Plainfield High School - Plainsman Yearbook (Plainfield, IL)

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upper left Feelin’the music, Brett Canaday gets into the spirit of a friendly hoedown. upper right With a balloon tied to the end of his trombone, Mark Lowery plays his part as Becky Meredith con- centrates on her bubble gum. center Discussing the Wig and Mask Club’s future plans, president Emil Misichko, vice-president, Kevin Smo- lich, and advisor. Mrs. Sprague talk over a suggestion made by a club mem- ber. lower left Raising money for F.S.A.. Tony Kayfish enthusiastically sells her balloons. lower center While working upon the senior float, John Albrecht, Doug Hal- lerberg, Les Gehrke. and Jay Clifton arise to the occasion of an imposing spy. lower right Dressed for his part Kevin Smolich performs in a speech club skit. 14

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media grows, changes world around us with data. If you accept MeLuhan and his ideas, then a photograph is a hot medium. It gives full information so that there is little receiver participa- tion. A cool medium is one which conveys little information and has a low sense of definition. The cool medium forces the receiver to become involved because it lacks information. Media is continuing to expand at an unbelievable pace. P.H.S. now has a media center instead of a library. It also has media oriented activi- ties such as journalism, public speaking, speech club. STAR team, band, media club, news- paper, and yearbook. Learning is based on commu- nication which in turn depends on a medium to convey a mes- sage. If the medium isn't effec- tive in communicating the material to the students it must be changed, as many teaching approaches have been. As media grows the world becomes smaller, as MeLuhan describes it, “it is becoming a global village. We can watch events as they occur halfway around the world. Our age group still has to use and live with the growing and changing monster we know as media. 13

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Involvement causes spirit Does involvement in school activities improve the learning experience of a high school student? Are many students really involved? There is a definite differ- ence of opinion in the answers to these questions. The students who are involved feel that clubs, music, sports, and commu- nity service groups are bene- ficial to their total education. Those who aren’t involved think that these activities add nothing. On the other hand, many feel they only take time away from work- ing or other activities. Faculty members felt that in order for school spirit to increase, it was necessary for school to become more than seven hours of classes to be walked through each day. They perceive that participa- tion in extracurricular activi- ties brings enjoyment for stu- dents which in turn causes an increase in school spirit. At first glance there appears to be a lot of student involvement in after school activities. However, after a second look it is found that there is less participation than it originally appeared. Many groups are active at P.H.S., but many of the same people are involved in multi- ple organizations. A small percentage of the student body is involved in a large percentage of the activities offered. In other words, the old axiom, If you want some- thing done ask a busy per- son holds true at P.H.S. There is strong disagreement on whether involvement in school activities improves the high school learning experience. However, it does broaden the experience, as well as forming a well rounded individual. 15