Encinal High School - Horizon Yearbook (Alameda, CA)

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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

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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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candidates for the various offices, and the next day we voted for our first student body officers. When the first official meeting was held on Friday, October 31, 1952, we found Royce Luman, President of the Associated Students of Encinal High School, presiding. Secretary Barbara Weatherton gave a good account of our Political Convention in her minutes. Although this was our first meeting, we had money in our treasury. We were told by Treasurer Delores Phillips that over two hun- dred and fifteen dollars had been given us by Alameda High, Longfel- low, Washington, John Muir, and Lincoln schools. Our new yell leader, Pearline Siller, helped to build our school spirit with some new and different yells. Then one of the big moments arrived—Hope Vaquera, our vice-president, presented the Alex- ander Brothers, the first entertain- ment to perform at a meeting of the new student body. The Assemblies we have now are vastly different from the ones we had in the cafeteria. The room was so small we found it necessary to hold two assemblies each time there was a meeting. Half of the students went to the Blue Assembly and the other half to the White. Oh, by the way, the assemblies were so called because of our newly selected school colors. The colors blue and white were chosen for their true meanings—blue for truth and white for purity. | liked the colors from the very start as they made me think of the blue, blue sky and fluffy white clouds. | liked the two assemblies because |, as Mascot, got to attend both of them and miss a class that the students didn't! Finally, on September 26, 1953, | was adopted as the official mascot of Encinal High School. | had been around for a few months in the minds of some of the students; and | had been drawn by Bob Montgomery for the cover of one of the issues of ''The Echo. But now all the students knew about me and this was the happiest day of my life! But | am getting ahead of my story in my desire to talk about myself... The first dance sponsored by the Student Council was held after school on December 19, 1952. Snow Flake Frolic'' was held the last day before Christmas vacation, which made it a really special occasion. Until our gym was com- 12 ems mmreengE |b pleted, dances were held in room 109 (now made into the two rooms 108 and 109) or in the hallway upstairs. | really thought those dances were a blast! As we became more accustomed to our new habitat, a large number of clubs were formed. They ranged from the Girls' Athletic Association to the Non-Coms and Photography Club. Any hobby or interest you have—we have a club to match it. We have two clubs which have a wider affiliation than just our own school — a Chapter of the National Thespian Society and a Chapter of the California Scholarship Federation. Another great historical event took place on March 15, 1954. Our high school took its place among the eight schools who are members of the Alameda County Athletic League. (That really made me an official mascot.) We were proud to see Mr. Mell beaming over being elected pres- ident of the A.C.A.L. When school started in the fall of 1954, our new gym was completed. What a thrill it was! We could hardly wait for our first student meeting. That meeting was a real blast! We knew that this was only the beginning of all our great student meetings. | really swell with pride when | see or hear our band. | can never forget how hard every student worked to raise money for the uniforms. As activities became more numer- ous, the following dances became traditional: the Opening Dance, the Soph Hop, and the Junior Prom. | always enjoy the Opening Dance —that is the one where all the new freshmen get their social welcome from the entire student body. The Soph Hops are a lot of fun, too. The zaniest titles are given to Soph Hops. Just listen to some of them—'Dreamers' Holiday,’ ‘April Showers,’ ‘Falling Leaves,’ and ‘Daisy Mae's Choice'— aren't they crazy? The dreamy dance of the year is the Junior Prom, Moulin Rouge, Forbidden City — sound exciting, don't they? Another of my favorite activities is the semi-annual senior play. ‘Stage Door’ was a smash hit, and ‘Growing Pains’ had me holding my steel sides to keep from popping! 'Then came the time we look forward to but never want to have come — graduation! The first graduation from Encinal was held in Febru- ary of 1956. It was so pretty, but like all