Cass Technical High School - Triangle Yearbook (Detroit, MI)

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Triangle Staff Annina Vulpetti Editor-in-Chief Q AUXILIARY MEMBERS E i i l Norman Waiter E Bill Brakeville M' Marge Adair Betty Chilles rrrrrr Jo Ann Drovedahl ',r-1 , Valetia Rogers mL Q ' ' Pat Luszki K M of Ellen Reitz Mr. Arthur Obel Assit Editor-in-Chief Sponsor Sylvia Koscioleck Elaine Grosso Jack Clark Eleanor Whalbrink Faculty Editor Organization Editor Homeroom Editor Co-Art Editor, .Tune Rose Lee Alex Marilyn Rosenthal Shirley Pekarski Gwen McFerran Co-Art Editor, .Tune Art Editor, January Business Manager Typist .9-

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MR. LOUIS E. .TENNINGS Mrs. Ford retired from teaching at Cass in June 1954. She joined the Cass faculty in September, 1921, after having been granted her Bachelor of Arts degree from Olivet College and having taught University of Grand Rapids and served as acting head of Cass' Social Studies Department for more than ten years. During much of this time Cass was a four year high school. Mrs. Ford had the respect of her students and the affection of her colleagues many of whom have been her close an excellent teacher and a loyal friend who will be greatly missed. MISS DOROTHY SKEWIS Mrs. Sether came to Cass in 1931 to teach the courses in Costume Illustration. Prior to that time she taught high school classes in Saginaw, and for five years she was a com- mercial artist in New York City. She is a graduate of Olivet College, and took her training in fashion at the Traphagan School in New York, where y. Mrs. Sether has always taken a kindly and personal interest in her students, and many of our successful fashion designers and illustrators give credit for their success to her early guidance. Many graduates have kept in close touch with her through the years. White Pigeon, Michigan, her home town, will be Mrs. Sether's location for the future, where she plans to enjoy her hobbies of sewing, reading, and enameled metal work. MISS BERTHA BALLARD Mr. Louis E. Jennings is retiring as a counselor to the science department at the end of this school year. His long and interesting career began when he was a student at Cass Tech in 1909. After he graduated in 1912, he attended the University of Michigan where he obtained his Bachelor degree in Chemistry. Duringthe summers of 1926 through 1928, he completed the necessary courses for a Master degree in Chemistry. Mr. Jennings entered Cass in 1919 after having worked as a chemist for two years at Detroit Graphite and Chrysler Motors. At Cass, he taught Pharmaceutical Math when the pharmacy course was offered. He has also taught Chemistry one through five for 20 years. In 1942, he obtained his present position as a counselor. Many Cassities will long re- member the fine counseling and expert advice he has always offered. Upon his retirement, Mr. Jennings is moving to Miami, Florida, with his family. There he plans to go to the University of Miami where he will take courses in chemistry, physics, biology, and Spanish. He is also planning to teach chemistry at the University on a part time basis. at Clio, Michigan. She received her Master's degree from the friends for three decades. She left Cass with the reputation of MRS. MABEL GOODFELLOW FORD Miss Dorothy Skewis, who has been on a year's leave of absence, is retiring from her position as head of the Cass Art Department. After her graduation from Morningside College, Iowa, Miss Skewis took special work in the field of graphic design at the Art Institute of Chicago. She has devoted 30 years to Cass Technical High School - as a skillful and inspiring teacher, and as a wise and friendly counselor. Miss Skewis is retiring from her Detroit duties, but not from her profession. She is instructing future art teachers at Buena Vista College in her home town - Storm Lake, Iowa. she later joined the facult MRS . BERNADINE SE THER Miss Bertha Ballard retired from Cass in January 1955. She joined the faculty in 1926. She had attended Lewis Institute in Chicago, the University of Michigan, and received her B.A. degree from Wayne University. Miss Ballard taught foods at Cass for many years but she is best known for her teach- ing of Home Nursing, First Aid, and Child Care. During World War II she taught Red Cross First Aid to teachers after school in order that they might qualify for their Red Cross certificates. Recently she has made it possible for high school girls to receive their Red Cross certificates. Miss Ballard was sponsor of the Pre-Nursing Club when its members were all girls planning to enter nurse's training schools. She took the girls to all of our local hospitals and advised them as to their nursing careers. The mark which she made on these girls gs evidenced by her Christmas cards from former students now living all over the United tates. Miss Ballard richly deserves the pleasure of retirement but she will be greatly missed and her place a most difficult one to fill. .3.

