Amana High School - Bugle Yearbook (Amana, IA)

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Herman Shoup Rudolph Le1chsenr1ng Ivan Gethmann general contra tor Dr L Unglerxk Rudolph Blech schmmdt Walter Wendler Davnd Toenjes archltect Mr Neveln Dr H G Moershel Peter Stuck Chas Selzer In January of 1950 on the retxrement of Mr Neveln Charles L Selzer became supermtendent of the School Teownshlp of Amana after attalnlng h1s masters de gree LH educatxon xn the mxdyear convocatlons at the State Unlverslty of Iowa An unsuccessful S150 000 bond 1ssue to try to es tabhsh a gymnaslum for the Amana schools at a s1te south of the Amana gas statxon was held 1n February of 1952 Colony schools were be1ng consol1dated wxth and Amanas for the 1ntermed1ate grades dur1ng the years before 1954 After a successful bond 1ssue vote 1n 1953 the new S185 000 Lakes1de grade school and gymnas1um was buxlt the flrst new sch-ool bulldmg m the Amanas smce 1879 and opened for classes -on February 1954 It IS -of brxck oonstructlon of the most modern type and faced on the mterlor wxth waylxte block and. acoust1 cal cellmgs and rooms thnoughout were tastefully decorated Fwe acres of ground playground space was purchased from the Amana Socxety on the north edge of Mnddle along Hxghway 220 Smce 1,950 school p1cmcs at the end of the regular school year have become annual events Fall tr1ps to h1sbor1c pomts of lnterest have been sponsored usually on Saturdays especxally 1n Junmor hwh and h1gh school An Amana Teachers Assocxatxon was formed 1n 1901 wlth regular monthly meetings a fall dxnner rneetmg and an annual Ch11stmas party All Amana t achers are also members of the Iowa State Educat on As socxat on and most of them are members of the lNatxon al Educatxon Assoclatxon A cumulatue record system the reoordmg not only of grades but also of a students h1s'ory for lxfe was begun ln 1951 Chnstmas carolmg m the Amanas begun by h1gh school muslc department has become a regular annual event An annual Award mght just prxor to graduatlon w1th academlc and 3th1Et1C awards and scholarshlps 1S an event smce 1951 The semors began to take annual week end tr1ps to Chxcago Just prlor to graduatnon m part sponsored by Amana Refr1gerat1on Incorporated In th1s same year Amana Refl 1gerat1on began to offer two fxve hundred A 1 ' . . I I 1 ' l C 1 - ' r ' D 1 l ! ' I ' ' ' 7 I ' , -. ' y I , . . . . .O . ' . . . , 1 ' . e 1 . ' x' i - . . . D i I Y , - South's schoolhouse being used for the primary grades 1 ' ' ' . . , . . . . ,, . - a s ' . . . ,- . , . . . . . l ' A 7 . . , 7 1 ' ' . 1 - y ' 1 . 1 1 , -' ' '

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THE HISTORY OF A H S CCONTINUEDQ For a number of years after the 1n1t1al outlay of money for the equlprnent of the school covmparatxvely few unprovements were posslble A klndergarten was added n 1939 Federal funds through WPA were made avarlable Dons Bloone of Vxctor was the teacher 1n charge Parents who were formerly opposed to trans portlng the chxldren of grade school to other towns now consented to have them brought to a central school Th1s paved the way for the later consolxdatxon of all v1llage schools These had prevlously been con ducted much as ordmary rural schools Pres1dent Frxley of Ames College and W R Boyd of the Iowa Board of Educatlon met wlth the board members and other leaders 1n Amana to study add1t1-ons and lmprovements ln the currxculum It was fmally agreed that agrrculture would be most practxcal The Smlth Hughes course under federal and state supervxsx-on was adopted by the Board Chr1st1an Hess an Ames graduate was engaged by the Board as agrxculture xnstructor The plan however proved futlle smce condxtxons ln Arrana were different f om thos m any other Iowa oommunxty Farmmv was an lmportant Amana enterprlse but there were no 1nd1v1dua1 farm ers or farmsteads hence It was rmoos lble to meet federal prerequ1s1t1es For thxs reason Chr1st1an Hess resigned as mstructor The school then added a manual trammg course John R Neveln to be mstructor A home ec-onomlcs course had already been added the prevlous year w1th MarJor1e Bales as teacher The grade schools xn the vlllages contxnued to be conducted much as they had been under the former system untzl 1939 At that tune they were reorgan1zed so that no grade teacher had more than two grades to teach The