Castleton State College - Castletone Yearbook (Castleton, VT)

Page 82 text:

Juniors went student teaching in the midst of the complications of rural school vacations and unusual transportation facilities. The Seniors were old hands and didn’t seem to be so much noticed when they went out, but the Juniors—from the publicity they received we thought there never was a more creditable group. November Do you recall when we elected representatives to the Boston conference? It’s too bad more of us couldn’t have gone because the reports indicated that there was a good time had by all, both in business and out. But we all partici¬ pated one way or another in the Home Coming Day program soon after and were quite amazed at how our graduate friends had stepped up in our esteem because of their professional status—and because of their pay checks! Many of them wanted to know about our clubs. We told them how we were hoping to have a more efficient system to make them more worthwhile. By that time everyone was participating in at least two organizations besides the Student Cooperative, Men’s Union and Commuters’ x ssociation. The Philip’s House girls had made an improved set-up by establishing their house on a more strictly cooperative basis, the Leavenworth Hall group had an energetic council working on their problems, and the Crow’s Nest, that veritable nest of practical jokes, was con¬ templating organizing. What a group, that Commuters’ group! When you go into their room, you’re apt to see any type of entertainment or activity going on among books, lunch boxes, card tables, and couches. One day they gave a food sale up in the Home Economics’ room that quite rivaled the Birdseye foodsales in quality, quantity, and even prices. Once, after a basketball game they put on an old fashioned party with square dances and a few old fashioned girls . . . We were serious too, on occasion. Professor Heinrichs came over from Middlebury and graphically presented European relationships and their far-reaching effects on us. . . . We thought, too, of others around us, for at Thanksgiving time we sent out baskets to many town families before sitting down to our own pleasant banquet where a program showed Thanksgiving customs at different times and in different coun¬ tries. (The costumes were most original.) December The biggest events, naturally, were the Christmas festivities which included carol singing (with refreshments!), a banquet in a candle-lit hall, a Yule log cere¬ mony, and a play the Dramatic xY ' t class developed and produced to show how our Christian philosophy continues to enrich life. This last was climaxed by an impressive Nativity scene. Private parties followed where pajamas and bath robes, sofa pillows and curlers were prominent among piles of colored paper and string (refreshments were exceptional, being more than the usual good night snack that so seriously upsets the weight chart) . . . The Men’s Union gave a dance without help from the other 81.4% of the school, the Freshmen elected officers, High School seniors visited us . . . Then we all went out for an evening! We tra¬ velled to Rutland in two big buses and a few private cars to hear Bruna Castagna, Metropolitan opera singer . . . Soon we heard our home town church bells ring for their own Christmas celebrations as we then had scattered to our homes, from Derby Line to Hartford, and from Niagara, New York, to Claremont, New Hamp¬ shire. seventy-eight

Page 81 text:

