Harding High School - Folio Yearbook (Bridgeport, CT)

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STYLUS , L g r Fig' I Senior Frolic is an afternoon affair held each semester. Class eight people at that time have an opportunity to develop initia' tive and leadership in the planning of this program. Each room arranges a stunt and puts it on in the auditorium with the two lower classes as guests. This program is unsponsored except at the final perform' ance. The most spectacular function of the year is always the Senior Prom, a formal affair, at which the parents, members of the Board of Education, and members of the faculty act as patrons and patronesses. This is arranged for by different pupil commit' tees, who ind in their work plenty of op' portunity for leadership, initiative, and practice in working with others for a comf mon goal. Certain customs for these aff fairs are fast becoming fixed, such as the receiving line, the grand march, the pref cedent that, although the girls appear in formal dress, the boys do not wear tuxedos. Further festivities after the dance is over are not sanctioned by the school. The upper classes of our school are always organized for purposes of common interest but not many meetings are held except those of the seniors. This class meets frequently for business or social reasons, which makes for school unity and school spirit. They discuss such problems as graduation cos- tumes, class rings, and class pictures. The president of the class presides at these meet' ings, assisted by the other officers, and everything is conducted on a very democrat' ic basis. The attempt throughout all our activities is to develop creative school control, to aid the pupils to develop social ideals and habits desirable in school and in after life. We strive to make each pupil feel he is an inf tegral part of the school and of its life. julia E. Moynihan, dean. The promotion of the student's health as an obligation of the educational adminisf tration is recognized and assumed in a measure in advance of many secondary schools of today. A suite of three rooms, consisting of a firstfaid room, where minor emergencies are cared for, and two rest rooms, is provided. A graduate nurse doing fullftime duty is in attendance. Provision is thus made for the immediate care of emergencies and minor ail- ments. The cofoperation of the parents and physicians is sought and an effort made to def tect and report early evidences of health dis' turbances. Teachers and students are free at all times to consult with the nurse concerning individual health problems. All students ab- sent because of illness are examined before readmission to classes, and assistance in ad' justment to school work is arranged when necessary. This measure is also of import- ance in guarding against communicable disease. In the effort to meet the community need in the socialization of the program of stud' ies, classes in home nursing and child care for girls have been introduced. These class' es have two definite values: first, as a direct contribution in knowledge to meet life needs, and second, as exploratory subjects. Instruction is given by the school nurse in the simple and important practices neces- sary for intelligent home nursing and child care. ,The importance of medical supervif sion is emphasized, and the necessity of hygienic living in the prevention of disease. This work, based on the needs of the com' munity, should have a farfreaching social influence. As an exploratory subject such instrucf tion affords students interested in nursing as a profession an opportunity of testing their ability. It is also a means of discover' ing students having deinite aptitudes and

