Parkview High School - Spirit Yearbook (Little Rock, AR)

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l 1 Uneaped Crusader Whole WW lem ma ome Patriots were lucky enough to get Donald Bratton for American History, Economics or any other of a number of subjects. Bratton was sort of an uncaped crusader, stamping out ignorance with both feet. Because he supplemented the curriculum with an endless assortment of anecdotes and gruesome faces, a few hearty soles decided to sign up for his course in Latin. Most students take Latin because their parents require them to, said Bratton. It's unfortunate because most parents don't make them study. It really didn't matter what reasons brought students to Latin classg once they got there they were grateful for Bratton. It wasn't every teacher who would take the time to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead language. Latin helps with English today 198 Academics! Organizations because 60 percent of the English language comes from Lating the romance languages are also based on Latin, said Bratton. It improves ACT and SAT scores in vocabulary and grammar. Latin studies also benefit pre-law or pre-med students. lt is one of the few offered classes that really focuses on basic grammar skills. Spending a day in Latin class could be a unique experience. On one particular day the class was having a test on the numbers from 1-20, with a written and an oral part. One of the students began to let his fourth period Spanish accent creep into his Latin recitation. Bratton glibly reminded him, Don'ta speaka 'Spic'. This is Latin class. After the oral part of the test was completed, he then administered the written examination, eliciting good natured groans and comments from class members. Bratton trusted his students enough ' allow them to check their own papers. When someone got a particularly obvio question right, he game him a hearty round of applause. What other teacher would give a standing ovation for an outstanding test paper? And who else t Bratton would refer to Caesar August a Auggie and his uncle, Julius Caesar as Uncle Julie. It was apparent that with any other teacher, Latin would have died at Parkview. Bratton, the uncapped crusader, added just enough energy an witticism that made even a dead language bearable. A l came, I saw, Iconquered. Not only did Donald Bratton breathe life into a dead language, but he provided Parkview students with ways to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring vacations bg accompanying them to New York, the Caribbean and other fun spots.

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CBreaking the barriers y meeting students from different countries or spending a year or a summer in a foreign land, Patriots were exposed to different cultures through American Field Service. AFS meetings differed from the usual club business meetings since a foreign student would usually visit and exchange ideas with members or anyone who wanted to come. It wasn't unusual to walk in and see someone wearing a Guianan folk costume or find a plate of tasty tortillas. AFS had been a successful program at Parkview as the school had hosted an exchange student each year. Jacob Bech-Hansen, a native of Denmark, spent the 1979-80 school year at PV, and Lauren Riggin, 1979 graduate spent the year in France. Lauren detailed her experiences in a column for the Constitution and wrote of toilets that looked like showers, square bed pillows and a change of linens once every two weeks. Besides the students brought by AFS, several other foreign students attended PV. One of these was Long Xiong, a native of Laos. ' 'It was hard at first to learn English, he said, but people are very nice to me.'5 The AFS social calendar included a picnic in the fall, a spaghetti dinner in the spring and a statewide convention in Little Rock for AFS students. These students were housed with people from Little Rock high schools for the weekend. I really enjoyed housing Q, said 'Dan Meriwether, senior. It gave me a better understanding of world culture, and exchanges like this will help us toward our goal of world peace! ' Students took tours of the Territorial Restoration, met the govemor and had a disco. Through the efforts of AFS, students became more aware of other cultures. Jolly jock. As a kicker for the Patriot football team and a member of the tennis team, Jacob Bech-Hansen fits right into sports life at Parkview. 200 Academics!Organizations cyNiWEu1coHeifN1c3of