Holyoke High School - Annual Yearbook (Holyoke, MA)

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ing. Pupils could thus take any of five lines of training above mentioned. It was highly im- portant that pupils should early determine which line of training to attempt. The pupil who wanted to go to college was to keep the way open and had to have his type of college in mind before the end of the first year in high school. The purpose to prepare for normal school was known on entrance to the high school. A pupil of fair ability and industry could pre- pare thoroughly for college or normal school with four years of properly directed work in the high school, and no pupil of lesser at- tainments could be admitted to either college or normal school. In order to graduate from the school every student had to complete the following pre- scribed work: two years of English, two years of mathematics, two of history, and one of physics. He had to carry straight through the four years work in one of the following lines: English, mathematics, history, natural science, classics, or modern languages. This left one half of the course to be devoted to the subjects of his choice, for which he had aptitude or demand. The elective opportunity furnished by the course of study and flexible program gave each pupil so much work of his own choice that it had inspired the spirit as well as the habit of work. In 1911, Mr. E. N. White proposed to re- place the plain glass windows in the audi- torium by memorial windows of stained glass. 28 As a result, Dr. Howard Conant, a renowned principal of Holyoke High School, appointed the Herald staff to make a list of the graduates who wished to dedicate a window in their memory. Originally, the proposal was for forty windows, sixteen of medallion design with twenty-four windows bordering them. Five were ordered in 1911 at the cost of twenty- five dollars per window and five dollars for installation. By 1915, fourteen more windows had been replaced. Because of World War l, no more windows were ordered until 1921. Since glass-makers could not duplicate the colors of pre-war windows, the windows pro- duced after the war were colored differently. The classes from 1921 to 1937 inclusive are also represented, the value of the windows in 1935 was established to be two thousand dollars. In 1912, William R. Peck stressed his com- mencement speech the need for a new gym- nasium. The gymnasium being used then was located on the basement floor of the High School built in 1898. However, the poles in the center of the gymnasium supporting the school were a hindrance to the basketball players. During the following year the Holyoke School Board organized a Holyoke Vocational School. After some controversy over the con- struction of both a vocational school and a new gymnasium, it was agreed that both should be located under the same roof. As a result of his intense interest William Peck was sum- moned from Holy Cross College, the college

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he was then attending, to dig the first spade- ful of dirt for the new annex. The Holyoke Vocational School, as organ- ized by the school board of Holyoke, opened on September S, 1913. It was the consummation of the preliminary efforts of the school author- ities for industrial education in this city. To secure state aid, the school was formally turned over by the Holyoke School Board to an independent board known as the Board of Trustees, which was created by a city ordinance to comply with the state laws governing the es- tablishment of industrial schools. The Vocational School served two general classes of students: first, those wishing a course in preparation for the industries for which in- struction was provided, second, those regularly employed in trade work by day who desired by attendance of evening classes to become more proficient in their chosen occupation. Additionally, there were Practical Arts classes for women, conducted as part of the evening work. The aim of these classes was to increase efficiency in home-making and home-manage- ment. In July, 1914, the Day Vocational School and a portion of the Evening School were housed in quarters in the High School gym- nasium building on the south side of Sargeant Street between Pine and Beech Streets. The floor area was about 14,750 square feet exs clusive of corridor space and was sufficient to accommodate properly about one hundred and twenty pupils. The enrollment was ninety-nine for the day school and six hundred and twelve 30 for the evening school. The day school offered a complete four years, course providing an option whereby at the beginning of the third year, instruction, if continued, would be on a part time basis. Each department was regarded as a school in itself as far as instruction was concerned. The work of each school department consisted of: shop practice on the machinery and man- ipulation of the materials of that trade, thorough training in the related technical work in mathematics, drawing, English, shop ac- counts, academic and non-related cultural studies such as civics, history, literature, eco- nomics, personal hygiene, physical training, and athletics. The faculty were selected in every case with a view to their experience at their several trades, their character, and their proven ability as teachers. Satisfactory teaching experience had been demanded, as from the experienced trade teachers. Evening trade extension courses were es- pecially important to the industrial life of the city because they contributed more immediately and directly to industry than any other courses offered. The following classes were established on the short-unit basis: carpentry, pattern mak- ing, estimating for bricklayers, machine shop practice, printing, paperrnaking, electricity, steam engineering, drawing for carpenters, blue print reading for machinists, decorative plastering, weave formation, loomfixing, and fine cabinet making. The school was divided into three divisions.