San Diego High School - Gray Castle Yearbook (San Diego, CA)

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R. O. T. C. NCE. subject to the jeers of 2,000 students, the mocking of street urchins, and the sarcastic comments of soldiers, some four hundred men in this school now command the respect of all. These 400 are charter members of a new America, a militant America. Wearing the olive drab of service and the insignia of the United States: they represent a unit of a highly trained corps of future citizens now over 200,000 strong. They are designated as students of the Reserve Officers Training Corps. The instant mobilization of an untrained army was America's proudest achievement in the last war. But the fact that they were untrained cost this country thousands of lives, thousands of limbs, and a billion of dollars. How much smaller would those black- bordered casualty lists have been had America's citizens entered the war with previous military training behind them. 'The nucleus about which that great dream, a citizen army, will be built is the R. O. T. C. In it, far and above military drill, discipline is taught, a respect for our nation and its officers in the performance of their duties. Initiative and self-reliance are inculcated. Physical drills and athletic work are emphasized. It is the golden opportunity for the boys who would know more of army life. To the fellow who intends to serve the nation in any military line it is the primary school. A spirit of comraderie is to be found and a strong Uesprit du corps is noticeable. For the fellows who show leadership, know the art of instructing, and are ambitious, new fields are open. They become sergeants, correct drill, assist officers and assume many duties which bring a sense of responsibility and develop confidence. A step farther and the lad is an officer. As a lieutenant he will have fifty men taking his orders. The trust reposed in him will stiifen his back, increase his self-reliance and teach him to think for others. After his first sense of importance dulls he looks with envy upon the captain, the major. V Summer camps, hikes and range practice during the Easter vacation, give him an opportunity to combine recreation, adventure and soldiering into glorious, all too short holidays. The R. O. T. C. is an ideal place for a real American boy who would grow up to be a real American man-a lover of God and his country. Ten

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No Semi-Annual was the inevitable for no miracles are worked in this cold, calculating age, no rain of gold was likely to fall from a clouded sky. Many members of the class resigned themselves to the condition, but others, likened unto those glorious men who would not accept defeat but carried on and are now responsible for all we call civilization, were determined to get the book. Through the courtesy of the Strand theatre the Senior rented the playhouse for the SemifAnnual fund. It can be said that the students supported this act in the right spirit and a full house was the result. ' With this money as a start, plans for the book were laid, a staff was chosen with strict instructions to economize. All the trials of the Seniors are not set down here and none of the staff troubles are known by all, but anyone whoever edited a school paper or annual can tell you it is no sinecure when funds are low. Look the book over, compare it with others and then take into consideration the economy part of the deal and you will find, no doubt, that it ranks with the best. Look it over again and imagine fimagine that's alll that money was no object and we have the presumption to say that it is as snappy a mid-year book as you can find. So this book will stand dear to the hearts of those who fought for it through dark days because it is a triumph over a great opposition. No, we have built no great canal, laid no Atlantic cable, neither have we been forced from our homes to seek peace and liberty in a new land, but we have put out this book-done the impossible, and to the Seniors it ranks in their estimation equally high. For this did I fight and this same did I win. STUDENT SELF GOVERNMENT TARTED in motion by a half-hearted Student Body and guided by the capable hands that were elected from among that body to manage it, student self-govern- ment at the Gray Castle is rapidly gathering momentum. The way has been hard and the going rough. Ploughingfthrough the difficulties of organizing a judicial body, formulating its rules, and detailing its powers, it struck the obstacles of insubordination and mockery, but the courts forced execution of their sentences with such effect that they have commanded the respect of all. Q The R. O. T. C. was called upon to assist in enforcing the noon period regulations. Student self-government took over the assembly conduct and has maintained order. Study halls have come under their power and although opposition had been strong very good conduct has been kept at all times. Slowly but thoroughly the student self-government body has been assuming duties. The impressions made in the schools of today will determine the course of this country tomorrow. The democratic influence taught by student self-government will be the basis of a greater democracy. It will outline the social relations of man to man twenty years from now. The spirit of a new era is being inaugurated in the minds of the students. Let it be free, hamper it not, but get behind it, and assist it. Let us choose next semester's officers with minds open to any suggestions bettering the cause. We must select men capable of controlling, men of definite policy. To the school it may mean the beginning of a greater democracy or the end of the present one. Nine

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E Sveninr Ginza will E O Whom It May Concern fAlso Freshmen, Although It Is Far Beyond Their Poor Powers of Comprehensionl : Whereas, We, the members of the Senior A Class of January, l92l, Anno Prohibilo being in and enjoying thereof a poor state of health brought about by four for more, years of intense study and undue duress in one institution known as the Russ High School, located at Thirteenth street and Russ boulevard, in the city of San Diego, California, U. S. A., do, in all fidelity, announce to the peoples of the earth our graduation from said High School, to take our preordained places in the world in order thereby to freely give to all mankind the intense knowledge gained by us during aforesaid period of time in the above-mentioned institution of learning. Attend: To the four corners of the earth shall this document be read such as is hereto set down. WE, Being of unsound condition of mind and of failing memory, do make, publish and declare this our last will and testament in manner following, that is to say: First-To the class known during our period of supremacy, as Senior B, we bequeath the following: our position of importance in said Hilltop, the right to be known as the Senior A Class, and thereby enjoy all rights, privileges and responsibilies con- nected with aforesaid title. Second-To the highly self-important aggregation known to us as the Juniors, we leave without incumbrance, leins or outstanding claims, the sweet delusion held by them that the idea of nailing their colors to the Hagpole originated with them. Overcoming our extreme repugnance for them we hereby give them the right to occupy with perfect right and without fear of molestation, the lirst six rows of the hole in the ground lying east of the school owned by one John D. Stadium. Third-To our friends the Sophomores, we leave the use of the road just back of the stadium, where we have spent many happy hours when our tired brains needed a rest from the discipline of the powers that be. Fourth-We hereby appoint H. O. Wise the legal guardian of the incoming Frosh and vest him with such powers as he shall deem necessary in administering the following, when afore-mentioned infants become of age: The right to sit with other unfortunates in the stadium and listen to numerous and divers speakers talk for an hour on such subjects as Wilihe Culture of the Dandelion as Defined by Sir Oliver Dodge, or How I Went Through College on Five Plunks and My Nerve. Lastly--To the school as a whole we leave the honored task of settling all bills, accounts, claims or debts left by us as we did for those who have gone-before us. To the faculty and other administrators we leave our good will, and strictly charge you to turn out, if possible, in future years graduating classes of such high mental standard as our own. In Witness Whereof, We have hereunto subscribed our title this fourth day of January, in the year of our departure, l92l. Eleven