Elkhart High School - Pennant Yearbook (Elkhart, IN)

Page 32 text:

Senior courses prepared us for college Seniors practice use of the dictaphone. As future secretaries, we continued our study of shorthand in our senior year by taking SHORTHAND 12, giving us practical experience in business. We spent one hour each day trying to build phrasing skill and sustained power in taking office style dictation at various speeds. Outside of class we spent hours practicing our pot-hooks with this part of the course. We then learned to transcribe our notes and produce satisfactory letters at a rate required in business. During the year, we learned to use office machines of various types, to file letters, and to work in actual business situations. We felt that this two-hour course gave us a very good preparation for a business career. Senior girls, interested in the mechanics for future homes, enrolled in PHYSICAL SCIENCE 12H. We learned the principles underlying modern equipment, and how to repair some types of appliances. We studied the different parts of the automobile engine and how they function. The scientific principles in- volved in foods and textiles were studied as well as modern communications, and equipment for the mod- ern kitchen. Future kou tfftcivfm net technical information 28

Page 31 text:

gained knowledge and acquired skills. Now who ever would have thought I could tvpe 45 words a minute with no errors? A good many of us felt that way after completing TYPING 1 1 . We started the year learning how to operate the machine successfully. As time went on, we began to concentrate on accuracy and building our speed. We started typing short paragraphs and letters and ended the year by typing three-page letters and themes with- out errors. As we studied U. S. HISTORY, we followed the American struggle step by step for freedom until Ave became the great country which has kept us free and independent for nearly two hundred years. But not all of our time was spent learning of the past. Even week we studied history in the making in the American Obsemer. In panels and group discus- sions, we talked of foreign aid, Sputnik, segregation, modern weapons, defense problems, and many other current issues. Learning a useful skill in personal typing. The once-a-uee k discussion on the American Observer in U.S. history. 27

Page 33 text:

or careers, for work Coming into the twelfth year, we had many choices as to the English courses we could take. Again we coidd take advantage of an enriched curriculum: modern lit, Bible, dramatics, speech. As a background for college, we were required to study ENGLISH LITERATURE and to improve our written expression in a special course in composition: WRITING LABORATORY. These two semesters are combined in 12A: in one semester we became acquainted with classical English authors: Wordsworth, Browning, Shakespeare, Keats, and Tennyson. In the other semester we learned to write most types of themes required in freshman romp courses at college, including the writing of term papers. Some of us who are going into engineering, art, or architecture will greatly appreciate our trig background, gained through our hard work in MATHEMATICS 12A. During the year we studied the solution of tri- angles, theory of equations, complex numbers, and the introduction into the field of calculus. The problems were a challenge: achievement gave us a real feeling of satisfaction. Making the subject more visual, we con- structed paper figures— tetrahedrons, cubes, and cones. Punctuation study in B riling Lab trill pay off next year. Technical math is based on geometrical knowledge. 29