Windber High School - Stylus Yearbook (Windber, PA)

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,xiii-f wwe.. i'gt z MH if' H H E I5 sara Pfggglfgfwm I ,233 , , . 5.1. ,,,., . sg, ,.,, ag,.,,, ,a,...?,.,s, i' The regular high school course consisted of three years, but those pupils whoso desired were privileged to take one year post-graduate study. It will be re- membered that the elementary department consisted of nine grades: three primary, three intermediate, and three grammar. Surprising is it seems to us today, the first Windber High School had two courses, the regular and the special. All subjects except Greek and German were obligatory. In the fourth, or post-graduate year college preparatory students were permitted to speeialize, hence the special course. Supervising Principal Scott was assisted by C. H. Risser, who had charge of the first high school, as teacher and principal. ln 1903 the borough had eighteen school rooms in three buildings. The East End building had in the mean time been built and the Ninth Street Hall was used temporarily. In the summer of 1903 the Brick building on Thirteenth Street was built at a cost of thirty thousand dollars. This building had ten rooms and housed the high school, which was rapidly increasing in. enrollment. It is interesting to note what the Harrisburg School Gazette said about Windbct' at this time: Windber is not a huge mining camp with primitive institutions as one might suppose. Her people are intelligent and progressive. The present school board, three of whom were rc-elected this spring is composed of two physicians, one dentist, an attorney, and two merchants. All these, with one exception are graduates of some educational institution. These men of affairs know the advantage of good schools. That the people approve the progressive steps is shown by the re-election of the old directors Knot old in every sensej. These men do one thing that is unusual for directors-they visit the schools. The report shows forty-five visits by directors in one month. Windber's first graduating class, 1903, had eight members, namely, Ruby Duncan, Eva Bell, Patience Williams, Sue Vickroy, Ethel Miller, Alice Tyler, John Wyre, and Roy Sharpless. During that year, 1902-3, there were fourteen in the freshman class, thirteen 'n the sophomore class, and five in the junior class. In 1905 Mr. Scott resigned as supervising principal and was suc- N ceeded by D. M. Hetrick. There was no graduating class in 1905. lg Q if ' During Mr. Hetrickis first term seven students were graduated 5,5 from the high school, all graduating from the college prepar- E 1 K atory course. Typewriting and bookkeeping were the first 1 'H V , commercial subjects introduced into the high school mit-:ata --4 9 ' -' 'J 'X

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. -v-vymuw--71511 'rf-vp!-r'11wl1r 6f' - , V , W ill E' HH: lr fl' ,HA PPDGBIZSS IN lf 5.Qf 1 - ,,,. IPUCATTQN HISTORY OF WINDBER HIGH SCHOOL Windber High School, with its present enrollment of 1358 has had a meteoric rise in the last three de- cades. In common with all other phases of Windber's community life the high school has developed so that it has be- come one of the best in the state, offer- ing a varied curricula to meet the demands of modern complex living. Wi'ndber was organized into a borough in 1900. Consequently, the first school board of the town was elected at that time. It was composed of the following members: Dr. O. J. Shank, president, J. C. Begley, sec- retary, A. C. Bantley, treasurer, Dr. H. L. Carlisle, C. E. Davis, and J. W. A. Roley. However, the teachers for the town schools for the term of 1900- Timnmsus STEVENS NVho was instrumental in passing , Free School Act of 1834- board. There were eight teachers on V 1901 were elected by the township the faculty that year, namely, J. J. Shaffer, principal, L. G. Shaffer, George F. Vg vw, Ickes, Lula Schultz, Katharine Reeser, Ida E. Berkey, Milly Shaffner, and Alice Shaffner. Although the board, when elected, could not take charge of the schools until the following year, they began to make extensive provisions for increasing the , educational facilities so as to meet the needs of the community which had 4, in four years increased from 50 to 8,000 inhabitants. When the borough board took charge of the schools, they elected ' X W Williarn Scott, of Johnstown, supervising principal. The first . Q I important step was the establishing of the first high school -if ' ' V fllfifl J and adopting a new course of study embracing thirteen years. Thus Windber High came into being in the fall of 1901. , S in biz 5, -. ' ' A -w HW ur g ljz

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--V 2 fsfii ' . ,,,, ... - . f a s-S .ER-rea WW HHP - 7 ' ? 3 EH!! Eli! rnoonmss IN -: I . .. A wvcsrroi-1 curriculum. This special subject, typewriting, was first given in the fall of 1907. E. A. Hower succeeded Mr. Hetrick as supervising principal of the Windber schools in the fall of 1908. The graduating class of 1909, the first of Mr. Hower's term. had eight graduates, an increase of three over that of the previous year. In 1910 there were eight graduates, in 1911, six, in 1912, eleven, in 1913, five. It will be seen from these figures that the enrollment in the high school was almost constant for the first decade of its existence. VV. W. Lantz, at present principal of the Union High School at Turtle Creek in Allegheny County, came to Windber as principal of the high school during Mr. Howeris term of office. ln 1913 Mr. Lantz was elected supervising principal of the schools of the most progressive bituminous coal town in the world. At this time many more people began to see the need for a high school edu- cation. and as the result there was a noticeable increase in the enrollment in the schools. Because of this general interest the schools of the borough became over- crowded. The old frame building was already in need of general repairs. The board, with Dr. 0. 1. Shank as president, therefore, contracted for a new high school and grade school building on the site of the original white frame building. ln 1912 the Windber School Board issued bonds to the amount of fifty thousand dol- lars to cover the cost of construction and equipment of the new Concrete Building. The new building housed the high school on the top floor and the grades on the second floor. The science laboratory of the high school was located on the ground floor of this building. A swimming pool was constructed in the basement. This, however, had to be closed to make room for two extra class rooms later. ln 1913 Windber boasted thirty seven teachers with 1,850 pupils. A year later the enrollment had increased to 2,010 and two extra teachers had to be added to the faculty. In 1916 the number of pupils had increased to 2,100 with forty two teachers. With this increased enrollment and with the population of the town increased to ten thousand inhabitants, which made Windber a third class school district, the Board of Education in 1916 passed a resolution making Windber an in- dependent school district with the right of electing its superintendent. Accordingly, W. W. Lantz, who was then supervising principal, was ' elected the first superintendent of Windber schools. Before T ' this the town schools were under the jurisdiction of the ' County Superintendent of schools tx X Q v 3 -liiekxzii : My Rx X . ,' ,x S T- fo W . Q la