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STYL This is brought about by their careful direction and supervision of the child's intel' lectual growth, habit formation, physical, social, and moral development, and aesthetic appreciation. And, if the best is none too good for the youth of today, who will be the lead' ers of the Democracy of tomorrow, why not the best? Agnes E. Collins, vicefprincipal Since the school's paramount interest tof day is to promote more complete social lives of youth as well as physical and intellectual lives, Warren Harding supports such activf ities as we feel will best develop in the pupils suitable habits and attitudes in the social relations of life. We encourage the organization of many different types of ac' tivities in our extrafcurricular program so that the benefits of the social training will be open to the largest possible number ac' cording to their interests and desires. The school endeavors to bring out the educational as well as the social and recreaf tional value of these activities. First, our home room plan of organization, with the home room teacher as adviser, and the home room leader as director, is social in its nature. The members of the group have a few minutes daily to plan together the work and the place their particular room is to take in the affairs of the school both from an ad' ministrative and from a social point of view. Then the different clubs of the school are all social and tend to develop good'felf lowship and pleasant relations among the pupils themselves. The past year we have had many organized active clubs that met at regular times for work and entertain' ment. Some of these were the Latin Club, the French Club, the junior Business Club, the S. O. S. Club, the Glee Clubs and the Speech Club, Besides their regular weekly meetings, each one of these groups gave an entertainment or dance during the year. These affairs were open to the whole school. Another phase of our school life which is entirely social in its nature is the daily luncheon of thc pupils. Our boys and girls are allowed to eat with whom thcy'please and chat with their friends very freely. They have the sponsorship of only one per son at this time. During the year we have many pure ly social functions, such as dances and frolics. Practically all of these affairs are held after regular school hours in the after noon in our own building under the direc' tion of sponsors. Only very few evening affairs are held during the year. We usual' ly have one entertainment, the Senior Ban- quet and the Senior Prom, in the evening during each semester. We feel that it is harmful for boys and girls of high school age to attend evening functions, besides, the school dislikes the added responsibility im' posed by such activities. All parties are under sponsorship and are arranged by committees of pupils selected by these patrons or elected by the group. The past year the French Club, the S. O. S. Club, and the Theatre League all gave very fine dances in the gymnasiumg the junior Business Club gave a party in the Commerf cial Department: and the Latin Club gave a splendid program in the auditorium. Different organizations, such as the Library Squad, the Leaders Squad, and the Stage Craft Club, while partly social in their nature, are groups that meet for dehnitely planned work. Their meetings are irregular. The Boys' Clee Club has appeared twice this year before the public and the Girls' Clcc Club once. The Senior Banquet is an evening affair planned by the pupils under thc direction of an adviser and chaperoncd by the ad' ministrators and senior class teachers. The

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STYL S interests for this vocation, and of directing them along lines of best preparation. The great impetus given to health work in the past twentyffive years has greatly increased opportunities in the nursing field, and the fact that fiftyffive of the girl students of our school indicated nursing as their first choice of a profession shows that there is a definite need for this type of instruction. Mary J. Latimer, school nurse The Bridgeport plan of selecting pros' pective normal school students has a three' fold purpose: first, to discover intelligent, so- ciallyfminded girls who would probably make good teachers, secondly, to encourage desirable pupils who of their own initiative have decided upon teaching as a vocationg thirdly, to persuade unpromising candidates to relinquish the idea of becoming teachers. The criteria for judging desirability inf volve Connecticut State requirements, psy' chological and other objective tests, high school grades, a personal fitness index, a physical examination, and the successful completion of prescribed normal' school preparation work. A very simple sociological study of Bridgeport is conducted by means of group conferences which concern themselves with questions centering about social composif tion, characteristic schoolfdistrict populaf tions, and the work of social agencies. Every problem is studied from the view- point of teaching and teachers. The methods employed in these confer' ences may be grouped under the head of re' ports, oral and written,, discussions, projects, committee investigations, and field work. It is intended that the study should de' velop an appreciation of the intellectual, so' cial, and cultural contributions of other lands, and also arouse a thoughtful attitude toward the great problems which arise through immigration. It is expected that the work will be of some value in breaking down racial antipathies and national hat' reds, and that it will indicate in some degree the important place in the vital problem of citizenship which should be occupied by the good American teacher. The group conferences disclose other values which are directly related to the self ection of prospective normal school stud' ents. They furnish opportunity for getting a fairly reliable impression of each pupil's personality in its larger aspects, such as willingness and ability to cofoperate, power to act intelligently upon suggestions, attif tude toward other persons and toward work, readiness and ability to assume and to dis' charge responsibility, appearance, manners, poise, and vocabulary. Ideals and standards in the matter of preparation may be gaugedg voice may be appraised as to tone, pitch, articulation, and enunciationg speech peculiarities and defects may be detected. Mechanical equipment, such as habitual grammatical usage, spelling, and penmanship may be ascertained. Lastly, each student's ability to select, arrange, classify, and use material may be deter- mined. ln addition to group work, there are in' dividual conferences which occur either at the request of the student, or as necessity requires. Mrs. Minnie Kelsey, director of the Normal Preparation Department. When the school opened in the Fall of 1925 the faculty felt that more should be done for the pupils who plan to go to col' lege than is accomplished in the average high school of today. To that end they def cided to set up a department known as the College Department. The teachers of the