Baltimore Polytechnic Institute - Cracker Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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BUARD STUDENT ACTIVITIEX The Senate Club, this year, has made tremendous progress and has shown con- siderable activity throughout the entire school year. Because the purpose of the club is to give boys an opportunity to learn to and actually speak before an audience, the membership is necessarily small: otherwise, only a few boys would gain the all important experience. In the past school year, there have been two intra-mural debates, one be- fore the freshmen and sophomore class- es, and one before the junior and senior classes, several club debates, and one de- bate with the Institute of Notre Dame. Next year, a debate with Western is al- most certain and other debates are planned. CHEXX CLUB The Board of Student Activities, more commonly known as the B.S.A., is one of the most important organizations in the school. lt is responsible for co ordinating the Polytechnic clubs and activities which are non-athletic. This organization takes charge of any reve- nue received from the clubs and makes allotments to each club according to the club's needs and activities. Member- ship in this organization is limited to a certain group of hand-picked students. Towards the end of each year, the B.S.A. meets with the principal, vice principal, and faculty representatives and presidents of the various clubs to determine the non-athletic awards given each year. The Chess Club, Poly's oldest, had a most successful season last term. This club, which is less than a year shy of a golden anniversary, added a few new features to its program. First, the idea of inter-club tourna- ments was inaugurated. Second, a few members completed a chess set to be used for demonstration purposes. It consists of a large metal board with magnetic chess pieces. Third, the Chess Club played an active part in a newly formed inter-scholastic chess lea- gue. Although the Poly Chess Team didn't snare first place, it provided plenty of competition and did its best. As for the future, the chess team will be more experienced next year and will do better. Being a half-century old, the club plans for a top-notch year next term. It will engage in all kinds of activities in what is destined to be a chess wild year.

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MA CHINIX T CLUB The Machinist's Club was organized last year, l953, by Mr. Otto of the Practice Department for the purpose of providing more extensive opportunities in machine shop work to those Poly students who may be interested. In order to further their knowledge of industrial methods and tools, the club members of the Machinist Club develop skill in the use of machine tools by actually working in the shop on projects ranging from home workshop tools to school equipment. Much of this work is done co-operatively with the radio, metallurgy, and rocket clubs. Students in all courses, particularly the A course, find the club enlightening and beneficial. Of- ficers for the current year are Hines, K2, Crawford, D5, Wootton, Bl, and Young, B3. MA THEMA TICX CLUB The purposes and aims of the Math- ematics Club are: flj to study various topics in advanced mathematics that re- quire little preliminary experience in mathematics, QD to stimulate interest in mathematics as a profession and a hobby, QQ to encourage the develop- ment of mathematical methods of thinking among those students who demonstrate a liking for mathematics. Among the subjects studied last year were the theory of mathematical ma- chines, the theory of sets, mathematical logic, matrices, and group theory. The club attended a lecture at I.B.M. of- fice on some of their computers. Mr. Bernhardt presented a new approach to the study of algebra for the student who wishes to cover the field of elementary algebra in a short time. Although the club is relatively new and its member- ship small, it has already delved into some of the more intricate branches of modern mathematics. 2l

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The French Club is striving to aid its mem- bers in developing a larger working vocabu- lary in French and to promote a better un- derstanding of French art and culture. By popular demand, the club will print a helpful list of French idioms to aid those students who are studying for examinations in French. The Club's major activity for the season was a public presentation of the first act of Topaze, by Panoe, for the French clubs in the various high schools of the city and the Executive Committee of the Poly P.T.A. FRENCH CLUB The activities of the Automobile Club cen- tered around illustrated talks, film strips, mo- tion pictures and tours of local modern automobile shops. The subjects covered the operation of the ignition system, internal combustion engine, carburetor, cooling sys- tem, brakes, fluid drive, automatic clutch, economy of operation, driving hazards, safety, how to hop up a car, customizing, sport car races and like subjects of interest to the members. TUMBL ING CL UB The Tumbling Club of the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute was formed early in October, 1953. Its purpose is to pro- mote interest in fields of gymnastics and tumbling. Its activities have been somewhat limited because of a lack of facilities, however, it is hoped that the situation will eventually improve. Under the advisership of Mr. Epstein of the English Department, who has had previous experience in this field, the Tumbling Club has become a charter member of the B.S.A. and has held regular meetings despite handicaps throughout the school year. The club's activities for the year were climaxed by presenting a tumbling exhibition in the 1954 Poly Follies. Proposed activities for the club next year include participa- tion in the Follies and a trip to one of the gymnastic competitions held at the U. S. Naval Academy. AUTUMUBILE CLUB X,-