - - . . - I an - - - .. . . . - .. - ' 1 1 1 un an - -- .- -

Page 13 text:

' lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllx flllllll llll 1 j 1 mmm munmmw '- 1 E .1 .1 A Hrstory of Cranston I-hgh School Cranston Hrgh School IS nearrng another mllestone 1n 1ts usefulness and achlevements Probably w1th1n the comrng year It w1ll be located ln a commodxous new bulldmg B fore such a change IS made If IS natural to look back over the past and trace the hlstory of the school s development As early as l892 when Cranston was a town of less than frfteen thou sand lnhabrtants the first hrgh school course was offered to students The sessrons were held 1n connect1on wrth the grammar schools and were attended by only twelve puplls After three years under these condr t1ons a chance for a permanent home was offered 1n the old Auburn Gram mar School bulldlng left vacant at the erectlon of the Dor1c Avenue School From 1ts establlshment rn a sepa rate burldrng 1ts growth was excep tronally raprd The faculty of one Mr Keyes was soon rncreased by the add1t1on of Mr Reynolds who IS stxll on the teachrng staff and MISS Tower who for twenty years served the school w1th rare skrll and devo tron Mr Fenner was a teacher of the scrences and mathematlcs from l9Ol to l909 He returned IH l9l2 as pr1nc1pal and 1n 1917 he became superlntendent Th1s long and varled career has been attended w1th great progress 1n our school system and Wlfh great usefulness to the c1ty l 1904 the number of puplls warranted the erectlon of the present bu1ld1ng a frfty thousand dollar structure Wlth the new school came MISS Towne another of the present fac u ty .- E E E E I E - : : 1 .. E E . . .- : : : . . . . . . : ' ' ' ,, . . . . . . 1 - - , .. . . . . . - . ... - . : . . . . . I ' P an . . . .. , : . 6- . , : 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 ' 1 E , Q I 1 1 1 1 - .. ., . 1 Q w o ' 1 ... . . : 1 - . 3 - my - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ,, , .. . . . I o Q - .. . . . . : , - . . - ,.. , , - . . . I . ' . Il - 1 1 1 - I 1 1 1 1 1 1 .. , , ? 1 1 - - : . ,, .. . . : , : . . X - : , : . l. .. 1 : 5 l9l '

Page 15 text:

lllllllllllllllllllllllllIlllllllllll 91 g lllllll p lllll ' and p1ctures whlch make the l1brary well rounded and useful 1n all d1rec IIOHS Many organ1zat1ons have been establ1shed dur1ng the l1fe of the school The oldest the Boys Ath 1et1c Assoc1at1on was formed 1899 when Cranston jomed the Interscholast1c League Although there were cred1table teams the boys d1d not w1n any honors unt1l 1917 when the hockey team brought home the League pennant Pennants were also won1n 21 22 and 23 largely through the efforts of Al Swanson who was a member of the 21 team and captaln 1n 22 and 23 In track contests Cranston holds e1ght records SIX of these are held Lowell and the others by John and Howard Dro1tcour BCS1dCS these 1nd1v1dual honors Cranston owns a cup for w1nn1ng the Arbor Day meet from East Provldence 1n 09 10 an ll In 1910 the Cnrls Athletlc Asso c1at1on was formed The three ch1ef sports were basketball tenn1s and baseball Of these basketball has become the most popular For the last two years the g1rls have entered the Southern Rhode Island Basket ball League 1n wh1ch they have made a very good record Both boys and g1rls were for many years from 1913 on act1ve1n debates Wlth several other schools 1n the state Besldes the tra1n1ng obta1ned by the members the C11rls Debatmg Soclety won a more concrete benelit a sllver lovmg cup whlch was se cured through two annual v1ctor1es over Woonsocket and East PIOVI dence H1gh Schools In the same year 1913 the school 1 orchestra came 1nto ex1stence and under the d1rect1on of M1ss Mclner ney lt progressed rap1dly MISS Mclnerney has also been act1ve 1n conductmg the G1rls C1lee Club the Octave Club and qulte recently a new organ1zat1on the Boys Glee Club Our dramat1c SOCICIY the Thyr sus Club was formed 1n 1914 by students who w1shed exper1ence 1n the art of actmg Th1s club presents each year several mmor plays and one more amb1t1ous product1on wh1ch has become w1dely known for 1ts excellence For the last two years bes1des bemg presented at the 1-I1gh School the play has been re peated 1n East Greenw1ch Much of to the faculty superv1sers MISS Towne MISS Holt and M1ss M1111 en A st1ll more recent organ1zat1on 1n the school 1S the Student Councll Its purpose IS to regulate the 3Ct1V1 t1es and alfa1rs of Cranston H1gh School 1n co operatxon Wlth the Pr1nc1pal The members of the assoc1at1on are elected by a popular vote of the student body The pup1ls are thus gxven a chance to make suggest1ons for 1mprov1ng the school Already they have 1nstalled a system for elect1on of class officers and a very elfect1ve system to control traffic 1n the corndors Another 1nst1tut1on whlch Crans ton was one of the first to adopt IS the Rhode Island Honor Soclety All students who at the beg1nn1ng of the1r sen1or year have ma1nta1ned a scholastlc average of 85 per cent and possess the necessary quahiicatlons of helpful leadersh1p SCIVICC and char acter are elected to membersh1p ' ' ' . ' lllllllll lllllllllllllw 1 o r , I I I , by the Merrill brothers, Russell and the Success Of the Club has been dll? p . . , , . . d , t . ,, . .- 1 l