Encinal High School - Horizon Yearbook (Alameda, CA)

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Our History... As Told by the Encinal Jet The strangest thing happened to me the other day—l was sitting in front of the school on our new Senior Bench, and | suddenly felt that someone was watch- ing me. | looked around but saw no one. | then turned to see, peeking at me from around the corner of the bench, what appeared to be a jet. He was carefully scrutinizing the Senior Bench and ME! | guess he wondered if | was a senior. | looked a little more closely and the realization began to take hold—he must be the Encinal Jet —our Mascot. He looked friendly enough to me and so | spoke to him. Soon we began chatting like old friends. We exchanged helloes'' and then began to talk about our school. It had never occurred to me before that Encinal had not always been the fine, beautiful school that it is today. As we talked | began to wonder about the beginning. Then, in a flash, an idea took form. Why not ask the Encinal Jet? He would know all about it—the beginning, | mean—of that fact | was quite sure— and so | asked. He sat down on the bench and thought about it for a few moments and then told me the whole story. These are his words; some of the story you will know, as | do, but some of it will be new to you as it was to me. Well, | wasn't here,’ the Jet began, but I've heard that Alameda had only one public high school for a long time, Alameda High School. Every semester more and more students crowded its halls and classrooms. The administration of the Alameda Unified School District decided that there was a great need for a new high school in the city. Dr. Paden, who was superintendent of schools, worked diligently until, after several years of planning, the new school was ready to be built. The name was chosen before the building was begun; the Board of Education decided to name the new school after one of the three original townships on the island — ENCINAL. A call for bids was issued and when | heard that a new high school was being planned, | knew that my time had come. There were only three ''School- less'' mascots wandering around at the time, and | was one of them. The Eagle and the Wildcat were only slightly inter- ested, so they didn't stay around to help with the construction. After the bids were accepted and the contracts signed, the long, hard task of building began on the twenty acres of ground beside the bay. The rocks had to be removed, the ground leveled, and the concrete pilings driven deep to support the building. ‘Can you imagine all the work those men had to do? | was always on the side — helping — supervising, naturally! Mr. Thorp, the school department building inspector, let me help him; he never made me do any hard work; and we can assure you of the quality of the work!

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In Tribute Pioneering seems to hold a magic charm—especially for such an active and lively person as Dr. Paden. Pioneering held a great challenge for him—in many ways. Although most our our territorial frontiers had been conquered, the pioneer in Dr. Paden pushed him along the trails of the early pioneers and he discovered many important things pertaining to the history of the West and of California in particular. A second high school for Alameda was one of the dreams of this man. A high school as full of wonder and charm and spirit as its very name—ENCINAL! Encinal, being the name of one of the three townships on our island, carried a great deal of significance for Dr. Paden. Dr. Paden, as Superintendent of the Alameda Public Schools for twenty-eight years built Alameda's educational system into one of the greatest in the entire nation. A tribute to Dr. Paden is unnecessary—he has built a tribute in the hearts of all who knew him. Bi XS id; JIM BENTLEY (1937-1953) : AZE JONES . . . (1939-1954) 3 x CAROL PAGE (1937-1956)

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The first buildings were the main building, the shop room (which was then our cafeteria and auditorium) and the girls’ and boys' locker rooms. These buildings cost one million dollars, but they seemed so bare because there was no landscaping at that time. All the freshmen, and you remember that is all there were, had to walk the long asphalt path to P.F, It really made me feel right at home since it looked so much like an airstrip. Eventually the new buildings w ere to be built and my little airstrip would be just a pleasant memory—mine alone when the next two classes have graduated. On January 13, 1953, a bond issue was voted on and passed so that the rest of the school could be completed. We were all terribly excited because we knew that two new wings would be added in addition to the library, the homemaking rooms, music rooms, a cafetorium (with a small stage), our gym-auditorium, the football field, track, and baseball diamonds. The whole stud- ent body got behind the bond election, and we like to think that we helped its passage in a small way. Let me see now; | guess that just about covers the early history of the school. Now about the students and faculty. 'Hmmmmmm .. . How shall | begin? | suggested that the Jet begin at the beginning—the first day of school. Oh, sure; | don't think | will ever forget the first day of school! It was really quite a sight to see. All the students began to arrive soon after 8:00 a.m. Boy, were they excited! | don't know who was more excited, the students or yours truly. Now that | think about it, the faculty, the lucky thirteen who opened the school, were not exactly calm, either. After a few weeks, things began to settle down. Since there were so few students, everyone became well ac- quainted from the very first. This made it easier for the clubs and other activities to get started. The Girls' Association sponsored our first dance. This Spook Shuffle, ' a girl-ask-boy affair, was a huge success. One of the first things to get organ- ized was the newspaper. Thanks to Mrs. Breuer's 1A English-Social Studies class our newspaper made its first appearance on October 13, 1952. The first issue was followed each quarter by the publication of another issue by one of the English- Social Studies classes. | am proud to say that, in a way, the newspaper was partly responsible for my discovery. When the paper was named The Echo by a vote of the students, | knew that | was soon to be discovered. | always did think that | had an echo—most jets do, you know! We had a student body, but what good is that unless we have student body officers? Our first semi-annual Political Convention was held in October of 1952. Bob Montgomery presented the