English High School - Blue and Blue / Record Yearbook (Boston, MA)

Page 33 text:

ornore After a recuperative summer it was time to return once aga : n to the books. We looked forward to this year particularly, because we were entering the Big Time” the ma : n building on Avenue Louis Pasteur. Here we would be rubbing elbows with Juniors and Seniors, that is if any of them would bother to talk to Sophomore. Luckily we made it through October with an assist from the Red Sox who won the pennant, but lost the world series in the seventh game. On turkey day English clashed with Latin in the rain and mud, but we lost the hard fought game, 14-0, thus ending a dismal season in football. The basketball team was having a fine year: They won the city league title but lost a heartbreaker to Hyde Park for the city championship. Little did we know that this would be the last game they would lose. English was once again in the Tech Tourney, and defeated every team, including the final one, New Bedford. We also won the State Tourney thus be¬ coming the first Boston team to win both the Tech and State Tourneys. Our assistant headmaster, Mr. Power, left us to become the new Headmaster of Charlestown High. Mr. Edwin Butters, a former guidance counselor at English, became our Assistant Headmaster. On June 5, with a most successful sophomore year coming to a close, tragedy struck. A second Kennedy was murdered by an assassin’s bullet. Robert F. Kennedy died in the service of his country. He was not the first of great americans to die that year, for the Rev. Martin Luther King was also felled by and Assassin, thus robbing America and the civil rights movement of a great leader. Other events which affected school and made us aware of the world about us were: The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the U.S. orbit of the Moon, The capture of the Pueblo”, the election of Nixon as President, and the beginning of worldwide students revolts. As the school year closed, and with these thoughts fresh in our minds, we prepared for a summer before returning for our third year at English.

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OJIu history nf % (Hlass of 19T0 a Ititle fuell kept, fljart a great beat forgotten.” (Sfrestjntan On September 9, 1966, we, the Class of 1970 entered America’s oldest high school for the first time. We began our first year at the freshmen annex on School Street. Our Master-in-charge, Mr. Robert Carroll, proved a firm, but fair leader. We would be the 149th Class out of English High, and very early we realized our role in perpetuating the tradition of this fine institution. Still confused and not yet familiar with the role of high school we were confronted with IBM schedules and course numbers, but before long, we had settled in for our new and unique experience here. In November, our new machine-made” report cards proved we could not doctor up the reports, even had we wanted to, so we resigned ourselves to getting down to the books and studying. Some of the events affecting the year were: The election of Edward Brooke as Senator from Massa¬ chusetts, the first black man to be so honored in over 85 years, the withdrawal of France from N.A.T.O., the flight of Gemini 10, the illness of President Johnson, the death of the Prime Minister of India, and the bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong for the first time, in the continual war in South Vietnam. The ' 66-67 sports’ season proved to be the most successful in recent years. The football team was undefeated and unscored upon but once, when Thanks¬ giving came. We were the victors, 20-18. Our football team won the city title and were ranked fourth in the state. The basketball team was none the lesser: with a 12 2 record we went into the tourney. We trounced Bishop Stang, and overtook top ceded Weymouth, and then in a give-none take-none game with Somerville, lost. All was not in vain, however, for we took the city title and were the first Boston school to reach the Class A semi-finals. Our swim team also took the city title, and along with that, the Eastern Mass Title, and were ranked fourth in the state. As we reached June, our baseball team was right there on top. We could look back on a most productive year.

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Jlmttor It was September of 1968 and already we were mid way in our tenure. We were beginning our third year at the school steeped with more tradition and heritage than any other public institution in America. The school year started off with one heck of an incident. Never before in the Boston Public Schools had racial demonstrations disrupted the process of learning. However, things were a bit different this year. For some reason the black demonstrators, most of whom did not even go to English High chose to open their Pandora’s Box on the English High School. Demands such as being able to wear Afro-style clothing and start a segregated black student union were thrown into the lap of the headmaster. Outside authorities tried to take over and caused white students to retaliate for equal rights with blacks. The attempt to mar the name of EHS was futile What in turn did occur, was the strongest unification of school loyalty ever seen in an integrated institution in this country. The administration recognized its students’ potential and gave the student council more say in school affairs. Dress and discipline committees were established and EHS became the first school in the City of Boston to revise its age old dress code. EHS also established a city-wide student council, another first of its kind in the city. A group of six concerned students started the school’s first newspaper, one which played a major role in the settlement of all radical groups’ demonstrations. In November the annual United Nations trip to New York took place, and in January, a new social event, and perhaps the best of the year, a Mid-Winter Dance at the Somerset Hotel. Next we were introduced to testing and guidance interviews, with P.S.A.T.’s and S.A.T.’s it proved some very hectic moments. The events of this academic year seemed to be over¬ shadowed by a civil war waging in Biafra, the landing of men on the moon, the defeat of Charles DeGaulle as President of France, the peace moratoriums, and con¬ tinuing student unrest around the nation and the world. Dr. Joseph L. Malone, Head Master since 1956 announced his retirement in June of this year climaxing an already event-filled period of time.