Bishop Ireton High School - Flight Yearbook (Alexandria, VA)

Page 32 text:

lVlore Than Dust The teachers of the English Department vividly dem- onstrate to the student that English-the language and the literature-is much more than the names and words of people who today are nearly dust or less than dust. Rather, the student learns these peo- ple were alive and thinking and still are very much alive in their ideas and style. And they have experi- enced the very same agony, or joy, amusement or anger, or love-the exact same emotions that we have once felt. But the course doesn't end with the demonstration that writing is not a dead language. lt cultivates a real appreciation the medium, the English tongue, and develops a knowledge of how the student can use the invaluable tool to his greatest possible advantage. K f f'. ln lreton's culture tank, freshmen study one of Shakespeare's first period plays: Romeo and Juliet. Trying to translate one of Fr. Dean's speeches, Mike Dekowski turns to Mr. Webster. eftfiifg L .f Sp

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What? Why? How? What happens to matter if it can't be destroyed? Why are the tiny amounts of chemicals we call vitamins so vital to our own life processes? How can someone say what an atom is like-or that there is such a thing? ls someone pulling my leg when he says that there was once an ocean where Las Vegas is now? Questions are the substinence of the Science Department. The answers, however, are not always expected from the teachers-though often the questions come from them. With courses designed to stimulate the student, the instructors in this department graduate him with an understanding of just what the scene is in this physi- cal world. More than that, the student who has taken these courses has learned a little of the art of taking fewer things for granted and questioning more. A pebble in a pond, a drop in a ripple tank-the environment is dif- ferent but Dan Coakley and John McCallum are still led to investi- gate the motion of waves and try to formulate a theory of light. The color of the solution after adding the magic chemical tells Leon- ard Sims and Richard Harlow that they have followed all of the steps. This photograph, of their latest top security project, leaked out of the Science Department. Our experts have determined that Nlr. Rich, Mike Decowski, and Mike Wellings are examining a parabolic sound reflector.

Page 33 text:

ii fm ED, 2 1.1, tag. .siizgflzaw . - . was-gi lf . Teacher's point of view: Don't they ever wake up? Student's point of view: Doesn't he ever shut up? Satisfaction The papers are spread everywhere, on the desk, the floor, the bed. Some lay in the corner by the trash can, crumpled testimony of futile attempts at bas- kets. Each is rejected, filled with smeared, penciled equations. His shirt is off, his hair is mussed in an all- out attempt to solve the problem. As he completes his assignment, unsure of victory, and moves to an- other, he has to subdue a feeling of doubt. Chalk flies across the board, mind and eye are hardly able to follow its course. As surely as chalk dust set- tles everywhere, on black slate, black cassock, and bare floor, knowledge will be instilled and doubt dispelled. So it is today. As the chalk is laid to rest he checks his paper. The answer is correct.