number of grade schools was reduced from seven to three These were ln the larger towns, Amana South and M1ddle The f1.rst school bus was purchased xn 1938 a second bus 1n 1942 Amana was probably one of the flrst schools to adopt the plan now being followed ln recent oonsolldatlons Th1s consxsts of transportxng puplls between towns ln such a way that bulldmgs ln the several towns may be used lmutmg the number of grades per teacher and makmg posslble more complete ocnsohdatlon The or1g1nal budget of S10 000 had been mcreased to S27 500 Oonsxderlng the lnadequacy of the library and lab orabory equxpment durxng the f1rst years and also the fact that nearly all of the hxgh school teachers were recent college graduates w1thout prevnous ex perlence the SCh01aSt1C record of Amana graduates m colleges and the large percentage of graduates en terlng college IS concluslve evidence of the excellence of lI'lSII'1lCt101'l and management Approxxmately 25076 of Amana graduates entered college whxle the Iowa state average was only 10 percent It would be a mls take to ascrlbe the success of th1s achlevement ex CIUSIVBIY to the system of mstructlon and dnscxplxne Amana was notably free from one of the detrimental mfluences that have been pnmanly responsxble for the low esteem 1n whxch Amer1can hlgh schools are held, especxally 111 scho1ast1c achlevement compared to Euro- pean secondary schools Able and consc1ent1ous school adm1n1strators have not been able to carry out and ap ply thelr professronal knowledge because of many pressures such as well meanmg athletxc enthus1asts, and p011t1C.l8IlS or men rn posxtions of power The teachmg professxon has, apparently, always been held rn h1gh regard ln Amana Fortunately th1S IS begm nxng to be true of more commumtles today than for merly If we are gomg to have sclentlsts and mathe mat1c1ans sufflclent rn number and equal 111 ab1l.1ty to other countrles rt wrll be necessary to begm trammg these 1n our Junxor and seruor hlgh schools An abso- lute prerequlslte for th1s IS to secure teachers wlth expert professlonal trammg and glve them authority to carry out the1r ldeas The key to thrs goal IS better pay for teachers but even more important is respect for the professxon Among the drfferent factors whlch contrlbuted to the success of the Amana hlgh school IS one that has not always been reoogmzed by students of Amana SOCICIY There IS a keen sens1t1v1ty to the art1st1c and fmer emotronal elements of culture For lnstance, stage scenery for plays was pamted by Carl F11ck an artxst of natlonal fame An art1st1c appreclatlon IS demonstrated 1n the products of factory ands the home workshop m whlch boys were encouraged to desrgn and make 81110165 of thelr own deS1gD The g1rls are expert 1n makmg household artlcles of the1r own art 1st1c deslgn A f1ne mens chorus has existed from the early pmoneer t1mes Famous artlsts authors and statesmen have been makmg more frequent VlSltS to Amana than to any other community among these was Dr Hans Luther top-rankxng ambassador from Ger many to our country Amana was the only Iowa com munxty whlch he Vlslted Our students were able to gwe frequent reports on hlstonc men and women from personal contact wlth them all of which has a real educatronal value The dlsadvantage of some ' Amana or German accent was more than offset by the advan tage of bexng blhngual Th1s proved to be a valuable acoomphshment 1n college and also m the armedl servrces By the year 1950 when J R Neveln reslgned as supermtendent 240 students had completed the Amana Hxgh School The great majorlty served m the armed forces of our country The government had long ago granted non combatant standlng to the members of the Amana Church Not one of the graduates chose to avaxl themselves of thls prlvllege Slnce 1950 dur mg the past ten years the Amana Schools have stead! lv advanced under the caoable supermtendency of the present superlntendent Charles L Selzer John R Neveln . .- I ... Y- . . . 9 . . . . , - . ' - , . ' 1 , ' , - I , - . I . . - , , 1 . ' 'A 1 , u . - ' 1 . . 1 up . I .. '. ' . ' . ' ' - vt n . . - C 1 A , Z, . I-, i - S . v ... '. . L , .. . . 1 ,, , . . .. .- . ' . . ' v ' . . . . . . - , , , .. . . , ' 1 1 . 1 , . ' ' 1 ' ' ' . . .'. - 1 .. . ' - 1 11 , . ... - - ' . .. . 1 1 ' ' , . , . . , , . .- . 1 ' , 1 . ' v ' . 1 ' , . . ' .1 - - , . . - . ,- .

