Ensley High School - Jacket Yearbook (Birmingham, AL)

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4 THE GLEAM Building Report Last semester before school closed for the summer vacation, the workmen had already begun the task of reconstructing the old building and erecting the new. The noise and din created by many tools and busy hands was as music to our eager ears, for we knew it meant that we were soon to have the fine new addition that has long been promised to Ensley High School. When the fall term began, this September a great change had been made and since that first day there have been many noticeable alterations. My duty is to give a detailed report of progress made since then. On that first day, and for many days after that there was no water supply and no lunch room to furnish the needs of the pupils. The water was soon connected and within two weeks the lunch room was sufficiently completed for us to use. In the new lunch room there are stationary tables and stools arranged to afford greater room for more tables. With the altered lunch room we have an entirely different type of lunch service and paying which enables the official staff to have less assistance and duties are finished more easily and quickly. The next most important thing that we have to learn about is the advance in work being done on the stage in the Auditorium and Assembly room. From the time school started, until the present day the stage has progressed rapidly and grown from a mere lattice work of wierd designs into a platform which we hope will be finished by Christmas. The new stage is much larger than the old one was and will be more conveniently arranged. The auditorium too, has been enlarged and has much larger seating capacity. A great many of the rooms in the old building, including the principal’s office, have been made larger. This is an improvement that has long been needed. The outside walls of the new building have risen from skeleton outlines to solid, substantial brick enclosures. The class rooms are beginning to take a more definite shape, and the halls are daily growing more and more complete. There are a number of little, insignificant differences that few people would notice, and it would take too long to enumerate them. However, I will tell of a few, such as the desks in place of the uncomfortable chairs in our old annex, better known as “The Floating Palace;” the removal of sewing room to the first floor; the renewed heating plant; fresh material in the “Scientific World” on the third floor; private telephones for the head of each department, so that they may communicate with the office or other parts of the building, and many more of which I have not the space to tell you. In a few more months, if everything is favorable, we are hoping to move into the new part of our old home, and I am sure we will all be glad to do so. CAROLYN SPENCER, “26”

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THE GLEAM 3 Senior Class Officers President Harry DeFreese Vice-President Victoria Davis Secretary ...Nell LeCroy Essayist .....Mildred Wilson Historian Janies Campbell Prophet Cecelia Phillips Poet Roland Carmichael Lawyer Lyle Brumbach Statistician Everett Hagler Artist Beatrice Vincent Orator George Friedlob Pianist Nell LeCroy Vocalist Victoria Davis Violinist Virginia Tate

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THE GLEAM 5 Inter-City Operetta During the second week of January there is to be held in Birmingham a conference of the Southern Music Supervisors. To show to these visiting Supervisors just what the Birmingham High Schools are doing in the way of music, an inter-city high school operetta is to be presented before them at the Phillips High School Auditorium. The operetta is a musical comedy, “The Royal Vagabond,” recently released from the professional stage. The group from which the cast was selected consisted of representatives from the three high schools—Woodlawn, Philips and Ensley. These representatives had been chosen by preliminary tryouts in each of the schools. We of Ensley High feel particularly proud that from our four representatives two were cast for leading roles, Victoria Davis is to take the role of Anitza, the leading lady and Alma Shields is to play the part of Princess Ilelina. Victoria has recently shown her ability for leadership in other forms of student activities, while Alma, in one of our own operettas, has proven her ability as an actress. We feel that Ensley's reputation for splendid work is quite safe in such competent hands. AUGUSTA SANDERS, ’26. ----------o---------- Civitan Scholarship in Voice Another honor which has come to a student of the Ensley High School is the scholarship in voice awarded by the Civitan Club. The announcement reads “Civitan Lawrence Metyarde, director of the Ensley Academy of Music, will award two one year scholarships in music, one in voice and the other for the piano, to students demonstrating unusual talent in these branches of art.” Anna Mary Singleton was selected from the twenty-two contestants as the winner of the voice scholarship. The selection rendered in the try out was “Thanks Be to God.” All who have heard Anna Mary sing are certain that this honor was justly awarded. We are looking forward with pleasure to hearing Anna Mary sing her way to fame. MARGUERITE MATLOCK, '26. ----------o---------- Civitan Scholarship in Piano To a student of Ensley High has come a distinct honor. On October 26, from among twenty contestants, Lester Mann was awarded a scholarship by the Civitan Club of Ensley. The scholarship provides for a year of instruction in piano from Mr. Lawrence Meteyarde. The rules of the contest provided that the contestants play selections of their own choosing and that they have a thorough knowledge of the fundamentals of music. The selections Lester rendered were Paderewski's “Minuet” and Schumann’s “Strange Lands and Strange People.”