Western High School - Beacon Yearbook (Detroit, MI)

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- -jsec ZI -«- Executives The cordial relations existing between the student body and the faculty of the estern High School have had an out- standing influence on ( ' estern ' s success. A spirit of amiability, affability, and good cheer has alivays marked the points of contact betiveen the two. I trust that this spirit u Hi continue, thereby making our success more pronounced year by year. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. We want no dull boys at Western. To learn to get real enjoy- ment out of wholesome play, to be a good mixer and a good sport, is one of the most valuable lessons of our school life. Department Heads Commercial Ivan Mitchell History . ' Marcia Waples Language A. L. Hegener Mathematics Mabel Woodward Physical Education Clifford Gracey Science Arthur Wilkinson Vocational Edward Holmes ' f iz 11® - Page hour

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• t-K©C =ll 4-«— To the parents of ( ' estern High School pupils, ivhose love for us has made them sacrifice that ive might attend school and whose encouragement and understanding have accompanied us in all of our under- takings, ive dedicate this Beacon of nine- teen hundred and thirtx-one. -♦ ©i: Paic I ' hrcL II 4-«—

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sic =1® K In Retrospect [J EFLECTIONS seem to be the order of the day, and to satisfy this desire to look back into the past, ice have gathered together a number of old Beacons to discover what has happened in other days. The oldest book which we could find was published in 1906. Then it uas printed four times a year, and contained short stories and a department of neivs and alumni notes. The graduates received little recognition, and the book had only forty pages. The idea of a Beacon staff play was thought by the staff of 1930 to be original: but they were mistaken, for in 1908 the Beacon staff gave a vaudeville show which was pronounced a great success. The class of January, 190S had thirty-tivo members. In sports the school was successful, winning many of the football games, the biggest of ivhich was the game played at Hudson, .Michigan, on Thanksgiving Day. Western icon with a score of 10-0. Those were the days when the high schools played schools outside of Detroit. In 1910 the Beacon was devoted largely to short stories and athletics. The chief games of the season were the football game ivhich ( ' estern played icith Port Huron and won with a score of 11-5. and the basketball game in which she defeated Ann .Arbor High 36-13. The classes of graduates were still very small: in 1910 there were thirty-eight seniors. Euterpe, the musical club of ' estern, presented the school with a beautiful tapestry in 1914. This ivas one oj the most important clubs of the school along with the Senate and the Assembly. The orchestra was growing and then had Jourteen members. In athletics the school zvas still successful, winning Jootball games from ( ' indsor. Royal Oak, Monroe, and Central. In 1916 debating seemed to be one of the most popular activities of the school. In that year the Senate. W estern ' s debating society, defeated Sorthwestern, Cass and Central on the subject of Preparedness. The Reading club entertained the students with a Greek play. The Beacon published in feature form the birthdays of famous seniors. There were eighty graduates in the class of June. 1916. Nineteen seventeen found many Western alumni in France, and nearly all of the Jour Beacons contained extracts from letters which they had written in the trenches. The girls ' and boys ' clubs at home were busy doing war work, such as selling liberty bonds and knitting tor the soldiers. Still publishing letters f rom the boys overseas and full of patriotic poems and articles on the work of folks at home, the Beacon told little that was not war news. The service flag boasted one hundred and sixty stars, two of which were gpld. In 1920 when the world was once more at peace and more or less normal again, the yearbook slipped back into the usual news of school happenings. Rankin won the debate from Roosevelt on compulsory military training. The R. 0. T. C. won the Battalion Cup. The membership of the school had noiv climbed to over one thousand. Perhaps sometime a future Beacon editor will look at the book of 1931 and smile over the pictures and written accounts, and it is hoped, if he does, he will find that estern has grown as much between 1931 and his time, as it grew between 190S and our time. The staff wishes to thank Mr. Arduin and Donald Payne for the lettering which they did on the snapshot pages, and Harold Mohr for his assistance with the photography. Page Five