Boyertown High School - Bear Yearbook (Boyertown, PA)

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LETS GO lNSlDE . . . THE SCHCCDL Boyertown High School-its students, its faculty, and its administrators f-has done nobly during the past year in community activities connected with the war effort. For example, eleven Senior girls in the commercial course worked at the local draft board. The girls-Ruth Anna Longacre, Lillian Romig, Barbara Lochman, Edith Luft, Anna Merkel, June Bauer, Alice Grosser, Dorothy McDonald, Elaine Reidenauer, Pearl Moyer, and Betty Beldyk-f typed reclassification cards, notices, lists of men to go for physical exam- inations, and addressed envelopes. This is a typical scene of students at work in the community. Work of this type greatly aids our town and our country. The members of the faculty, too, showed patriotic motives, civic- mindedness, and efficient leadership in their extra curricular activities. Several members of the faculty Worked in defense plants last summer. Several teachers responded to the call for blood donors last fall. Mr. Guldin G. Yoder was in charge of war bond and stamp sales at B.H.S. Through his untiring efforts B.H.S. built up a remarkable record of bond sales. Mrs. Hilda S. Reary had charge of Red Cross activities in the school. The Red Cross organizations did a commendable job this year. Mr. William A. Steinmuller taught mathematics to the members of the Civil Air Patrol each Wednesday night. The pre-induction course every Thursday night in the high school gymnasium was under the supervision of Mr. James C. German Qnovv an ensign in the Navyj and Mr. Robert L. Fleming. This course received Wide popularity from men of draft age in the community. Mr. Ralph S. DeTurk, Mr. Paul E. Hartman, and Mr. Fleming addressed Civilian Defense workers last year. Mr. DeTurk, as head of the vocational agriculture course at school, has been a fine leader for the Future Farmers of America in this section. He helped each boy in developing and maintaining home projects. It is projects like these that will give the boys the experience to be efficient farmers of tomorrow. The Y clubs have been under capable faculty leadership again this year. Mr. German, prior to entering the Navy, was the adviser for the Hi-Y. Miss Margaret C. Schmeelk advised the Tri-Hi-Yg Mr. Harry l. Gilbert, the Junior Hi-YQ and Miss Catherine E. Hahn, the Junior Tri-Hi-Y. Faculty members are prominent in civic affairs. Besides belonging to civic groups, they are frequently speakers at local functions. So We see that the faculty of B.H.S. joins the activities of the school to the community and the activities of the school and community to our countryis war effort.

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B.H.S Students Are Drawn From aried And Interesting Communities Photographs can't tell half the story of where we come from and what we do. In order to get a more complete picture of the stu- dents' life, the staH of the H1944 Bear obtained information from the entire student body by the poll method. The results of the poll are very interesting and, in some cases, surprising. The average student of B. H. S. walks to school from his home two miles away. He studies four and one-half hours and works ten hours each week. He likes school part of the time and manages to endure it at other times. One of his hobbies is a sport. He is never stuck at the school dances in the gymnasium since he knows how to dance. From Far and Near . . . Grace Pilgert, a Senior, lives farther from the school than any other student, the distance being eleven miles. Winfield Burk- holder-another Senior, the near- est student, has announced that he can cover the distance from his front door to the school in twenty steps. This is an all-time record. Among the minds of those who regularly or irregularly attend classes in B. H. S. is a great un- discovered intellect. The capa- city of this brain is enormous, almost unlimited, and the owner of this wondrous mind is William Magee. This fabulous brain is able to stand up under the strain of hours and hours of fatiguing mental labor. He studies twenty- eight hours a week, which amounts to one and one-half solid months of studying per term. It is amazing to learn that there are at least twenty-five students who find it unnecessary to study at all. To have such a large group of talented students in the high school is a credit to the intelligence of B. H. S. pupils and a great pleasure to the teach- ers as well as the parents. -V Many Work A large percent of the high school students is helping direct- ly or indirectly in the war effort. Many aid the war effort directly by working in war plants. Some help indirectly by relieving the manpower shortage. Typical places of employment are the Boyertown Auto Body Works, Boyertown Burial Casket Fac- tory, Colebrookdale Iron Works, Eastern Foundry, Post Office, Acme Super Market, and the Boyertown Oil Company. Daniel Reinert is a Senior who works longer than most other students, forty hours per week. His em- ployer is his father, Warren Reinert, 426 East Philadelphia avenue, a huckster. One pupil cannot do a great deal by himself, but when the accomplishments of the high school students are looked at collectively, the resulting figures seem almost like the latest news on the national debt. In one term B. H. S. students travel one-half million miles to and from school. They study eighty-six thousand hours and work two hundred thousand hours. An in- teresting and somewhat stagger- ing fact is that they chew one- half million sticks of gum in that same time. Small wonder that a shortage of chewing gum exists! Their Hobbies Are Interesting The poll showed the boys and girls to be remarkably versatile in their hobbies. Several which attract attention are well worth mentioning. Elaine Reidenauer likes bowling, Robert Weller likes to join in harmony singing, Bar- bara Keely collects miniatures, Louis Gresh enjoys books on philosophy, Betty Martin likes horseback riding, Eugene John- son makes plaster models, Erla Sullivan collects lipstick tubes, and Gerald Eberly collects jokes and tricks in magic. In the poll 1000 hobbies were listed, of which 130 were different. In what proves to be athletically- minded B. H. S., half of the stu- dents' hobbies are sports. The occupations of parents are grouped under four main head- ings. Laborers comprise 520 of the parents, housewives, 325: businessmen, ninety-eight, and professionals,forty-eight. There are a few interesting and unusual occupations among the parents. One is an actor in vaudeville, a second is a sculptor, third, a chemical engineer, fourth, a fire- man, fifth, a bus driver, sixth, a barber, seventh, a banker, eighth, a milkman. Only nine of the fathers are in the army, navy, or marines. The number of parents who are executives, thirty, is surprising. Nationalities Revealed B. H. S. students are of twenty- fcur different nationalities. The majority are of German, followed by English and Irish descent. Twenty claim to be of Swiss an- cestry and an equal number claim French ancestry. As usual there is the unusual. One of Thomasena Updegrovc's ancestors was an American In- Cian. Helen Dykan had Ukran- ian ancestors, Mary Haddad's, Syrian, and Lawrence Austre- vich, Lithuanian. Some of these students are able to speak bits of the language brought over from the mother country and will do so if asked. Where do we come from? If an imaginary circle with a radius of eleven miles is drawn with B. H. S. as the center, a roufrh idea of the area from which B. H. S. draws students is formed. Many outlying villages and boroughs contribute students to B. H. S. Bechtelsville, Gilberts- ville, Greshville, Gabelsville, New Berlinville, Morysville, Engles- ville, Sassamansville, Frederick, Colebrookdale, New Hanover, Congo, and Shanesville are all tributaries to the stream of rural students which Hows into B. H. S. 15

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camera catches a glimpse o f Monday morning devotional H1944 Bear exercise in the auditorium. C AFTER H