Austin High School - Comet Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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EL SALVADORINICARAGUA Controversy swirled around the Reagan administration covert CIA support of guerillas in Honduras which were trying to overthrow the government of Sandinista-controlled Nicaragua. Congress had passed a law forbidding the CIA to provide the support to the guerillas, but Reagan persisted. Controversy also continued over U.S. aid to the government of El Salvador which had been embroiled in a civil war for more than four years. Although civilian deaths at the hands of the government-linked Hdeath squads had been reduced, human rights activists continued to criticize the Salvadoran government and American aid. The Salvadoran guerillas were receiving Soviet Military weapons while the Reagan adimistration was supplying arms to the Salvadoran government. Although Pope John Paul ll had, in a tumultuous visit to Central America early in the spring, called for negotiations to resolve the Salvadoran controversy and had called on the USSR and US to not intervene in Central America, the region seemed farther than ever from peace. TEACHER PAY RAISE Texas teachers continued to lobby hard in May for 2406 pay hike. However, prospects were dim since the Comptroller had reduced the projected amount of revenue by more than S2 billion, which meant that for teachers - and state employees - to get a raise, taxes would have to be increased. And the legislature didn't seem amenable to raising taxes. A mass statewide rally on May 21 at the capitol demonstrated teachers' determination that Governor White's campaign promise to raise salaries by 2406 would become reality. Under budget bills passed by mid-May by both the House and Senate, teachers would only receive step increases ranging from ODA, to 4M over two years. TEXAS TEXTBOOK PROCESS The legislature approved a bill which permits individuals who support adoption of textbooks to testify on behalf of those textbooks at the annual state textbook adoption hearings in August. Previous policy of the State Board of Education limited testimony to critics of the books and to the book publishers. Tyler gadflies Mel and Norma Gabler had made a cottage industry out of criticizing proposed textbooks which did not fit with the narrow, fundamentalist and conservative point of viewthey express. The new hearing procedure was spearheaded by a group called People for the American Way , a group founded to counter Rev. Jerry Falwell's Moral Majorityf' EXEMPLARY HIGH SCHOOLS Austin High was one ofthe2 high schoolsin Texas chosen by the Texas Education Agency to represent Texas in the Secondary School Recognition Program. The program was designed to recognize schools that show exceptional progress in effectiveness and student outcomes. An on-site visit on May 23, the day before undergraduate finals, plus an evaluation by a 15 member panel of educators will be the deciding factor in who's who in American high schools. COMPUTER PLAN A three year AISD plan to teach students computer programming and usage will allow SFA to receive several new computers within the next continued on page 19 2 English teachers Eva Arce and Brendon perform a dancing skit to the song Copa during the Senior Talent Show on May 13. Kenny Tony Diggs performed in a ballet skit with Dinn Mann and Ricky Chaney at the Senior Talent Show. Austin Police officer Al Hernandez spoke to Street Law classes, and held an academy in which Street Law students could attend. After completing the academy, students were allowed to ride with an officer on duty. M,,.wf Principal McGee takes some visiting Peking teachers on a tour of Austin High. The Big Boys, a local punk rock band, perform at Spring Thing Apr. 22. Four inducted into Hall of Honor The Austin High Hall of Honor is a place where distinguished alumni, outstanding faculty, and the Maroon Society become a permanent fixture in the tradition of Austin High School. The honorees are recognized on Dedication Day, which is held on or as near to May 2 as possible. A member of the distinguished alumni honored in 1983 was Edmund P. Craven, a banker, financier, and civic leader. Craven graduated from Austin High in 1909. Also a member of the distinguished alumni honored this year was the Honorable Homer Thornberry, public official, federal judge, and member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1937 to 1971. Thornberry graduated from Austin High in 1927. Mary Adkins, English teacher from 1942 to 1982, was a member of the 18 Austin High Journal...

