Benjamin Franklin High School - Key Yearbook (Rochester, NY)

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class rooms left unfinished in the early plans had to be completed at once. Various devices had to be employed to divert attendance to East High and elsewhere in order that we might be able to mate a start with the huge load that would be ours to carry. By the spring term 3,100 boys and girls were with us. This number steadily grew until in the spring of 1933 the maximum attendance of 3,806 was reached. Just in time to keep our walls from bursting, all high schools of the city were placed on the five year plan (grades eight through twelve), and Washington, now a regular senior high school, as- sumed enough of the overload to afford us sub- stantial relief At present, April 9, 1940, our total is 2,809. We have said that the word American” has found much to claim in Franklin. So also has the word ‘‘democratic,'’ and nowhere more than in student government. During the first year the Junto and the Executive Council were organized. The real govern- ing body is the Junto, named from a discussion group of which Benjamin Franklin was the leader, and consisting of two representatives from each homeroom in the building. Eighth graders, there- fore, have equality with seniors so far as voting is concerned. To facilitate things generally, the Junto chooses representatives to the Executive Council, whose particular work is to discuss matters of im- portance and to present recommendations to the Junto for final action. The smaller body consists at present of six student and seven faculty members,- two of the student members must be taken from grades eight and nine. Democracy, again, is the keynote of Franklin’s award system. Awards were first granted in June, 1931, and the present system is governed by recom- mendations adopted in the term of January-June, 1933. Thereby certificates of award are granted to such members of the graduating class as have per- formed meritorious service in various extra-curricular organizations—literary, dramatic, musical, service, and athletic. The plan found favor and has been con- tinued to the present. Awards are made by the Executive Council and are based on recommenda- tions from faculty sponsors for the various activities. It is noteworthy that Franklin docs not issue letters to athletic teams. The award principle is that recog- nition should be given for all faithful, well done extra-curricular work, and that so far as credit is concerned, no one branch of activity should take precedence over the others. The net result of the award system unquestionably has been an increased appreciation of many services hitherto unnoticed because of the lack of glamour connected with them. And this makes for democratic, American ideals. Undoubtedly the greatest earned honor that a Franklin student may attain is membership in the National Honor Society, organized here for the first time in the spring of 1931. Elections are made by a faculty committee and are based on scholarship, character, and general good citizenship Probably errors have been made in these selections, but on the whole a good work has been done and a dis- tinct effort has been made to insure equality of op- portunity for all. The annual induction ceremony i$ one of the most impressive of the year, and member- ship is prized by the student body more than that in any other organization athletic, literary, or social Other highly valued honor organizations are: Les Babillards (French), the Optimates (Latin), the Circolo Dante (Italian), the German Honor Society, the Commercial Honor Society, and the Craft Guild. Robust Americanism and democracy. These words have summarized our impressions up to this point. But there is something in the air at Franklin that is 10 Like leaving home

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I s The Benjamin Franklin High School is thoroughly American, even to the site upon which it stands. For what is more American than the old-fashioned circus? And Norton Street, corner of Hudson, was once famous as the circus stamping ground of Rochester. Big and small, learned and unlearned, serious and care free, they all came to Norton Street to feed the elephants and to see the man on the flying trapeze. Then, lest the idea perish, though not from con- scious design, our Key for January, 1938, took the circus as its theme and came out resplendent with big top and all. And surely we can't forget the James M. Cole Indoor Circus that only last fall per- formed on the big gymnasium floor. Barnum and Bailey have folded their tents, it is true, but they haven’t moved away. TORY ever before, Norton Street is vibrant with American life. But, to begin our history, the need of a North- east High School ’ was recognized by the Board of Education as early as the year 1915. In 1916 the first portion of the campus was purchased, 15-3,10 acres for $10,000. In 1921 the school was asked for, at which time the cost was estimated at $1,- 500,000. In October, 1925, there was made a survey of school needs in this section, as a result of which two years later, December, 1927, the sum of $2,300,000 was authorized for the construction of the building. There is something about the bigness, the busy- ness, the vitality, and the general appeal of the circus that is attuned to the American idea of tackling big things in the joyous spirit of adventure and of opportunity for all We hope that this is true of Franklin. The place is a big one—one of the largest and best equipped in the country. Young Americans of many national groups, some of them not long here, work and study and play together. The Almanac, sent to prospective students during the summer before the opening of the first school year, declared that the school would be of the cosmopolitan type We still like the word cos- mopolitan. Sturdy old American traditions con- nected with Benjamin Franklin and colonial days have been sought out and perpetuated in the name of our student council, the Junto, and in the names of all school publications—the Almanac, the Key, and the Courant. Franklin is the meeting place of the old and the new, the near and the far. More than A mile of corridors! Mr. Sabin finds the solution. The first shovelful of earth was lifted On March 28, 1928. From that time the work went vigorously forward until the grand opening on Tuseday, Sep- tember 2, 1930. We were impressively Imown as The Benjamin Franklin Junior-Senior High School, with the regular junior-semor program, and carrying grades eight through twelve. The final cost, includ- ing site and equipment, was $2,922,821.10 Re- cently a considerable addition was made to the size of the athletic held; the campus now includes twenty-six acres. The building was planned originally for an en. rollmcnt of 2,500, but before school began it was plain that more than this number would appear, Six