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A Dissertation on the Modernizatio of Cass Technical High School The Detroit of today is an ever expanding, ever modernizing city. Cass Technical High School is a very essential part of Detroit. The new Civic Center, the slum clearance pro- jects, and the Expressways all signify a Dynamic Detroit. Our school system, too, has shown great progress. Functional and beautiful new elementary schools and high schools have been built. However, technical training in our city is represented by facilities that were built 34 years ago and which have changed very little since. Looking back over this period of thirty years, it is seen that Cass' scholastic influence on the industrial capability of the city has been tremendous. Now, as ever, the industrial corporations eagerly employ Cass graduates. But, in- dustrial expansion is now even greater than the expansion of the city in general and Cass' facilities are still mainly as they were 30 years ago. The day of the unskilled laborer is over. In the near future, every man and woman will need some essential technical knowledge in order to survive. While the responsibility for providing adequately skilled citizens is that of all the schools of the country, Cass must carry an added burden. Being the only technical school in Detroit, the center of the automobile industry, it is the job of this school to train its students to meet the city's demands. To do this requires an array of curriculums com- parable to leading universities. A graduate of Cass has not been taught only how a process is accomplished, but, also, the explainable and unexplainable reasons for it. He is capable of questioning a common practice and often improving it. He possesses a technical education. For many years Cass has met this constant demand, 34 of them in the present build- ing. In doing so, much outdated equipment has been allowed to remain. The physical state of the building has deteriorated. Conditions exist that hamper the ability of the school to do its job. In order to remedy this situation, an extensive modernization program is being undertaken. Cass Tech has to be ready to meet the increased student enrollments of future years. Only through great costs and sacrifices can this be accomplished. However, it is infinitely wiser to provide the education faculities Cass needs, rather than neglecting these needs and regretting the unavoidable results in future years. Since 1921, when the Cass Technical High School was completed, a minimum of main- tenance work has been done both on the exterior and interior surfaces of the building. The laboratory and shop equipment has only partly been replaced with more advanced and newer tools and facilities. Obviously, something has to be done about these blemishes on Cass' standard. The school building and contents are currently valued at approximately 315,000,000 . To im- prove the building's condition up to the level of a more modern high school with modern facilities, at least 351,500,000 would have to be spent. This, of course, seems like a large amount of money, and it is. Even, though this enormous cost would be offset easily by increased student interest, stimulated by the lighter, better equipped and more cheerful surroundings. Interested students do better, more satisfactory and accurate work. The result would be a generally higher scholarship and citizenship rating among the students, the realization of which would be ideal for any school to achieve. There have been many suggestions made concerning the renovation of the building. Some of them are realistic, practical and downright necessary. Others are quite impos- sible to adopt. First to be started is the new roof now being installed. Construction of an all new machine shop including completely modern lighting and electrical facilities was started June 1. The building shop is being transferred and the course revised. The Cass lunchroom is a major problem in itself. It has been suggested that the tea- chers' lunchroom be moved from the eighth floor to Room 713. The eighth floor space could then be used by Cass' student body as an activity. This solution also would eliminate the problem of split, Study-Lunch hours by providing the additional room necessary for the greater number of students. Another suggestion, often stated and repeated, is the provision of better acoustic properties for the lunchroom. Then, conversation between persons sitting on opposite sides of a table would be possible without sign language and high-pitched screaming. -10-