College of Emporia - Alla Rah Yearbook (Emporia, KS)

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The student body as a whole is not so mature as formerly. An element of young- sters has pervaded the school atmosphere, and the evolution for a more perfect understand- ing of College traditions has been slowly working itself out. Some evidences of croak- ing have appeared which affirm that the vaunted college spirit of the olden days is on the wane. Yet the fears for its loss are empty ones, because no stronger manifestations of true college loyalty have ever been shown than during this year. The wild fur-ious exuberance of the football rooter, as existent in other generations, has been transformed into an enthusiastic effort for a worthy cause. This spirit has appeared among the girls. The girls of the school, numbering less than one hundred, have assumed the gigantic task of raising 325,000 for a girls' dormitory. So vigorously have they pushed the matter that 358000 of the money is in sight. Each girl has pwledged 3525 to be raised by her own efforts. The men on the football flclcr do not have their souls tried by harder knocks than those which the girls receive in their daily solicitations for funds. It takes downright grit to hammer away on a project as the girls have done this winter. The success has been so positive that dormitory is bound to be reatilyiif not this yearithen next. The big coup dietat of the year has been the merging of Lewis Academy, of Vvichita, into the College of Emporia. No stroke of business-like administration has occurred in the history of the school which exceeds this one. The addition of Lewis Academy will mean much to the College in many ways. It will insure a first-class academic department, and will correspondingly strengthen the scholarship of the school. It will serve as a feeder for college classes, and will do away with the unnatural relation- ship of preparatory and college students which now exists. It will center the interest and material assistance of one of the richest portions of the state on the College of Emporia. President Culbertson has found that he cannot attend to the duties of his office, and, at the same time, assume the labors of field secretary of the state, doing justice to both. So, a field secretary has been recently secured. Rev. Matthew Frank, of Kansas City. is the man chosen for the place, and his sole business will be to extend the influence of the school over the state. And so the year has passed. A year full of steady progress and uniform advance- ment. The accomplishments of last year showing up brilliantly against a period of two years without a leader, have been exceeded by a term of slower, more natural growth. The endowment fund has received careful attention and is well under way. Athletics, under the direction of a physical trainer, has been given proper incentive and is improv- ing Two intercollegiate debates have been held, and though both were lost, progress was made by this step toward excellence in higher literary training. The Clee Club has again done efficient work, spreading the worth of the College of Emporia in new places. A mark of distinction arises from the fact that this yearis Senior class will send three men to Yale, besides sending other members to seminaries and other schools of higher learning. Our mild boasting is prompted by the spirit of love. In these days, when the keenest sort of competition exists between schools, it is necessary to be up-to-date in every particu- lar. And we, who have spent some of the happiest hours of youth in the halls of the College of Emporia, who have learned the great affection with which one can bless his alma mater, watch with satisfaction this spirit and evidences of improvement. But claims for merit may arise from other than merely material forms of betterment. For other schools may receive better support, but they cannot assume higher idealsg other institu- tions may have larger equipment, but they cannot create a higher type of manhood or womanhoodg other colleges may bear more important names, but they cannot boast of a fresher, purer spiritithe spirit of Western youth-hopeful, high and wholesome. And so we are proud of past achievements, proud of present station, and proud of the purposes of the future. And now here, at this milestone, with our vision fixed on the happy pros- pect of the greening hilfs in the distance, we are beginning to see the true realization of that for which strong men and women have prayed and sacrificed during all the long, hard years of the past. 16

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ANOTHER NIILESTONE E. are approaching another milestone. Majestically the gleam of its shining shaft looms up by the side ' ' of the road. Its presence strikes us anew with reflections . it f 4--4 ...L -ar---.-- X 5 ' il. 1 t ,il of responsibility and more serious contemplation of our burdens. The car of time passes ahead in pitiless haste, denying to us the meagre pleasure of pondering for an in- stant the mysteries of change. Yet we will here loosen our tight grip on the reins long enough briefly to observe the region in which we find this milestone-the twenty- seventh in the life of the College of Emporia. The first glance enlivens our hopes. We are in a fairer clime than we have yet known. No paradise, to be sure, but the air seems purer, the rocks less rugged, and the prospect toward the hills more vivid and more inspiring. This milestone is on higher ground than any other has been. The way stretches darkly behind usp there is no gleam ahead which denotes lesser labors, but from this point wec see the hills green afar off. Now for the retrospect. Our rise during this year has not been so meteoric as last. Then we flashed from comparative obscurity into the bright light of a new day, and the suddenness of the change appealed to the most optimistic anticipations within us. But this year the change in the growing brightness has not been so sharply marked, owing to the intensity which already existed. Our hopes of last year have by no means been attained, yet the uplift has been so steady and so productive that we do not hesitate to set it down in glowing terms. The year opened with a greatly increased enrollment. The achievements of last year, coupled with a wide-spread advertising policy, and assisted by a thorough canvass of the state during the summer, brought a host of new students. The enrollment in the freshmen class and in the academy is the largest in the history of the school, while the seniors exceed in numbers any class previously graduated. Changes in the faculty have relieved the teaching force from the severity of its work, and have allowed a wider range of subjects to be handled in the curriculum. The offering of the pre-medical and pre-engineering courses speaks well for the up-to-date policy of the school. An athletic director has been procured, and this marks an improvement in a department where is was long needed. In scholarship there has been advancement. The many distracting interests of the school life last year brought down the general average of the students' grading. But this year faculty and students have worked in greater harmony, and the good results have been shown in the grades. Under this heading, we will mention the fact that this year has made the fourth time in five years that College of Emporia has received highest honors in thought and composition in the state oratorical contest, receiving second place in the only year which broke the perfect record. As actions speak louder than words, so do such achievements prove better than by professions of mouth, the thorough excellence of scholastic training given in this school. it i nl n ,., , l l kv 15

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Henry and Schaff and Felix E. John and George and Clara B. Hugh and Mary and Orville T., Cliff and Martha and Joseph E These compose our Faculty. 17