Burgard Vocational High School - Craftsman Yearbook (Buffalo, NY)

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During the five war years Burgard hit an all-time high in training records. 54,948 persons, including 12,683 women took war industries training courses. There were 507 teachers from industry and 94 from our own and other vocational schools. The key to the build- ing was literally thrown away when the school operated continually around the clock including week-ends. As early as June 1940 we began to ride the storm. Bur- gard's rivet guns drove millions of rivets, her metal saws cut countless templates, high speed motors drilled thousands of holes, her welding devices fused myriad pieces of steel, and endless varieties of machined parts were turned. Men kept busy learning how to get things l WBK greets the first pupil at Burgard done. It was the school's grand opportunity for service. The Curtiss-Wright Corporation saluted us with the statement: We dip our wings to Burgard for its mag- nificent training job. One of the hundreds of prominent visitors to the school recently wrote: An invitation to be the guest of this school rised to the importance of a command, which to obey is an opportunity not to be missed, and a pleasure always to be remembered. Today Burgard stands out among schools of the na- tion. We are unique in structure where even full size traffic lights are used to control the How of vehicle traffic as it may progress up or down the ramps from Larry Bell gives us a helicopter one lioor to another. Entire aircraft may be found in our fourth floor shops, from single wing private planes, through helicopters, to the mighty jets of the atomic age. Our auto shops have the newest of motors, transmissions, and equipment. Our print shops can and do print almost any form of picture or type, and should you want a small boat, or cabin cruiser, Burgard stu- dents can build you one within our shops, complete and ready for the water. There are approximately thirty shops and twenty-live classrooms accommodating 1000 students. Our program provides a complete education for the student who desires to learn and representatives We constantly get new equipment

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Those were the days to bear witness of our gratitude to them. We owe so much to many - - - So many, many persons have contributed to the growth and progress of this school that a complete list- ing would fill a whole volume. Starting way back in the antediluvian days of vocational education there were Arthur Dean, David Snedden, Skipper Allen, Charles Prosser, J. C. Wright, Lewis Wilson, Oakley Furney, Doc Hawkins, and of course the local school men who believed in the future of vocational education, Dr. Francis Wing, Dr. E. C. Hartwell, Dr. Robert T. Bapst, and Harry Good. Some of the labor leaders and industrialists who rocked the cradle of this school in 1910 are still with us and remain our staunchest friends as well as our severest critics. There are a host of incidents, little and big, which go to make up the history and spirit of Burgard. They are part of 47 years of humanity and education. Problems requiring urgent solution, arguments waxing keen, anecdotes which are funny only because one remembers the fun. Great and important events, mixed with the pleasant and the tragic. Shops where rats had to be chased out in the morning so pupils could come in. And pupils working in overcoats and boots because there was no heat. And athletic championships in sports no longer played in a modern school system. And, finally, the new building and a new era, but this did not stop our history or our tradition, or our tales of humor, pathos, or greatness. The fire in the auditorium in '37, or the nationally circulated ad in the Saturday Evening Post which quoted: -and in creating craftsman, Buffalo stands first. Whole airplanes were delivered to An early auto shop the school and installed four stories above the ground. In 1941 a nationwide broadcast eminated from one of our aviation shops highlighting our National Defense efforts. Life magazine's spread of pictures and the ar- ticle in the Encyclopedia Britannica Yearbook crowned our national publicity.

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of Burgard can be found in all nearby colleges and uni- versities. Today many of our teachers are former stu- dents of this school who believed enough in our form of education to devote their lives so that others might receive the same benefits. IN RETROSPECT - - Shades of Daniel Upton! He was the first pioneer in vocational and technical education in Buffalo. He began the recruitment of that ever-growing army ofinstructors and students in this newer type of education who have carried the torch which he lighted in those early days. What a mental cavalcade passes as we recall, for in- stance, the development of the printing course since the first hand press was purchased. This press stands in silent tribute to those beginnings in 1910 and is an efiective comparison to the many shops and Sl00,000 equipment of today. lt is significant that a little over 300 years ago in the Virginia Colony, that staunch old Royalist Governor, Sir William Berkeley condemned the printing press because, it makes people too cen- sorious of their superiors? In his report to King Charles II he wrote: I thank God there are no schools in my colony, and no printing. The old Royalist is probably restless in his grave when he sees that not only do we have schools but that these same schools teach printing to further education in still more schools. We have come far in the field of education since the days of Governor Berkeley, and among the many accom- plishments of American education, BURGARD VO- CATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL occupies a pre-eminent position in the world of secondary education, and it will forever stand as a monument to the one man who contributed most to its birth and growth,-WILLIAM B. KAMPRATH. Burgard joins the jet age