Baltimore Polytechnic Institute - Cracker Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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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,-

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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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SCIENCE CLUB The Science Club goes beyond the classroom in that members of the club demonstrate experiments concerning phases and phenomena of science not taught in the curricula at Poly. During the past year experiments and lectures were given on such topics as nuclear physics, organic chemistry, Einstein's theo- ries, and many phases of chemistry. The club went on two trips, one to the laboratories of the Proctor and Gamble Company in Baltimore and one to the new science building at Goucher College. The club has become very much interested in the field of nuclear physics, and as a result many experiments have been performed in this field. The club has also requested permission to construct a nuclear reactor to further its desires for knowledge in the field of atomic physics. PR UJE C TIUNIX T CL UB - -- - The Projectionist Club of Poly is one of the most important clubs in the school. Besides furnishing mo- tion picture projector operators for the school, the club has many outside activities. In the past year, the membership has greatly increased and the club extended its program. New members are taught the method of operating the two different types of motion picture projectors which belong to the school. The increased training program helps to prepare boys for careers in the rapidly growing audioivisual field. In addition, boys are taught the principles of operation of the other types of motion picture equipment. In order to gain further knowledge of professional methods, the club visited the Playhouse Theatre a few months ago, inspected their modern projection facilities, and learned safety precautions involved in .their operation. A theatre size panoramic screen was installed in the Polyt ihnic audltorium by .the Projectionist Club. Through the years the Projectionist Club has become an integral part of the Polytechnic system. 24