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Tulio Browning proposes a bill as Fall semester Student Council President Valerie Castanon looks on. second period classmates. New representatives and alternate representatives are chosen at the beginning of each semester. The representatives must come to the student council meetings each Wednesday which are held at a different period of the day each week. The representaives should communicate with their second period classmates and relay any suggestions to the student council during the next meeting. The student council gets the student body during each semester. They usually poll student activities and opinions on issues concerning the school, The student council proposed to paint a mural in the commons this year. Alexander said that the student council had the student body approval for the project, but ran into some disagreement with the school administration, The 1983 Spring Thing, aside from too many off-campus visitors, was a success according to Alexander. I think it went almost better than planned, he opinion on different issues by circulating survey sheets. The surveys are sent out several times said sf' 9 1 9 i llfuiln pi? bv-' wr'--Q .9 wwf A record number of 17 students earned the honor of National Merit Finalist. Pictured students are lbottom left to rightl Richard Merrill, Scott Brown, Dudley McClellan. ltop left to rightl Jaana Karttunen, Karen Tannert, David Schewitz, Cyndi Barbour, Carter Breed, and Jon Luckstead. Not pictured are Dan Alexander, Catherine Arnold, Sally Bernau, Khoa Bui, Joshua Calder, Amy Cogdell, Julie Fulton, Martha Moody, Ami Willerman. Students had to buy a ticket for 8.50 to go to the carnival-style assembly. DIVING, TENNIS HONORS Three Austin High students won top state honors in diving and tennis competitions in April and May. Jeff Kelby won fourth place in state UIL diving competition as well as gained a qualifying score for All-American. ln tennis, both Mark Smith and Diana Dopson won in the state tennis finals in their respective divisions. Both Smith and Dopson were members of the winning Austin High tennis teams which won District honors this year. CITY COUNCILIMAYOR RACE In the local city council race, two close races resulted in run-off elections. The mayorial race ended in a run-off between Lowell Lebermann and Ron Mullen. Another run-off was between Mark Spaeth and George Humphrey for City Council Place 4. Charles Urdy was reelected to his Place 6 seat, as was John Trevino for Place 5. Newcomer Sally Shipman was elected to the Place 1. The April 30 run-offelection declared Ron Mullen the new mayor of Austin, with Mullen winning with a narrow victory over Lebermann. Spaeth also narrowly defeated Humphrey for the Place 4 seat. NUCLEAR FREEZE The United States House of Representatives adopted a nuclear freeze resolution May 4 by a 278-149 vote. Although many proponents felt the original freeze resolution had been weakened by amendments, others felt the symbolic importance had been preserved. The resolutions calls for a mutual, verifiable freeze on the testing, development, production and deployment of nuclear weapons and delivery systems by the United States and the Soviet Union. The amendments, which supporters of the President succeeded in attaching to the resolution, called for arms reductions within a specific time period following implementation of the freeze, a point that nuclear freeze advocates didn't dispute since their idea all along was that afreeze would be a first step toward arms reductions. Whiletheresolution was notbinding on President Reagan, it is intended to guide President Reagan in arms negotiations. ln other nuclear-related issues, the Roman Catholic Bishops of the United States approved a lengthy pastoral letter which called U.S. nuclear policy immoral and which also called for a nuclear weapons freeze. The Reagan administration had been bitterly critical of the Bishops' letter, which had gone through several drafts. One draft changed the word freeze to curbl' at Reagan's insistence, but the Bishops later voted to change it back to freeze The Congressional resolution and Bishops letter came at a time that the administration was trying to find a way to base the controversial MX nuclear missile which would have as many as ten nuclear warheads each. The administration was also in a standstill with the Soviets in nuclear arms negotiations in Europe on strategic and theatre nuclear forces. Controversy continued to swirl throughout Europe over the American decision to base Pershing ll and Cruise missiles in Europe to counter the Soviet advantage in Europe, although rough parity exists between the nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and U.S.S.R. overall. continued on page 18

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t tit'W:'? . , N 'Q k .1 Aff' f 'Q 'f 'Nav' ' ' .cy 1' Za 4 ,Q i -, N lx. M N-q.,,,M A L I' ' 55? ' ,T .a C ' Na . 1 i . as. -v an-qu, it . H Susan Salinas and an unidentified student take part in the mud-wrestling contest at Spring Salinas was the victor. 5 ,Q , it -TQ., '-qw f Melissa Macaluso, Martha Wood, Beth Youngdale, Cara Briggs, and Ftoy Pulido welcome guests to the Hall of Honor. honored faculty of 1983. James Jim Tolbert, Athletic Director and Associate Principal from 1950 to 1978 was also honored. 5 The 1983 Maroon Society consisted of ' Andrew Daniel Alexander ll, Lisa Blair, Richard Scott Brown, Bradley McCellan, and Dudley McCellan. The honorees were presented with a gold medallion and a miniature of the steel narrative photoengraved plaque that will fbackgmund, with a Distinguished mm appear in the Hall of Honor. Missy Minter presents alumni Edmund award on May 2. few years. The Computer Initiative Plan will start computer learning as early as kindergarten, and continue throughout high school. SFA will receive four IBM PC's and an undetermined amount of Apple ll's. Two of these will be placed in the library for student use, if a student can prove he is capable and knowledgable in computer use. The others will be placed in classrooms that are still undecided upon. COMMENCEMENT Commencement exercises for the 1983 graduating class of Stephen F. Austin High were held at Burger Center on May 24. The school graduated a class of 426 students. Principal McGee recognized students who were graduating under the Honors Program, numbering 50 in all then announced the salutatorian and valedictorian. The valedictorian was Dudley McClellan, and his brother Bradley was named salutatorian.