Grimsley High School - Whirligig Yearbook (Greensboro, NC)

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practice of having a mid-term graduating class. Here, too, was the first veterans ' school program in the state, beginning in 1946 and extending until June, 1948. In 1949 we were granted our own broadcasting station, WGPS-FM, operating on ten watts at eighty-nine and nine-tenth megacycles. With this we were once again the pioneers. WE ADDED MANY ATTRACTIONS For forty-eight years, students in the Greensboro High School have been challenged to do their best scholastically in order to achieve recognition through the honor roll. That the class of 1909 might always remember their Alma Mater, they began the Greensboro High yearbook, and Newman I. White was appointed editor. This was a successor to the former and only publication of the high school, a combination newspaper and magazine, The Sage. Always eager to take part, Greensboro High School participated in the first state triangular debate in 1912. High Life, the school newspaper, had Paul Causey as the first editor and Mr. Edgar Woods and Miss Inabelle Coleman as advisers. It was first published September 25, 1920. A year later Miss Jane Summered, a Latin teacher, brought forth the idea that school government placed in the hands of the students would be successful. Lengthy discus¬ sions among the faculty and a student campaign proved the idea acceptable. So in 1922, with Miss Summered as adviser, the first council was elected, and Robert Irving became president. That same year, fixed programs were established for a boys’ and girls ' athletic association. In the fad of 1923, the Civitan Club, with Mr. Guy Phillips as president, first sponsored our system of awarding stars for achieving honor rod. Students who were out¬ standing in qualities of scholarship, leadership, service and character were first honored in 1923, through membership in Torchlight, the new chapter of the National Honor Society. Miss Nita Gressit served as the first adviser. Since High Life was proving so successful, the publishing of a magazine, Home-Spun, was begun in 1925, with Carlton Wilder as the first editor, and under the supervision of Miss Laura Tillett, head of the English de-

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1921, the last year of Mr. D. R. Price’s administration, the first city-wide physical education program in the state was introduced at the high school. In 1922 the first instruction in music at Spring Street was under the direction of Mr. Glenn Gildersleve. This was Mr. Guy B. Phillips’ second term as principal. It was under his principalship that our first organized summer school was established in 1924. Mr. Phillips became superintendent of the city schools in 1929 and was succeeded by our present superintendent Mr. Ben L. Smith. Mr. Lee H. Edwards followed Mr. Phillips as principal from 1924 until 1925, and his successor was Mr. C. W. Phillips who continued as principal for eight years. For the first time there was a mid-term graduating class in 1926, and boys were given academic credit for the attainment of Eagle rank in scouting. That year, though public school music was begun in 1900, the first real high school progress in chorus work was made by the or ganization of the first glee club, which originated as a quartet. The following year a permanent band came into its own with Mr. Grady Miller as the first band-master, and classes in speech and dramatics were begun. With the class of 1928, Mr. Earl Slocum established our first orchestra, and the three subjects in advanced mathematics were added. The year 1929 brought the beginning of art, with Miss Henrietta Lee as instructor, full time dramatics, and classes in journalism and creative writing, taught by Miss Marjorie Craig. Shop was organized and set up in the basement the following year. From about 1929 until the depression in 1933, our high school was at its highest peak, with a faculty of sixty and approximately 1,200 students. During the dark days of the depression, the city failed to provide a supplement, and consequently a three year period of eight-months’ school was begun. Mr. E. T. McSwain officiated until Mr. A. P. Routh became our principal in February, 1934. The year after Mr. Routh came, twelve students, who earned no wages, enrolled in the first diversified occupations class in the state, and one of the first two in the South. A year later we began one of the first distributive education classes in North Carolina. The first students in the state to receive credit and to graduate from night- school training finished in 1941. The succeeding year brought to an end the

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partment at that time. In 1929 a special day, known as Home-Coming Day, was set aside for all the alumni who so enjoyed returning to Greensboro High School. The next year, representatives from several colleges were invited to attend the first College Day. With 1931 came the first Social Standards Day and the discontinuance of the yearbook. The Reflector. Because of the depres¬ sion, two years later High Life was temporarily discontinued; and the old original Home-Spun, after having won national recognition, succumbed the next fall. High Life was revived in the spring of 1937, while Home-Spun was republished, though modified, for this, its final year. With the spring of 1939 came the crowning of Jean Stafford, our first May Queen. The dramatics association, directed by Miss Lottie Wall, sponsored that and the following ceremony, which was the last before being discontinued during the war years. When our constitution was amended in 1941, we felt that our school was complete except for an organized recreational program. Three rooms were, therefore, set aside specifically for our entertainment; also parties and dances, co-sponsored by the P. T. A. and student council, were scheduled at regular intervals. After World War II, the council revived our May Day. At last, in 1927, the Greensboro Youth Center was established. This gathering place had its inception in the recreation program which had begun at school. At first it was under the direction of Mr, Weddie Huffman. Since it is sponsored by the City, the Center is available to all of Greensboro’s youth. The last class of Greensboro High School ' s first half century heard for the first time our Alma Mater, written by Mr. Herbert Hazelman, the band director, and it saw the installation of a driver’s course. Also, the class of 1950 had efficient Fred Upchurch as editor and patient Mrs. Estelle LeGwin as adviser when they revived our yearbook and changed its name to Whirligig. Thus ended fifty years of obstacles and work, hope, boundless progress, and SUCCESS. Now, this first class of the second half century steps out into the world to take their places among the men and women of America, giving themselves wholeheartedly to the service of their God, their country, and the high ideals of their own Greensboro Senior High School.