Grover Cleveland High School - Log Yearbook (Ridgewood, NY)

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lQUQ'!ClflJ U S After many long and weary hours of hard work, one appreciates and welcomes an hour of recreation, informal education or entertainment. This is how students of Grover Cleveland hail the extracurricular activities. G.C.H.S. clubs have helped us to reach our ideals, understand situations and solve problems, bring about better understanding of our religions, and accomplish the fellowship we now cherish. The Latin Club through its various activities tries to bring its members a wider knowledge of classical literature and to give members an opportunity for wider fellowship and leadership for those who wish it. The club is under the excellent direction of Miss Light, Helen Caruso, first Consul, and Marian Muller, second Consul. This term the Deutscher Iugendring is under the direction of Mrs. VVchrmann. Ferdinand Barbatsehi and Elfriede Pfeiffer are the officers. The Iugendring tries to further the interest of students in study of German through pleasurable and educational activities, such as hikes, movies, plays and songs. The officers and Carol Lee Fuchs are members of the senior class. The Spanish Club this term went to the opera Carmen, to a Spanish museum, and to a delightful Spanish restaurant. These and other activities led the members to acquire a better knowledge of the culture of the Spanish- speaking countries. The club is under the direction of Mrs. Gallagher, and its oflicers are Iohn Pmotti, President, and Iudith Schreier, Vice-President. ln order to learn as much as possible about ltalian folklore, music, and customs, the Circolo Dante has, under the supervision of Mrs, Rieeardi, taken trips to the Italian movies and to the opera and has engaged in other helpful 12

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Cgdofktales ana! Cgdofks Paul Bunyan, Rip Van Winkle, Ichabod Crane, Davy Crockett, and Alice in Wonderland are only a few of the folk characters we learned about in school. Through reading about them we were transformed from little children into the characters themselves. Perhaps we were Paul Bunyan drinking up a whole lake in one gulp, or the Headless Horseman riding through the darkness, or maybe the Mad Hatter of Alice in VVonderland. Our parents marvelled at the imagination needed to create such fantastic characters as found in any of these stories. But in school they aren't so fantastic. Look around you and compare some of the people and things you know, and see how closely some of them resemble these characters. Instead of reciting the Iabberwock we learned chemistry, the person saying, 'Tm late, lim latef' was a student and not a rabbit, The Headless Horseman, of course, was none other than our Regents with lehabod Crane the student going in to take them, and Rip Van Wiiikle was the student who fell asleep in class so often that it took him twenty years to graduate. That was the humorous side of our schooling, but there was also a serious side. Though we didn't always realize it, we were being prepared to leave the haven afforded our irnmaturity so that we would be ready to enter the tense fast-moving adult world. At this time we are engaged in a cold war and also what is officially known as a police action. Things like that are allowed to continue because there aren't enough people in this world educated to think for themselves. They were never prepared to become the kind of adults needed to make a country physically, morally, and socially strong. We cannot even say that those people are still in the phase of life that believes in fairy tales because they did not even have the opportunity to read them. VVe, in the United States, are extremely fortunate in having free higher education for those who have the intelligence to realize that it is through education and research that we can make this a world of civilized and peace-loving people. PATRICIA SEIDL '53 l l

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activities. The oflicers are Rose Adamo, President, Anna Spiaggia, Vice- President, and Eleanor Buscemi, Secretary. For those Who enjoy debating, the Town Meeting Club, under the di- rection of Mrs. Paul, gives them an opportunity to voice their opinions. Members participate in Boro Forums which usually take place at Forest Hills High School. The otlicers are joseph Saladino and Rosalind Scotti. One other club that specializes in speakers is the Speakers' Bureau. The members under the supervision of Mr. Driscoll develop a skill in discussion and in advertising school projects. The oflicers are Katherine Turiano and lda Wray. Another of the civic clubs is the Theodore Roosevelt Club under the direction of Dr. Ryan. The President, Eileen Kaelin, along with Dr. Ryan teaches the application of the Colden Rule to everyday life and a Usquare deal for all as experienced by the great square dealer, Theodore Roosevelt. The club takes trips to the Roosevelt Club in New York. If ever you hear a great big bang or smell an odor that is simply out of this World, you can be sure it comes from the room where Mr. Taub's Crucible Chemistry Club is meeting. Here the ollieers, Frank Young and Anita Liotta, along with their fellow members, develop an interest in chemistry beyond the classroom. In order to promote a better understanding of hospital life for the nurses of the future, the Future Nurses League under the supervision of Miss Clausen has nurses from diiterent hospitals discuss with the members the subjects and activities each hospital offers. Pat Murphy and Eleanor Hartman served as oflieers. Students interested in art have a chance to learn about etching, silk- screening, block-printing and many other art processes in Miss Martin's 13