Easthampton High School - Echo Yearbook (Easthampton, MA)

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lilerary groups, offers its members four important activities, any one of which would be greatly beneficial to the person who entered that group. In the journal- istic group, one's work is mostly for the bulletin, and this prepares students for Echo Board works by working with the dramatic group, material is found for the Senior play and also for the one-act play, literary work in the Lyceum helps one's theme writing and English on the whole, debating work also is beneficial to anyone interested because of the confidence one will get in himself after having participated in a few debates. For some of the meetings, speakers were obtained who were very interesting and who were greatly appreciated by the members. The club has, on the whole, helped all of its members in some way. Miss Alvord's fine work, spirit, and generous advice have helped the club in a way which nothing else could. We sincerely hope that the Lyceum will continue in future years and will keep up the fine work accomplished this year. WARREN LUX '36 PRO MERITO A new constitution has been drawn up and was accepted at the last meeting of the Pro Merito societies in Springfield. Principal H. D. Thayer was elected president of the Board of Governors. Mr. Thayer has shown special interest in the scholarship activities of our school and this honor society. We are gratified, therefore, to note this recognition of his interest and ability. Here are important parts of thc Constitution of the Pro Merito Society. CONSTITUTION Object The object of this Society shall be the encouragement of superior scholastic achievement by recognition comparable to that now given for athletic achieve- ment. STUDENT MEMBERSHIP Members of this Society shall be selected by the headmaster of each school for that school from members of the Junior and Senior Classes. The first selection from a class shall be made at any time after the completion of the Junior year, and shall include all students of good character who have finished three-fourths of the work required for graduation, and who have an average gf at least 85 per cent. in all work recorded. A second selection shall be made at anyiconvenient time after the first semester of the Senior year, and shall include allstudents of good character who have finished seven-eighths of the work required for? graduation and have an average of at least 85 per cent. in all work recorded. i EMBLEM The emblem of the Society shall be a pin specially manufactured for the society by the D. L. Auld Co., Columbus, Ohio, and the use of such emblem shall be restricted to duly elected members of the Society. eighteen,

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science, and in the past two years, modern history and biology have been added to her work. We sincerely regret the fact that Miss Brennan is leaving us, and we wish to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to her for the years in which she has so faithfully served us. DOROTHY P. KRUMPHOLZ '37 ' THE LYCEUM BULLETIN A rather ambitious project was undertaken by the .lournalist Division of the Lyceum Club, namely, the transformation of the upstairs bulletin into a newspaper. At first, the attempts at journalism that were posted were crude, but some progress in tl1e later editions has been noticed. Nevertheless, much has yet to be done to make the newspaper a subject of more interest in the high school. Because of the lack of co-operation on the part of the student body as a whole, the editors, who to be sure were numerous, had to do all the work of finding news and writing stories themselves, and, as many could not always find sufficient time to devote to this, the editions that were put up were few and several weeks apart. Next year, however, it is hoped that the newspaper will become an integral part of school life and will be better sustained. This Hpsuedo newspaper , as the editors called it before the temporary name of Spasmodic Buzzer was attached to it, is really a valuable asset to the school. The benefit derived from the practice in writing clear, concise English is indeed great. The five divisions of the newspaper, literary, editorial, humor, news and sports, offer the student a wide choice of subjects and enable him to write about something in which he is interested. Une of the greatest advantages of such a school journal is the chance that it gives to high school pupils who are not interested in athletics to do some creative work and at the same time get as much satisfaction out of it as in sports. For the Easthampton High School the Spasmodic Buzzer is the best sub- stitute available for a printed and circulating newspaper, which, on account of the size and financial condition of the school, cannot be managed. Its purpose of keepng everyone informed on school activity and of bringing the classes into closer relationship with each other, especially tl1e Freshmen, who, because of the location of their building are more or less outcasts, will, we all hope, ultimately be attained. CHESTER Ewatrs '36 REVIVAL OF THE LYCEUM In the fall of 1932, an organization called tl1e Lyceum was orginated by many members of the Sophomore Class. Miss Grace White, then the Sophomore English teacher, was instrumental in its second origination. The past year, the club has been reorganized under Miss Alice Alvord, the English teacher of East- hampton High School, who did a splendid piece of work in making the club a purely educational one. The club with its journalistic, dramatic, debating, and seventeen

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6 P ITEIRARY VISIT TO THE POLISH EMBASSY It was a few minutes before seven o'clock on the evening of Tuesday, April 30, and a group of Seniors, together with Principal Howell K. Thayer and Miss Lou Lyman, were boarding a taxi that transported them to the hhnbassy of the Republic of Poland. This visit was made in accordance with a special appointment secured by Anthony Lis. At seven o'clock sharp, the delegation entered the embassy, the attendant led it to a waiting-room to await the arrival of the attache. In a few minutes, the attache appeared, and after the proper introductions were finished, he led the group to the reception room on the second story. In a moment, the Easthamptonians were in the presence of His Ex- cellency Stanislaus Patek, Polish Ambassador to the United States-an almost unbelievable fact! The attache introduced each guest individually to the Am- bassador, who shook hands with each one, Before he even spoke a word, the Ambassador made a great impression on all. He was as glad to meet them as they were to meet him. His Excellency spoke to his visitors in both Polish and English. He told of his diplomatic life and mentioned the fact that he speaks ten languages, six fluently and four fairly well. He said he was glad to have the opportunity to perform his duty at an occasion like this. His Ex- cellency's very pleasing personality and friendliness made him a real friend of all. The reception was hearty and very sincere. From what the diplomat himself and his attachc said, it was learned that His Excellency Stanislaus Patek has been, and is, leading a very active diplomatic life. For many years after the establishment of the Republic of Poland, he was, until 1926, am- bassador to Japan. From 1926 to 1932, he was the ambassador to The l'nion of Socialist Soviet Republics. Since 1932, he has been not only the am- bassador to the United States, but also the minister to Cuba. His Excellency was one of the signers of the Versailles Treaty of 19203 and a few years ago, he signed with Maxem Litvinoff, one of his friends, the non-aggression pact between Poland and Soviet Russia. The late hlarshal Joseph Pilsudski was also a close friend of the ambassador. After talkng for a while, the ambassador shook hands with each one again in farewell and retired. His attache, in compliance with the ambassador's order, showed the embassy to the group. The attachc led the guests to the rooms and showed the ambassadorls collection of paint- ings as well as snapshots that depicted great events in His lCxcellency's life. nineteen