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THE HISTORY OF A. H S CCONTINUEDJ dollar college scholarshxps to the two hxghest academlc semors Annual parents .nxghts for vlsxtatlon of the schools were begun 1n 1952 Th1s led to the formatxon of an Amana P T A m September whlch establxshed a school lunch program among other th1I1gS at Lakeslde School m 1955 Career days wherexn the Amana Hlgh School upper classmen took part at Marengo was made an annual affaxr beglnmng m the sprmg of 1953 and contmued thereafter Dr H G Moershel retlred from the school board ln December of 1953 and the Bugle was dedrcated to h1m ln 1954 in reoognxtlon of 31 years of servxce on the Amana School Board. The school board banquet sponsored through the seruor home eoonomlcs class has been a falrly regular event prlor to Thanksglvmg or Chrlstmas smce 1953 The Amana schools had always had baseball and luttenball teams and played ln competltxon w1th other teams but w1th the completlon of the Lakesxde school and gymnasmm rn 1954 the school began to have boys and g1rls basketball squads and Jomed the Poweshlek and Iowa County Conference xn 1954 In 1.954 Mr Wxllxam He1,nze completed 43 years of teachmg ln the Amana elementary schools first rn Mxddle then on consohdatxon of schools LD Amana and fmally 1n Mxddle and then retrred. An establxshed and planned testmg program m all the grades through hmgh school was begun nn 1955 Careful records are kept on each students progress Dr Ludwlg Unglenk dxrecbor from Amana after 15 years ln the post retlred from the School Board mn 1956 and the 1957 Bugle was dedxcated to h1m and to Mr Herman Shoup dlrector from South who had also retzred ln recogmtxon of their past servxces. On April 4 1957 the Natxonal Educatxon Assocxatlon s centemual was observed at a publlc program at W11 l1amsburg wlth all Amana teachers takmg part in an old fashxoned school skxt The Amana Young Mens Bureau Chorus also took part m rendenng musxcal selectwns approprlate to the affa1r The chorus has also been actwe 111 pnovldmg selections and programs for and at the schools smce 1950 especially at Bacca laureate services In the summer of 1957 the hlgh school auditonum was partitxoned off by a foldmng door and ralsing the floor for lack of space A study hall was made rn the west or rear part of the former publlc audxtonum. The stage and some of the theater chairs were kept as originally bullt The study hall ln the west upstaxrs hrgh school bu1l.d1ng was made over Lnto two class rooms and the former Enghsh room downstairs was converted mio a central hbrary Several organxzatxons 1n the Amanas helped to raxse money for a large purple velour stage curtain that was mstalled on the Lakeslde school stage ln 1958 wrth help from the schools' budget Wlth 1ts mstallatlon plays and other programs could be presented at that place for the pubhc where the present high school au drtonum was no longer feaslble The 1958 Bugle was dedxcated to Mr George Foerst- ner for hls and h1s companys contrxbutiqn to the Schools welfare over the years The 195.9 Bugle was dedicated to Mr Rudolph Blech schnudt whod taught school fxrst at East and then at Amana from 1925 txll 1944 He had served as school director from 1944 tlll 1959 A speclal Clt8t1QD. was also rssued to hxm by the school board at commence ment 1959 Three full time teachers were added to the faculty durmg the last several years one to teach remedral readmg ln the prxmary and mtermedxate grades a full txme musxc teacher and a hxgh school lustory teacher .. . . - . . .., I 1 . - . .- - . . , . . . . . . . ' . Q -1 s ... 9 V ' . . . . 1 .. . . . , . . .. - .. . . V - . .. . . . . . . . - . - us - ' . . . . , . ! . D , v . . . - . , 1 ., , . n . . . - - . . - . . v . ' 1 9 1 a 9 ' 1 , . .