DeWitt Clinton High School - Clintonian Yearbook (Bronx, NY)

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sembled a barn. BuT Cl-inTon grew: The building was changed, changed again: more sTudenTs and Teachers came and wenT unTil a new building was consTrucT- ed. This Time iT was a huge building, capable oT housing Thousands upon Thousands oT sTudenTs, spacious, Tully equipped, on a green rolling parkway. BuT The building does noT make The school. IT is The sTudenTs wiThin The building, iT is The TaculTy7 iT is The spiriT beTween boTh. And in This inTangible TacTor ClinTon has excelled. For The spiriT oT cooperaTion ThaT has exisTed in This school has always been iTs mosT admirable characTerisTic. Boys oT every race and religion came here and learned Their chemisTry, his- Tory, maTh, buT mosT imporTanT oT all, learned To live TogeTher. DiscriminaTion had no place in ClinTon, Tor CaTholic, Negro, or Jew, and boys oT every racial and religious group learned ThaT haTe comes wiTh ignorance, and They were here To dispel ignorance. Side by side boys oT every sorT oT background sTud- ied, lived, enioyed. Friendships ThaT lasTed ThroughouT The years were Tounded in ClinTon and The boys learned ThaT liTe is noT a one man aTTair buT an inTerlocking arrangemenT in which all have To cooperaTe. BuT leT us look Through The years and sTudy The evoluTion oT De WiTT ClinTon High School, an evoluTion which changed iT Trom a small box-like building oT TwenTy-Three TaculTy members and 586 sTudenTs To a modern sTrucTure Tilled wiTh Thousands oT sTudenTs and a TaculTy rosTer running inTo The hundreds. 2 I Senior Councif .gznior Cjommiffee Senior prom gommiffee

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ggnfon Wewd SM!! N v D Wagpie Siva!! Jgridfa y l Olng O MATTER how you look aT iT, TiTTy years is a long Time. And no one can deny ThaT in The pasT TiTTy years a loT has happened. For beTween l897 and l947 Two greaT wars were ToughT. The airplane, auTomobile, and a hundred oTher aids To mankind were invenTed and perTecTed. The principle oT aTomic energy was discovered and a new power capable oT beTTering or desTroying The world was Tound. People emerged Trom a Torced isolaTion To discover ThaT The man in The Tields oT China was as much Their neighbor as The Tamily down The sTreeT. The inTerdependence oT naTions was soon made apparenT and The UniTed NaTions, Tollowing a war which almosT ended civilizaTion, made iTs appearance. DisagreemenTs marked iTs every session buT hope was held high, and people looked Torward To a new world, one world. And we in ClinTon led our lives. There's no denying iT, The liTe oT a high school sTudenT is noT very exciTing. BUT we were commiTTed To Tour years oT educaTion in a high school which had also passed Through a revoluTionary TiTTy years. FiTTy years had made De WiTT ClinTon inTo a high school rich in TradiTion. For iT was TirsT Tounded in a dingy building, a building which caused iTs TirsT principal To remark ThaT iT re- 20

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CKCLJJ Kommiffee Cgnfon Commiffee mougfadfi Sociefg LeT us sTudy The ClinTon SpiriT which has also developed over These TiTTy years. LeT us look back To l897. Qriginally called Boy's l-ligh, The school opened in ThaT year and was soon accommodaTing over 500 sTudenTs. A public high school was a novelTy and an early Tailure was expecTed. BuT To The surprise oT all, Boy's l-ligh prospered. Under The direcTion oT iTs TirsT principal, Dr. John T. Buchanan, The school grew unTil an annex was opened. Boy's l-ligh soon made iTselT TelT in The Tield oT sporTs, Tor iTs baskefball guinTeT and TooTball Team romped To many vicTories over surprised opponenTs. The skepTics were a biT shaken and doubT was re- placed by respecT. Boy's High had won iTs place among high schools. A Torerunner oT The ClinTon News soon made iTs debuTg The TirsT ciTy high school paper was snaTched up by The sTudenTs. BuT The building was small and cramped condiTions resulTed as The en- rollmenT Tigures reached 2,000. ln l900 Boy's l-ligh became De WiTT ClinTon l-ligh School To avoid conTusion beTween iTselT and Boy's l-ligh oT Brooklyn. WiTh The new name came more and sTill more sTudenTs. Annexes were going up all over The place To Take The overTlow Trom The main building. Finally in l903, The Board oT Educa- Tion announced ThaT The old building, which was siTuaTed aT 60 WesT l3Th STreeT, would be replaced by a new and bigger school. People were shocked 22