East High School - Sunrise Yearbook (Erie, PA)

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a JOHN W. PEPLINSKI

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Early one September we came to East High School alone and friendless. As the autumn days mellowed, we felt the warmth of new experiences and new friends. Together we found other friends in our teachers with whom we shared worthwhile activities. We learned to appreciate the creativity of music and art, the formation of values in English classes, the wondrous intricacies of nature in the sciences, the practical aspects of economics, the skills required to make a dress, cook a meal, build a table, type a letter or draft a plan of a building. As our friends, our teachers shared their time and learning and gave us the gift of seeking to expand our knowledge of the how and why of things. As members of organizations we strengthened our friendships through the service of our time and talents. We participated in bake sales and candy apple sales. We raised money for toys and food for needy children. We supported team spirit as members of the band, twirlers, the cheerleaders. We participated in a scale model of world affairs through the Model U.N. and learned about foreign countries and their customs through language clubs. In many other ways we learned to give in friendship. As friends and teammates we struggled long hours to arrive at victory. Together we experienced the exultation of victory and the exasperation of defeat. We learned the meaning of school spirit when the enthusiasm of 7200 friends rallied us to victory. Then we knew what friendship at East High meant. Together as seniors we shared the memories of P.O.D. classes, rallies, elections. Senior Class projects, music concerts, Eastcapades, name cards, yearbooks, the joy and excitement of our banquet and prom. Then one june evening we shared that final memory of friendship as we graduated from East High School... TOGETHER AS FRIENDS. 3

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Dedication Using the bridge of communication arts, this teacher has developed a teaching style in which a friendly teacher-pupil relationship exists. An East High graduate, he received his bachelor's degree from Gannon College and his master's degree in English from Case Western Reserve University. Before joining the faculty at East in 1950, he taught briefly at Roosevelt and Memorial Junior High Schools. As a teacher of communication arts, he has worked with senior high students, including those in the honors and advanced placement classes. In addition he has acted as a cooperating teacher for several student teachers from Alliance and Gannon Colleges. For the past four years he has been chairman of the English Department and is in charge of the Book Room. He has served on the English curriculum revision committee in addition to such school committees as the Commencement, the banquet, the school ring, and the National Honor Society committees. He is a gallon donor to the Community Blood Bank and among his many interests is the outdoors, especially camping and aquatic life. In recognition of his creative, individual approach to the teaching of the communication arts for the past twenty-five years, the Sunrise Staff gratefully dedicates the 1974 edition of the Sunrise to John W. Peplinski.