Great Neck South High School - Vista Yearbook (Great Neck, NY)

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BOARD OF EDUCATION, LEFT TO RIGHT: MRS. CONSTANCE P. MCNICHOLS, DR. j. ROBERT RO- SENTHAL, MRS. CLAIRE C. SPECINER (PRESIDENT), MR. MICHAEL S. ZARIN, MR. LAZARUS C. WEINER DR. BERNARD SEIDERMAN; DIRECTOR OF SECONDARY EDUCA- TION I 19 @

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Great Neck Public Schools Great Neck. New York 11020 PHONE 916 482-8690 MORTIMER J ABRAMOWITZ SuRCRINTCNOCNT Of SCHOOLS 20th Anniversary Twenty years. Change? Progress? Erosion? It's hard to realize that I have been in Great Neck for ten of those twenty years. During the double decade. South Senior High School has been born, emerged, grown and developed into an outstanding high school. Nearly one-fourth of last year's graduates won Regents scholarships. Your senior class will move into many of the nation's finest universities? over ninety percent of you will go on to higher education. Although you have changed, the pursuit of academic excellence is an unwavering goal. Courses have multiplied allowing for much choice in the pursuit of knowledge - a wide variety of challenging offerings exist in science, mathematics, English, social studies and foreign language. South Theatre borders on the professional? music and art are alive and flourishing. Governance is no longer viewed as the sole province of the adult professional staff? student delegates to the Board and student representatives on faculty and curriculum committees testify to the confidence we have in positive student participation. The confrontations of the late sixties - felt only minimally here in Great Neck - have matured into cooperation girded by mutual respect. An alternative school (SWAS) was organized and is now in its fifth year as an option for some students. Chess teams, math teams, debating teams vie with athletics in demonstrating the talents of South's students. Open campus, in existence for six years, has proven that, for the overwhelming majority of our students, freedom can be exercised with responsibility. Juniors and seniors in significant numbers sit with adults in adult education classes. Academically talented high school mentors work daily with elementary students in your school. Problems. Yes, a few still continue. Some students, albeit a small number, abuse the open campus privilege. There seems to be, despite our best efforts, an irreducible residue of petty pilfering and vandalism. The future. A High School Task Force is reexamining our present high school organization and curriculum as we prepare to move to a grade 9-12 high school in September 1979. We are studying the reports of the national study groups issued in recent years? we are reexamining the assumptions upon which our high schools are predicated. Our state of health is good? we intend to maintain vigor and to be alert to the needs of the 1980's. Best of success to all of you. Sincerely, Mortimer J. Aaramowitz Superintendent of Schools

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GREAT NECK PUBLIC SCHOOLS South Senior High School 341 Lakeville Road Great Neck, New York 11020 Gilbert Blum Principal Twenty years ------- the older you get the shorter that span of time seems to be. Our high school Is completing its twentieth year which means, of course, that none of our graduating seniors was born when it opened. In fact some of the parents of our present students may have been in high school at about that time. In examining the first Vista I have discovered that there are eighteen teachers who helped start this school, who are members of our faculty today. I also noted with some amazement that all students who sat for their yearbook pictures were dressed alike. Each boy wore a white jacket and black tie; each girl wore the same draped top of a simulated gown and pearls. Hair styles were very different for each sex as well. An examination of the activity pages of that Vista reminds us of the fact that every girl wore a skirt to school. Our Course Offering Booklet indicates that we have approximately four times the number of courses today than we offered at the beginning, and at least twice the number of student activities. Even though I hasten to add that some of the activities that South had then no longer exist today, some others seem to be on their way back. In those days girls did not participate in interscholastic activities. Now there are thirteen teams for girls, equalling the number for boys. South twenty years ago had no Independent Study Program, no School Within-A-School, no BOCES Programs, no Early Graduation Program, no Educational Assistants Program, no Open Campus, no Study Centers, no students involved on governing committees, no student Board Delegates, and a long list of other no's . To say the least our present students would experience culture shock were they to attend such a school, as would members of the Class of 1959 were they to attend our school today. It is difficult to grasp how changes evolve. One seems to never realize that they are happening. We are always startled to discover the difference between how things were and how they are now. It is apparent that in our school changes have come about as result of the efforts of a concerned faculty, a supportive parent body and community, and Involved students over the years. Each of us has benefited from the endeavors of those that came before us. Perhaps for this 20th Anniversary of our school we should reflect on that fact, and rededicat our priorities and goals to continue to create the kind of school in which present and future students can take pride. Sincerely, Gilbert G. Blum Principal