Denison High School - Monarch Yearbook (Denison, IA)

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.Y .-- -.f 3'1wz:1s3g.v.3,. reflecfions of 1953-54

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denison high school

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reflecfions of '53-'54 S a glistening pool reflects the image of the freckle-faced boy and his fishing pole, so the windows of the school reflected the rising flag and the upturned faces of attentive boys and girls. It was the Twelfth Annual Flag Raising Ceremony, and on this occasion, Miss Jesse Parker, retiring state superintendent, discussed the changes in education she had witnessed during her lifetime. Following the singing of the Star Spangled Banner, and a welcome by the new principal, Ernest Gustafson, upperclassmen made their way class- ward reluctantly, while self-conscious freshmen darted nervously here and there looking for their respective rooms. In devastated Korea the guns were at last silent, though elsewhere fight- ing and unrest continued. The situation in Indo China, where French troops had long been fighting the Communists, became more serious. More than two million people stood cold and wet to watch the Coronation of Eliz- abeth II, and the fiftieth anniversary of Orville and Wilbur Wright's famous flights at Kitty Hawk marked a half century of world progress in aviation. ln spite of unrest in the farm scene, an alarming rise in unemployment, the bombast of McCarthy investigations, and the invention of new and more deadly weapons of destruction, life of a student in Denison High School was much the same. He voted for his class officers, joined the band or glee club, cheered or groaned as athletic contests were won or lost, helped select home- coming, ice carnival, and track queens, and became a member of one of a number of clubs. Harvest Time was the theme of homecoming festivities, and the jun- ior's Horn of Victory was judged first. The cast of the junior play, Little Women, turned in a professional performance, and an atmosphere of quiet reverence was created during the Christmas Vesper program. Semes- ter tests, county tournaments, and the Band's Pop concert climaxed the re- flections cast during the first half of the school year. Along with unseasonably warm weather came the realization that the year was rapidly coming to an end, and students began preparing for various vocal, speech, and instrumental contests. A variety show was presented through the combined efforts of the fine arts department, and the seniors staged the fanciful comedy, The Curious Savage . April 24, high school girls appeared gracefully arrayed in a swirl of soft colors on the arms of their best beaus for the top social event of the year, the Junior-Senior Prom. To the strains of Pomp and Circumstancen graduates marched deliber- ately in to the annual Baccalaureate service. Finally, on graduation evening, the senior, clad in cap and gown, saw his mom, his dad, his teachers, his rela- atives, and his friends sitting in the auditorium. Then he realized that on their faces as well as his own was reflected the story of his life thus far. Pic- tures of trial, anxiety, failure, and success flashed across his mind, and he wondered what reflections he and his classmates would cast on the pool of life. .4-