OUR YEAR TOGETHER Castleton Normal School will open September io, 1(440. All boarding students are required to be at the school September gth to settle their rooms. Your roommate will be Miss . Your room is number 48. You will sponsor Miss . You are to have the following equipment: one glass, one spoon, one candle, a bed spread, three sheets, 2 pillow cases, and as many blankets as you need. September And there we were. If it hadn’t been for the friendly faces of helpful school¬ mates, “big sisters,’’ and “little sisters,’’ it would have been rather drab. Regis¬ tration brought out past histories and future dreams—useful to someone, we hope. Then there was the Freshman party in the auditorium where we were con¬ fronted with tens of new names and faces we were to match up correctly. Mr. Scott and Miss Hale attracted the most attention, being new, but all were scru¬ tinized. . . . We really met Mr. Scott officially in chapel. Later he told us how hard he had tried to keep us from hearing his knees knock behind the desk for he knew he had a lot to live up to. We thought him very impressive, never dreaming he would be teaching us the right version of his Alma Mater before long . . . Soon, to get us to explore our surroundings in spite of ourselves, we had a treasure hunt. . . . By the end of that month attendance at church became settled, some folks getting up early to attend the brown and tan Catholic church, some later to attend the Colonial Federated Church, and some going in the afternoon to the little Episcopal Church at the corner . . . Bus schedules and opportunities to ride to Rutland were investigated and memorized by those who were able to go home weekends ... A whisper about a new library annex floated around with another rumor, cheering to those living in cold rooms because it promised the installation of a new heating plant next year if, if the legislature would grant us the money. October Remember when we went home for the first vacation and some of the boys stayed and worked? Incidently, a few amazing appetites for food and milk came to light. The Junior and Senior class officers and committees were elected. The Senior Dance was danced, with the first receiving line of the year an impressive one, and oh, so important . . . We really had fireworks that month, hot and heavy, over a simple question of the girls’ wearing socks without stockings, but when the professional reasons were put up against economy and comfort the question de¬ cided itself. We now wear stockings, except for sports . . . The Junior Class went to visit the Brandon institution to see how less fortunate children are cared for in the state, driving up the Bomoseen road among gaudy fall colors that are always so lovely here . . . One day we went up the North road and discovered the grandest views out over our colorful valley, and nice resting places, too . . . The Halloween party will always be remembered by the squeamish people. That coffin! And that was the time some of the teachers had to bite the apples out of thin air, and odd partners had to dance with the broom . . . Mr. Johnson sang for us in Chapel one Thursday and Mr. Fitch gave us a talk on interesting tomb stones . . . The seventy-seven

Page 83 text:

January “What did you get for Christmas” greetings were soon snowed deeply under papers and exams. We scurried around, snatching opportunities to go sliding, skiing, or skating, even tobogganing, glad that the super cold snap that had cracked pipes in the Foyer had passed and we wouldn’t be freezing our fingers. Clothes collected in laundry bags or on the lines downstairs, and parents received hints that perhaps marks weren’t quite what they should be, but—we also wrote home about the genial Welshmen who sang for us their many old-country songs, and of their soloist who gave us a cockney number and a gruesome bedtime story. . . The N. Y. A. and state helpers had plenty to do to keep up with everything, sho veling snow or coal, typing for the faculty, or seeing to it that we had sufficient vitamins and minerals set before us. February The Castleton Conference, our own really professional conference, came and went with the usual seating and serving complications that attend all our larger gatherings, and then—the long-awaited Winter Carnival. What cared we if the snow had melted and the skating were impossible? We got roller skates and skated in the gym, played volley ball, treasure hunted, and had a good time anyway, watching the proud king and queen walk down the avenue between their attendants to sit on the great ice throne, receive the reverence of their subjects, and delegate their favors and rewards. Again that night they ruled, presiding over the Sophomore Hop from a massive throne, descending to lead in the dancing. That was all during the reading spree when those interesting books circulated, with the reminder “read page 72,” since a few Juniors had been discovering books all this first semester in American Novel Class. March Again the Commuters rose to prominence by staging a feature show of stars and varieties which brought forth the talents of our soap box orators, chorus girls, laundrymen and ice peddlars. They all then celebrated their birthdays together with us at a banquet on the anniversary of the new school, with a pro¬ gram dramatizing all the important events of the past twenty years and fore¬ casting an illustrious future . . . We again turned toward the cultural and listened to the Middlebury Orchestra and Vermont State Symphony, appreciating all the instructions and information drilled into us in music classes . . . When our delegates went to the New York Convention later some of them again made use of that knowledge. That was a memorable trip for the four boys who were chosen to represent our four classes. The girls were generous that time! April Suddenly the Sophomores began to expound teaching practices and find out how little they knew when they had to face their first group of pupils. “Pro¬ fessional” was scarcely an adequate adjective for a description of all their tired glory of being teachers “in the field” . . . The Juniors and Seniors began to spruce up, for superintendents were popping in at odd times. There were shoes polished, hair combed with discrimination, smiles flashing—they just must be presentable! . . . Again a conference called us to Rutland where we mingled with the teaching crowd, examined text books, listened to discussions, and, if we were good, were privileged to hear Commander MacMillan lecture on Greenland, illustrating seventy-nine