Westwood High School - Chipmunk Yearbook (Westwood, CA)

Page 12 text:

rag c THE CHIPMUNK for 1922 THE HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL The publication of a High School annual is an inspiration to literary effort. The desire of the students to put out an annual that is worthy of the school brings forth articles and stories which would not otherwise be written. Hie annual is representative of the entire student body, as all activities are recorded and each one who has won a place in athletics, dramatics or other activity has a permanent record of the event. Many gay functions take place during the year and these, recorded in the annual, form happy memories in after years. The annual increases the spirit of co-operation in the school as it is necessary for all to work together to obtain the money for its publication and later the annual staff, the typing class, the faculty and all the students work together to prepare and edit an annual that is really representative of the school. R. W. ’23 STUDENT SELF-COVERNMENT In many schools the plan of self-government has been tried and found insufficient and faulty. Possibly the reason for this apparent failure of such a system is due to lack of co-operation from the student body as a whole. For student government to be successful, each individual member of the student body should realize that those fellow students whom he has elected to the offices are his representatives; that they, as student body officers, realize the confidence that has been placed in them by their classmates, and that they are unselfishly and whole-heartedly working for the best interests of the school and of the association of individuals in the school. It cannot be denied that a great responsibility is placed upon the student officers of a school. Each and every student keeps in mind a responsibility and is ready to aid whenever called upon. He abides by the decision of the elected officials as quickly as he would an order from the faculty. He not only abides by the decisions of his chosen government but it is his duty as a good citizen of the high school to aid the self-government committee to enforce the constitution and laws of the school. The citizen of the community who aids the authorities in detect- ing an undesirable citizen is not ridiculed by his neighbors. Neither is a good citizen of high school ridiculed by his fellow student, when he aids his officials in bringing to task an unrulely classmate. The high school student has out- grown the old notion that the chief purpose of school is to play pranks on the teacher and see how many times he can get “by with it. For many years the high school student has governed not only himself but also his fellow students. The purpose of the school is to develop the mind and body so that the boy or girl may make a better citizen. Is not the school then the place where government of self should be taught? The old saying, A man must learn to govern himself before he can govern others is undeniably true. Student government should never fail. If it does fail, where does the fault lie? Certainly not altogether with the officials of the government, but rather with the student citizen. Student government cannot succeed unless the student citizen is willing to make it a success. ITie duty of a student to his student government is co-operation— co-operation to such an extent that he should appoint himself as a committee of one to see that he, himself, upholds the decisions of his officers, and if he does that efficiently, there won’t be any need of watching the other fellow. Co-operation is the watch word of Student Self-government. K. W. '23.

Page 11 text:

THE CHIPMUNK for 1922 P a g e 9 Editor's Note THE publication of any High School Annual would be impossible without the co-operation and backing of the whole student body. All this has been freely given and the staff takes this opportunity to express its thanks and appreciation.

Page 13 text:

THE CHIPMUNK for 1922 Page II STUDENT BODY PRESIDENTS' CONVENTION Westwood High has always been proud of her many interests and her participation in school activities at home and abroad. One of her recent activities was sending her Student Body President to the Convention of Presidents at Santa Barbara. The Westwood delegate travelled farther than any one else to reach the convention, a total distance of I 700 miles. The greater part of the time was taken up with matter to which our school could contribute nothing, but from which we gained a great deal that has been modified and adapted to our needs, with great success. Later, when the convention divided into groups determined by the size of the school. Westwood’s plan of Student Self-government was compared with that of the other schools of less than 100. There was no school that approached Westwood in the completeness of student control. Santa Barbara High School won the admiration of all the delegates for the splendid way in which the convention was handled. It was decided to hold the convention at Willows next year and we feel sure that the convention will be just as successful as this year’s was and we hope that many more of the High Schools of the Northern Counties will be represented. F. L. W.. '22. ATHLETICS IN THE SCHOOL Do we believe in athletics? Well, just ask us and then listen to our answer. Athletics is the chief attraction in good old Westwood Hi. aside from Latin. Math.. Chem.. etc., of course. This is the answer to that old question. “Why are we good sports?”—just because athletics in big. golden letters has been such a great, big factor in our lives. We all dislike—or perhaps feel sorry for the fellow who crabs” when he loses out; but we despise the one who is victorious and crows” about it. All forms of athletics have taught us to “take our medicine like a man or our victory like a sport.” Aside from the benefit to the individual, there is the improvement in the entire school. The good health, the greater interest, and the increased adver- tising all tend toward building up the walls of our success, in which a gate is always open to the newcomer. And we have a wonderful foundation upon which to build these walls, owing to the fact that everyone who has gone before us has bettered the school in some way. frequently by athletics. What is better than school spirit? “Nothing. you say. Well. then, what is better to promote school spirit than athletics? Again you answer Nothing —and we fully agree with you. Now. what is school spirit? It seems to me it is that get-togethery feeling that makes every single member want to work individually and collectively for the betterment of his school. This feeling is heightened by interscholastic games, since it is up to the teams concerned to secure team work and those not on the team have the victory of their school at heart. Thus all are co-operating in the interest of that school. If you will make investigation you will see that the snappy, advancing, wide-awake school—those which are really on the map to stay put”—are the ones which promote athletics, and you will also notice that the sleepy, snail-like ones are those which throw up their hands at the mere mention of a-th—er—no 1 won’t. That word is too sacred to us to speak in the same breath with the name of those who will have none of it. E. W., ’23