Etowah High School - Chief Yearbook (Etowah, NC)

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THE CHIEF -’39 CLASS POEM By BOBETTE ANDERS Class Poet ALMA MATER Hail to thee, our Alma Mater, Thou mistress of our toil, Watching o’er thy precious seedling, Sown in spring, on virgin soil. Hail to thee, our Alma Mater, To thy altar now we bring All the efforts of our labors, And thy praise we’ll ever sing. Hail to thee, oh! Alma Mater, We the gleaners come today Bringing sheaves of golden harvest: Bless our efforts now we pray. Hail to thee our Alma Mater, As the evening shadows fall Still we linger to loathe to leave thee, Though our comrades to us eall. Page Six

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THE CHIEF -’39 sisted of speeches, dialogues, plays, songs, and violin and banjo music. Unlike his predecessors, Mr. Morgan evid- ently gave the patrons of Hopewell good rea- son to “hope,” and before another school year rolled around plans were under way for the removal of the school from Hopewell to a site approximately a mile nearer the river and which was to be known as Oak Forest School. When time came to start the new year, Oak Forest was still under construction and a nearby cabin on the place of Watt Hadden was used as the school house for a few weeks. This was Known as Watt’s Cabin. Oak Forest was soon completed and the remaining school term was taught there. Mr. Morgan taught at Hopewell and Oak Forest for seven terms. The upward trend of the school here began with his coming as a teacher in 1871. The old schools, although greatly handicapped, were the foundations upon which our present schools have been built. The schools have been enlarged as need demanded. Among the pupils taught by Mr. Morgan at Oak Forest was one who went there for his first school, and who has since then followed largely in Mr. Morgan’s footsteps. That pupil was the present Supt. of Public Instruction, R. G. Anders. Oak Forest was used as a school site for about thirty years. For many years the equipment was similar to that used at Hopewell. With the beginning of Governor Aycock’s administration, a new day dawned for the public schools. His creed was that every child is entitled to a good school; every young man or young woman, who wishes it, to a good college. Soon a library was placed in the Etowah School and modern equipment began gradually to replace the old. The school term was increased to six months. in 1917; it was increased to eight months in 1926. Early in the century, Rev. M. A. Matheson, who had prerioualy taught at Oak Forest, taught for two or three terms in the Methodist Church. At this time one of the teachers was supported by the county and the other by subscription. One winter the County Superintendent of Public Instruction permitted Mr. Matheson to have a Teachers’ Institute in connection with his school. About this time an unsuccessful attempt was made to establish a church school here. Probably before 1910 a public school building was erected near the Methodist Church. This building was used until it was destroyed by fire in the spring of 1929. This was a grammar school and boys and girls went away to boarding schools for the high school course. In 1928, a great forward step was taken in the educational sys- tem of Etowah, when the Horse Shoe, Rhymer, Pleasant Grove, Big Willow, and Boylston schools were consolidated with Etowah, and the present modern building was erected. Mr. Ralph W. Jones has served efficiently as principal since opening of the high school. In 1928-1929, while the new building was under construction, the high school classes were taught in the Baptist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were the teachers (Continued on Page 29) Page Five

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THE CHIER--S9S ADMINISTRATION R. W. JONES, Principal ® SCHOOL TRUSTEES MR. O. A. ANDERS MR. G. O. MORGAN, Chairman MR. M. H. BELL Page Seven