Victor Valley High School - Joshua Tree Yearbook (Victorville, CA)

Page 13 text:

TWENTY YEARS AFTER just twenty years ago last fall-in l9l5-the Victor Valley Union High School was organized, with a faculty of three, Will W. Green, principal, H. B. Humeston, instructor of his- tory and agriculture, and Lucy jane Rowe, teacher of English and Home Economics. The following names of the first pupils were taken from one of the teacher's class rolls: Miriam Bailey, Edna Byron, Ruby Cook, Francis B. Clark, Madge Davis, Edna May Dunford, George Goulding, Harry Muller, Elizabeth Penn, Frieda Phil- lips, Hattie Raephael, Doris Talmadge, joe Turner, Corinne Van Slyck, Mareta Westphal, Ruby Wilson, Wallace Williams, and Marjorie Young. ln l9l7 the high school graduated its first pupil, Ruth Sanborn, now Mrs. A. C. Lester of this city. School was first held in the Richardson house. ln l9l6 the present main building was started, and was completed in l9l 7. During the past several years the school plant has grown and the grounds have been landscaped. The work was made possible by the CWA and the SERA. To Walker jones goes the credit for the beauty of the school grounds. ln the years he has been on the board the grounds have. been his hobby, and each year has seen part of his plans go into effect. The school has been fortunate to have had Charles Feuhrer as the first gardener, and after his death Lee Hunt, the present superintendent of grounds, to carry out our work. ,A large part of the success of the school has been due to the fact that the board has been able to secure and keep an excellent faculty. In the last few years, when conditions have been crowded and classes have increased beyond the most desirable size, the reason that school standards could be main- tained and raised has been the fact that our faculty has remained unchanged for several years. The curriculum has been greatly enlarged. Courses now offered include four years of English, three of Spanish, World History, United States History, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, General Science, Chemistry, Physics, Art, Piano, Glee Club, Latin, Typewriting, Shorthand, Bookkeeping, Business Methods, Wood Shop, Auto Shop, Mechanical Drawing, Biology, and Physical Educa- tion for both boys and girls. '

Page 12 text:

CDUR TRUSTEES We students of Victor High School think we're very lucky to have the trustees we do. They have worked steadily for the advancement of our school. Mr. Walker jones serves as president of the Board. With him are Mr. T. A. Lee and Mrs. lmogene Hook of Adelanto, Mr. Bert Avery of Big Bear, Mr. james Holloway of Hesperia, and Mr. Ray Moore, clerk of the Board, of Adelanto. Mr. Moore handles all of the finances and bookkeeping of the school and now has an office in the shop building. Thanks to the foresightedness of these men and women our campus has been greatly improved. lt gives us a thrill and a feeling of pride to watch our school each year become more beautiful and better equipped. Mr. Walker jones has been in the newspaper game for years. He owned and operated several papers in Northern California and Oregon, and served in editorial positions on the Pasadena Star and a San Francisco daily. For years he operated the local weekly, and he now is special staff correspondent for the San Bernardino Sun. Mr. T. A. Lee was a law student before the World War called him overseas to see active service. Since coming to the desert he has served as manager of the Adelanto Mutual Water Company, a position of responsibility. Mrs. lmogene Hook has been very active in political circles and is now serving her presidency in two organizations, the San Bernardino County Tuberculosis Association and the Ladies' Auxiliary of the American Legion. Mr. Bert Avery of Big Bear owns and operates a fox farm, and he well deserves to be tremendously proud of the im- pressive collection of cups his champion silver foxes have won. Mr. james Holloway served as an engineer in the army during the time of the War, as an assistant in the Engineering Department of the New York Central Railway, and .then came west because of his wife's declining health. He is now Deputy County Assessor of San Bernardino County. Mr. Ray Moore, a Baylor University man, served for many years as a Civil Service Clerk in Washington, D.C. He subse- quently operated the Adelanto Mutual Cirain and Feed Organ- ization.

Page 14 text:

TWENTY YEARS AFTER ln addition to the school in Victorville, there are now two other high schools in the district-Big Bear High School, located at Pine Knot, and Twenty-Nine Palms High School at Twenty-Nine Palms. ln l933-34 Big Bear High School was accredited. This year the school is housed in its own plant. The district voted a special tax for the purpose of securing a site, and the Eureka Camp was purchased. Through the assist- ance of the WPA it has been possible to provide a building for each of the three teachers, a social hall, a recreation hall for the girls, garages, and a physical education room. When the WPA project is finished the school will have an athletic field and tennis courts. Last summer the board accepted the Twenty-Nine Palms district in order to provide the children with the opportunity of securing a high school education. High school classes had been maintained in the grammar school previous to this year. Since the state law does not permit more than two years of high school work to be given in a grammar school district, it was necessary for them to unite with a high school district. From a small beginning of nineteen pupils and three teach- ers in l9l 5, our high school district has grown to one of three high schools and fourteen teachers and 287 pupils-Victor Valley Union High School at Victorville with nine teachers and 225 pupils, Big Bear High School at Pine Knot with three teachers and forty pupilsg and Twenty-Nine Palms with two teachers and twenty-two pupils. The district maintains seven school buses--six at Victor- ville and one at Big Bear. Some students ride as far as seventy miles a day. We hope that the next twenty years will see as much change and development in our school as the last twenty years. We feel sure that changes will come and that our school will continue to progress with the needs of its pupils in order that it may educate for living. -Condensed from an article by Principal M. l. Harkness in the December 20 number of the Victor Valley News-Herald