Groveton High School - Tigerama Yearbook (Alexandria, VA)

Page 31 text:

TUDEr CONTROL main office STUDENT HELPERS Student office workers aided in maintaining smooth functioning of the school Student control, guidance, and main office helpers performed such jobs as answering the phones, checking students in and out, and delivering messages and ominous blue passes. Student library helpers shelved and checked out books while Mrs. Babb ' s helpers sold supplies in the school store. A crew of ten custodians, headed by Mr. Wayland, was in charge of cleaning the halls and each room every night after a typical day in which 1500 students thrust paper in their desks, tossed spitbaI Is in the halls, and deposited gum on the walls. At the end of the year the custodi¬ ans will undoubtedly find many interesting arti¬ cles when they inspect each locker. 27

Page 33 text:

September 1962 through June 1963 will un¬ doubtedly be remembered as a time of rapid change, both world-wide and school-wide. Peo¬ ple like JFK, Khrushchev, Castro, and De Gaulle and places like Cuba, Laos, Viet Nam, Red China and Africa rocked the political, historical, and moral foundations of the world. At Groveton, students were affected by a shift in administra¬ tion, new teachers, and unusual, modern ways of instruction. Change is essential, and it is the future adults who perpetuate this quality of change. Who emphasizes this obligation to young people? Certainly parents and church do. Per¬ haps most of all, adolescents are influenced by their teachers, who inspire a desire for discovery and knowledge in the pliable minds of their students. With each student having the same advisor throughout four years of high school, the five class counselors became better attuned to the individual ' s needs. Underclass counselors worked to help ninth and tenth graders plan their sched¬ ules while upperclass counselors concentrated on guiding eleventh and twelfth graders to suitable college and vocational choices. The Guidance Department administered SCAT and STEP tests to freshmen and juniors, Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Tests to interested juniors and seniors, and the Kuder Vocational Test. The department also conducted a study of school withdrawals. In September the library opened its doors with 800 new books available, particularly in the philosophy area. Also available were the vol¬ umes of The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, donated by the class of 1962. Librarians lectured to classes on the correct use of the many library facilities. The library was open before and after school, extending to students an offer of quiet absorption of knowledge. Three new courses sparked renewed chal¬ lenge and interest in the English Department. Students of the drama classes learned theater techniques and presented three Christmas plays for the English classes. A class in creative writing encouraged the dissection of various literary works and required three pieces of original writ¬ ing from each student every week. World litera¬ ture encompassed the history of writing from the time of the Egyptians to the present and inspired the analyzation of poetry, drama, the novel, and the short story. 29