Grant High School - Memoirs Yearbook (Portland, OR)

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Another big step forward that term was the organization of the band. The majority of members supplied their own instruments, but a few less common ones were bought by the school. How’s that for achievement? To organize a club, a petition had to be submitted to the Council. All club members had to be student body members. That year, the Council also bought a phonograph for general use. In the Spring of 1927, the Student Body bought silk flags for every room in the building and history reference books for the library; gave fifty dollars to the Rose City Library fund, established a Lost and Found department, revised their Constitution to meet the needs of the larger Student Body, added an assistant treasurer who would succeed himself the following term as treasurer, adopted a book plate for Student Body use, selected a school song, secured snappy new uniforms for the band, and provided for two orphans of the Near East Relief. It is interesting to a present-day student how profits gained from Auditorium programs were spent: 5% for Scholarship fund, 2% for library fund, 1% office fund, and the last thing decided upon by the Fall 1927 Council was to take care of one Armenian child. Right here, I’d like to mention how those precious young Grantonians reacted toward the needy. Besides Community Chest drives held in the school, ever so many registration rooms and or clubs, at Christmas time would secure names of needy families with names, ages, and sex of all members. Then they set about planning — not just for one meal, but securing things that would carry over a few days. They KLEIN JEWELERS For Fifty Years Manufacturers of Grant Club and Class Pins See Your Pin on Display in Center Hall 912 S.W. Morrison 226-6748 7

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world. Summing up Plato’s ideas about a liberal education: “To develop in the future rulers the power of independent thought, to open to them the secrets of the Universe, and to help them, as they increase in knowledge, to be filled with an intellectual love of God.” This was what Grant educators were trying to do. Perhaps that is why so many Grant graduates have forged ahead in fields of Science and Medicine as well as in the Arts. Both men and women have also entered the ministry as well as the many other professions. The murals in our auditorium in memory of Mr. Fletcher show the idealism that was Grant’s during its beginning. They aim by line and color as well as by subject matter to interpret the ideals of education. The chains of young people, hand in hand, climbing, step by step, striving toward ideal conceptions of manhood and womanhood — these are intended to symbolize all education. Mr. Fletcher was an educator who inspired all who knew him. By both precept and example he taught that one’s life should be a balance of all things of value; one should strive toward an ideal. His belief in God and in man was a vital part of his dynamic personality. Mr. Fletcher, Grant’s Pioneer Principal, saw the little first termers of September 1924 become the Pioneer Graduates on June 14, 1928. Then, on July 9, he left the job of building upon the foundation he had laid to those who had been working with him. Under his four years of leadership, the Student Body had grown from less than seven hundred to over 2000 members. It had a Fire Squad of seventy members who could clear the building of its 2000 students and 79 teachers in 90 seconds. Instead of eight tiny clubs, it now had twenty-two. It had a 47 piece band and a 21 piece orchestra. It had a Traffic Squad of 32 members who directed traffic and kept order in the congested halls at Assemblies and during lunch period. From its beginning. Grant had self-government. The students were represented by two councils: Executive, which was composed of the president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, editor-in-chief, athletic representative, fire chief, and after the organization of the Boys’ and Girls’ Home leagues, those two presidents. The Advisory Council constituted representatives from every registration room and club in the school. These Councils had joint meetings about every three weeks. They planned Hilarity Shows, Carnivals, candy, doughnut, dill pickle sales — in fact, all the money-raising events. Student Body officers were elected at the end of the term by members of the student body. Student Body membership was open to all for a fee of fifty cents. If a student could not afford that, jobs were available in the student body office or school office so that he could earn the amount, no stigma attached. Any student who was worthy and eligible could be elected to any office if he had a G average and was a member of the Student Body. Regular school assemblies were free, but others with outside speakers were planned for student body members only. In the fall of 1926, the Student Body took over the “General News”, gave it the new name, “Grantonian”, and distributed it free to all Student Body members every two weeks. ROSS HOLLYWOOD CHAPEL 4733 N.E. Thompson St. Portland, Oregon 6 DEHEN KNITTING CO. BILL DEHEN 404 N.W. 10th Ave. 222-3871

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brought clothing and toys. One or two of the youngsters would call and make arrangements with the mother for a day they could play Santa Claus for her children. On that day as many students as could would go. They would give out the toys and play with the youngsters and then as a surpirse for the mother, leave a nice box of staples and extras. Everyone had fun. It wasn’t charity. There was no condescension. It was compassionate, spontaneous love! Those irrepressible, rambunctious, overflowing, wonderful Grantonians! One would want to wring their saucy little necks one minute and love them to pieces the next. Another thing you grads might like to remember (or forget?) was that to be an officer in the Student Body one had to have a G average (79-89) and members of organizations had to be passing in three subjects. Flunkers weren’t popular with athletic coaches either. Among other interesting memorabilia of those first four years, we might mention that to get the Student Body treasury started in the fall of 1924, we borrowed $500.00 from Benson High School Student Body. This was lent without interest for a three year period. Grant was able to repay this debt in the fall of 1925; and to show our appreciation, we presented the Benson Student Body with a beautiful picture - a covered wagon scene - for their library. Under the picture was inscribed, “Pioneers in Friendship.” Although the Drum Corps, organized by Robert L. Dick with the help of his buddy, John Dean Goss, had played at games and rallies, it was not officially recognized until the Council in the Fall of 1925, financed their spiffy new uniforms. our first class play, “Come Out of the Kitch en”, May 21 and 22, 1926, were both presented in the Washington High School Auditorium, for Grant, as yet, had no Auditorium of its own — all assemblies being held in the gymnasium. A little anecdote may be told here of a young teacher who assigned the short story, A Cask of the Amontillado, by Poe, to be read by her fourth term English classes. The following day, before she could ask the students how they liked the tale, one smart young man (there’s one in every class) announced, “That’s a terrible short story but it would make a darn good play.” Without batting an eye, the teacher said, “Okay, you write it, I’ll direct it, and we’ll give it here at Grant.” She had not the slightest idea he would accept the challenge. Was she ever wrong! He did - so she did, and at the May Carnival that year (1926) these intrepid and inexperienced young Thespians presented a travesty which probably set Mr. Poe’s eternal rest back a hundred years. Room 232, at that time, had a skylight. Tar paper was secured, and fearless fourth termers climbed the dizzy heights to make things very dark for the play. No night activities were supposed to take place at the Carnival. All concessions were closed by seven-thirty or eight. As it turned out, this was the — but wait. Admission to all concessions, purchase of all goodies, was done by tickets which were sold in strips of as many ten cent (or was it five cent) ducats as one could afford. The first play, an all school production of “Daddy Long Legs”, sponsored by the Buskin Dramatic Club, May 15, 1925, and the second, Who could ever guess that so many youngsters would save four of their tickets to see such a play? Congratulations from Oregon's Otcn Bank OREGON MUTUAL SAVINGS BANK 8