High School of Commerce - Caduceus Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

Page 30 text:

SOCIAL STUDIES GIVE AWARENESS OF HERITAGE At Commerce we have a fine opportunity to learn about the world we live in through the courses which are offered to us for social studies. Geography, modern and American history, civics, and economics are the chief courses in the very complete program. With the understanding they gain, students are able to apply their knowledge of past happenings to our present day situations. For instance, civics offers the student a better understanding on how In a junior American History class, Mr. Alminas is pointing out to Judith Keefe, Carol Murphy, and Faith Gladden the progress of the Western expansion. 26 In a simulated election, Mr. Finnegan and Carol Ottoson are observing Joanne Lyman, Carl Greene, Rose- marie Borowik, and Gene Spencer in a senior civics class as they stress the importance of voting. the various branches of our government perform their numerous duties and how they solve their problems. Economics is an important subject in the world today. It deals with the satisfaction of human needs and political economy. Economics is essential to successful living and good citizenship. American history, modern history, and geography present to the student our own heritage and the many different types of people in this world and their customs.

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The High School of Commerce offers Filing to senior students as an elective. This subject is vi- tal in every business office or organization, regardless of its size. Among the various methods of filing are alphabetic, numeri- cal, geographic and many more. If students can successfully pass a test, they are awarded the Filing Certificate. Each year many students achieve this goal. Filing is a half-year course alternating with Machine Calculation. IN CHOOSING FUTURE VOCATIONS Barbara Sarage and Bill Leventis are pictured at the top of the page trying to solve the difficult filing Mr. Jones, below, is explaining on the Burroughs procedure of the problem involved. Calculator chart a new method of machine tabula- tion. Looking on are Mary Lou Trombley, Gail Blan- chard, Linda Daniele, Mary Ellen Cameron, Pam Ed- wards, and Mary Poulos. BURROUGHS CALCULATOR Manes! or Sacteie Xvlaed + Single ce Tey Yobds Sebimetion Machine Calculation is a course de- voted almost entirely to the learning of the operation of comptometers and other calculators. Since this knowledge is vi- tally important in the modern business office, where the majority of graduates will be employed in the future, Com- merce offers it as an elective. Students enrolled in this course learn the various steps to becoming full fledged operators. First of all, they learn addition; later on multiplication. The big step is subtrac- tion, after which the peak of progress is reached when a student can master all these three, plus division. 25

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ENGLISH PERVADES ALL PHASES OF LIFE The scene pictured here is the famil- iar setting of one of Mr. Grant's senior English classes. Mr. Grant, as he presents a favorite poem, captures his student’s avid interest. Listening intentively are the following: First Row: Carol Gordon, Rosemarie Ca- sali, and Nancy Spagnoli. Second Row: Martha Dzuira, Geraldine Cul- len, and Beverly Vaz. Third Row: Joanne Lyman and Carolyn Agen. Fourth Row: Barbara White, Ruth Therrien, and Ruth Sterner. The English Department is the largest in the school, since English is used in all phases of life. We are fortunate to have outstanding teachers in this field who make our classes interesting and enjoyable. The Commerce course includes grammatical work, the study of literature, and vocabulary. Many other English courses are offered in addition to the regular required course. Speech, Journalism, 27 Enjoyment Reading, and Modern Literature are some of the electives. There are also special col- lege preparatory courses offered to those who plan on continuing their education. When we think of what our knowledge of Eng- lish will mean to us in the future years and the direct bearing it will have on our ability to suc- ceed, we readily give the English Department and its teachers our thanks for a job well done. This scene took place in Miss Rankin’s junior class of college preparatory Eng- lish. In connection with the current Broad- way hit play, The Miracle Worker, James Yvon is discussing illustrative material on the life of Helen Keller. Looking on with interest are Eleanor Komar, Michael Rick- son, Eloise Berg, and Virginia Slater.