Lanier High School - Viking Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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Joyce Steward Laura Stratemann Ken Strayhorn Anne Strohm Penny Stuemke Randy Sullivan Shannon Sullivan Henry Talamantez Terri Tallas Gina Templeton Stacey Thompson Dave Thornton Anthony Tipton Steven Tower Peggy Tribue Elroy Turner Ricky Turner Chip Underwood Cyndy Urbanek Laurie Utterback Marc Valadez Garry Vasquez Janet Vittek Laura Votaw 90 language artsfjuniors fs lil ' Cl 0- ' i S . -u- Q, -W.-v! by N6 iw- A Q 1 1 ,X 1 , f. A tx ir, 1 I . s, I O. 'M' ff'?'Zj . 1 .,5g?,,, . , I t ' ' rr? e 5 '5' r fs. If'f.f'd3!55 , 'flu fall 'Iv 71229, rs:-.wry mr i Y ff'- i 613' A 1' ' ., Q 'i N ff! g .ta I u ' . l so if xl 'll ' -tr , 'L L -'W - AIX' ' 1, A t ' i ,L 1 HK , T Y l , .L, . . . s . V I Q' 554' t Q. ,511 :f A k'A. E . X Q 'first- A ' I Us J, u Q4 Xa l 1 Terri Craddock splices film in Media films to introduce ourselves to the field of communication. shot pictures, slides, and lilnnave- if .,..F'L t 'Rx 2 Mrs. Coulbourn s class discusses the works of Shakespeare in English erature. We related to themes and morals taught by famous writers like Hem- ingway, Sinclair, Doyle. and Twain. - - f-X P L au 3 Ms. Metcalf, James Miller, and Alex Ftosales follow Poe's revenge plot in The Cask of the Amontilladof' We received word-attack help from the ESSA reading teacher if we were unable to comprehend reading assign- ments. 4 Mrs. Boren's English class checks over their Diagnostic Test. The test reviewed us in grammar and usage for the STEP test the following day.

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To Think for Qurselves ife at high school was geared for learning. Underneath the slamming lockers, the bustle of people scurrying to class, the rustle of papers being dropped and picked up and thrown, the pandemonium at the sound of the bell, the splash of water from the fountain, the laughter and screams and curses, ideas were flowing and learning was taking place. The kicker with his hat bent over a test, his restless tobacco chewing momentarily stilled, a gold-uniformed Vikette listening intently as the football player in his tie explained the complexities of an algebra problem. Shouts from the courtyard heard over the drone ot a teacher's lecture, reminded those incarcerated in their classroom of the outside world. The echoing explosion of a forbidden firecracker destroyed a carefully nurtured train of thought, frustrating teachers and students alike. Despite the chaos, the tests were completed and credits painstakingly acquired. We were taught the basic concepts and skills we would need in our lives. Teachers pounded in this framework, then gilded it with more involved, more technical details. The a2+b2:c2, became the Pythagorean Identity in Trig, cos20+ sin2O: 1. Simple subjects and verbs from freshman English grew in branching sentence diagrams in Advanced Usage. But more than memorizing E:mc2 or the letters on a type- writer keyboard or the date ot the founding ot the American nation, we learned to think. We could apply the knowledge we gained in the classroom to work and play outside of school. We might not figure our distance from a telephone pole by using its shadow, but we could make change and figure out a problem through logical reasoning. Thinking became a normal thing for us to do rather than a foreign process, We learned to use our knowledge effectively. Teachers encouraged creativity, and some were courageous enough to accept questions from the eager students. These teach- ers usually granted students a democracy in which to live, rather than a dictatorship in which to exist. Even tyrannical Taylor's classes emitted the noise of living students - laughter, shrieks, moans - when compared to the silent classes where no questions, stupid or otherwise, were ever answered. When the teachers accepted our questioning minds as challenges rather than threats, we were able to grow. We developed a sense of self, a feeling that we were worth something and had something to offer. Even fun courses had assignments to be completed. To get a task in on time necessitated organization of thoughts as well as budget- ing of time. We had to discipline ourselves. An assignment on Tues- day that was due on the Friday after a Thursday night football game, meant Thursday night should be busy with homework. So we set priorities, and for some reason, the game usually won. We became experts in conning teachers, if you looked innocent enough and behaved well enough, Dunkin' Donuts was never far out of reach, despite Mr. Wiley's stern edict. We best related to those in authority by avoiding them. When we had to face them, we usually knuckled under to their face, resisting strongly all the while behind their backs. We learned to accept their criticisms and those of our teachers, which made us more receptive to complaints and groans from par- ents and peers. We did not want to fail ourselves, and we did not want our friends to fail. If we understood an assignment and our next-desk neighbor did not, it was normal to bail him out. Later, you might need the same favor. The most treasured remembrance of our high school years is our friends and the people we met. We think back on the fun times, but the learning stays with us. We learned a special talent or skill from every aspect of high school, sometimes without even real- izing it. Learning succeeded within us more than we will ever know.

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3 ITo Speak for Qurselves lassics, verbs, fiction, participles, novels, parallellism. Eng- lish was the basis for all communication. We had to compre- hend and respond to our fast changing, growing environ- ment. We needed English to progress in our learning in sci- ence, in social studies, in lite. We constructed speech trees in courses like Grammar I and ll. We conjugated verbs and familiarized ourselves with participial, infi- nitive, and gerund phrases in Basic and Advanced Usage. We grew frustrated when we had to add in a that when we'd previously been told the four letter word wasn't necessary. We moaned and groaned when we were unable to recognize faulty parallellism. We prepared ourselves for college entrance exams like SAT and ACT. Completing four years of English made the freshman year of college a little easier. Profs' at UT weeded out the weaker students the first semester. We waded through literature from Reading Techniques to Advanced Short Story to World Literature. We read the ideas of Poe, Twain, and Shakespeare and reviewed the great works of famous writers in Survey of American Literature and Critical Analy- sis. We envisioned fantastic gods and goddesses in World Mythol- ogy, Students like l-leather Smith and Johnny Gonzales illustrated basic definitions in a Mythology Vocabulary Notebook. Frank Dahl- berg brought a model lyre to school tor extra Credit. Bill Thompson, Lisa DeVane, and Ken Phillips acted out a skit of their mythical version ofthe world's creation. Interested students like Barbara Ernst and Valarie Franklin enjoyed discussing plots, themes, and viewpoints of world- renowned authors. Mark Keeter and Frank Schiller dramatized the close relationship between Huckleberry Finn and Jim in Survey of American Literature B. Leslie Marshall read works of Shakespeare to satisfy personal curiosity and to know more about Elizabethan writing, The English department worked to achieve one major goal - getting back to basics. Colleges and universities questioned what students learned in high school English. We enrolled in Reading Techniques to improve our reading abilities. We memorized defini- tions of common vocabulary words to interpret and comprehend everyday conversation and future reading. We learned basic parts of speech to speak correctly in everyday life. We carried over ideas through media. Roberto Corrada, Chris Fairman, James Starr, and Tracy Hester competed in debate tour- naments as first-rate orators. We expressed inner emotions by act- ing out plays and skits in Beginning and Advanced Drama. We cap- tured other peoples expressions and moods on film in Photo Jour- nalism and Media. Whether it was grammar, literature, composition, or language arts electives, English was the root of all learning. language arts 91