West High School - Westerner Yearbook (Denver, CO)

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v- -W - 1- - THE CURR there are six topics on each of the ten slips. No two slips bear duplicate topics. Contestants met at seven o'clock in West High School and each drew one slip. After an hour of deliberation and preparation, each one presented a seven-minute speech on his chosen topic. Ethel Belsha and Gordon Butler represented West at the contest. The Wfest orchestra furnished the music for the school. This contest in extempore speaking is the most difficult one engaged in by this school or by any of the other high schools because - our 'Www' -v - - Q Q ICULUM 31 no outside help or consultation can be ob- tained. Each speaker has to be sufficient unto himself. THE DEBATE CLUB THE chances are .02 of 171 that you are a member of the Debate Club. This particular club is, without a doubt, one of the smallest clubs in West High School. At the beginning of the year there was a fairly large attendance, but with the delay of tak- ing pictures for the Annual and the im- pending work necessary to participate in de- bating, the slackers and deadbeats dropped out. It is to be acknowledged that some were forced to resign because of an over-crowded program, but in too many cases the fear of actual work surpassed the desire for public- ity, and the club finally resolved itself to a total of less than six members. Working with Miss Julia Daly, the few remaining members have done their best to revive the spirit of intelligent disputation, and-West still has a Debate Club. The subjects debated this year were on State Medicine and The Supreme Court. The oflicers of the club are Gordon But- ler, president, Birda Tuckett, secretary. 4 ,

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30 1936 WESTWARD HO 1 CONTESTS ACH school year there are many con- tests in which students may partici- pate. Some of these are intramural and others are inter-school activities sponsored by public-minded citizens. The first one of the 1935-1936 year was the Robert W. Speer Essay Contest. Any student under eighteen years of age could enter and write on the character and life of Robert W. Speer, one of Denver's progressive mayors. Dorothy Brose has been the winner of two twenty-dollar prizes. Her first one was for an essay on the impression she received from a display of all kinds of electrical conven- iences for the home. Her second prize was for the best Speer paper, at this rate she,s apt to pay income tax her senior year. In future years Dorothy may become a Willa Cather of a Dorothy Canfield. Who knows! Lucille Chase, a Pen Rambler, won the second prize in the Sons of Revolution Con- test of 1936. Last year Lucille tried for recognition in the literary field, she failed by such a narrow margin that her teachers advised her to read the works of some recog- nized stylists in literature. She read all sum- mer long, and reward came to her. Hats off to Lucille! She has the true West spirit. SHAFROTH CONTEST The Shafroth Contest was established in 1923 by acceptance of the following gift from the Honorable John F. Shafroth: Washington, D. C., January 3, 1921. The plan for public speaking contests among stu- dents of the high schools of Denver is entirely sat- isfactory. I shall purchase a Government Bond tomorrow and have it registered in the name of the Board of Education. Each year now, a girl and a boy from each of the live Denver high schools are chosen to compete. Sixty current topics are selected as follows: twenty from the field of local interests, twenty from the field of national interests, and twenty from the field of in- ternational interests. Two topics from each Held are written on a slip of paper: thus

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WU 'vt' 32 1936 WESTWARD HO KEPNER EFFECTIVE SPEECH AWARD WITH the discontinuation of the Wm. Dwight Meade Medal this year, a do- nation was made for a similar award on the condition that the medal be known as the H. V. Kepner Effective Speech Award. The contestants were: Marcia Milliken, Ruby Brady, Bill Yockey, Albert Gorman, and Herbert McCarthy. Herbert was unani- mously selected as victor, and in addition to receiving a gold medal, he represent- ed West at the in- ter-school Kiwanis Contest. The sub- ject on which all ' competitors spoke was, How Can American Y o u t h Foster the Pioneer Spirit in the face of Increasing World-Wide Pater- nalism?', Rober t H a h n presided at the pre- liminary contest in i West. PEN RAMBLERS GGWFIOEVER told me I could writeln zish-sh-sh, and another crushed bit of scribbled paper found itself in the waste basket. Yet it's through just such dis- couragements that the Pen Ramblers came into existence. First as Junto, then the Creative Writing Club, and now under the present name the embryonic authors of West banded together under the guidance of Miss Emily Marrs, have written plays, poems, essays, and stories, and have entered successfully into competitive contests. The youthful writers composed a book of their various compositions, which they ex- hibited at the N.E.A. convention last July, this year they displayed another compiled from the best selections from the members of the past three years, it was called West Ink Trailsf, just before the Thanksgiving vacation the club put on a play written in Betty Fowler and Margaret Kline, two members, at the assembly period. It was aasatire on the pres- ent way of observing the once almost sacred Thanksgiving celebration. The officers of the club are: Betty Fowler, president, Edna Pickell and Lorraine Boddy, vice-presidents, Jean Steele, treasurer, and Virgil Rose, manager. MMM, W . AND THEY . . . rambledg yes, how they rambled! , M..u.nu....uhg.,.-.,A A 747 ..