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more than either of these; perhaps it is the essence of both at their best. We mean the concern felt for the welfare of each boy, each girl, each young man, each young woman— personally. Mistakes have been made, and possibly they are many, because of the definitely planned effort to deal with each student as an individual. It is not so hard to govern an organization by unbroken rules. It is not easy to govern on the principle that regulations exist for the young people, and not the young people for them, but this has become the unwritten lav of the school. Such is the unwritten law of good homes, and young people feel at home in Franklin. Whether it be a question as to the course of study, a matter of health, a problem at home, or a difficulty calling for the service of a trained psychologist, the Franklin guidance and advisory officers are ready to help in a personal way and with a sympathetic attitude. Then it is Americanism, democracy, and the spirit of home. These seem to tell the story of Franklin. As Franklin graduates read these lines they will think not only of their school as a whole, but they will find their minds turning again and again to one individual in connection with the characterizations here presented They will be thinking of their principal, Roy L Butterfield From the day that he began to plan for the school before its opening, he has worked so whole-heartedly toward the ends we have mentioned that what has been said of Franklin seems to apply equally to him. To an unusual degree the ideals of the principal have come to be those that are first thought of as belonging to the school We are all proud of the fact that last fall a com- mittee of prominent educators commissioned by the N. E. A for the purpose of studying democracy in education, visited the Benjamin Franklin High School as one of a list of select schools chosen from the entire United States The leadership of Mr Butter- field we believe to be chiefly responsible for honors of this kind. His activities have been of the broadest sort and his labors Herculean. As teacher of most of the subjects originally in the curriculum, as high school principal, as president of the R T A of the Central Western Zone, of the Associated Academic Principals of New York, and as member of important educational committees, his influence has become statewide and is constantly increasing Just now he is serving on the tenure committee of the National Education Association Mr. Butterfield’s connection with our school has lent it prominence, his devo- tion to it and his efforts on its behalf have contri- buted more than any other factor to its personality. OF VARIED INTEREST Franklin stands high in Rochester for the work done by its ATHLETIC TEAMS The record of their success is given in the sports section on page seventy-five We find satisfaction in the fact that Mr, Carl Chamberlain and the health education faculty have stressed the matter of good sportsman- ship more than that of winning games. The basket- ball score board, center of intense interest to thou- sands of eyes during the winter, is typical It reads Guests ' . not “Opponents.” The first FRANKLIN DAY was held in May, 1939. Sports, eats, music, dramatics, and social activities in one festive salmagundi from early afternoon till late evening—all these explain why, from the first, Franklin Day has been a vast success and now is the gala occasion of the year. One of the earliest acts at Franklin was the choice of red and white as the school colors The ALMA MATER by Michael Golben, and the SCHOOL EMBLEM, designed by Stanley Klimaszewski and Duane Crumb, were selected during the spring term of 1931. THE GROUND SCHOOL, opened ,n 1932, under the leadership of Mr. William Read, has on several occasions received newspaper publicity. II