Harding High School - Folio Yearbook (Bridgeport, CT)

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-. ,-. EELTHEI STYL S college preparatory classes automatically be' came members of this new group and help' ed to establish its policies. In this work there were two aims at the outset which they thought were absolutely essential: first, to guide the pupil in the self ection of his college course and to turn him toward the right college, second, to assist him in passing college examinations and al' so to help him make the necessary preparaf tions for entrance. With the foregoing in mind, the Educational Guidance Depart' ment was asked to assist in helping girls and boys as early as the sophomore year to pick out the right courses in high school, and, if possible, to determine the profession which they expected to follow later. The teachers of the college group early in December organized the pupils who plan to take the examinations of the College En' trance Examination Board and started to hold review classes during and after school hours. The teachers gave many hours of extra work, for which they received no compensation. These plans, as outlined above, have been continued during the three years, and each year they have been found to be more sue' cessful. The result of the college examinaf tions have been above the average, so that today the Warren Harding High School is rated in New England as one of the leading preparatory schools, outfranking in many cases the older high and preparatory schools in this part of the country. The first year more than eightyffive per cent of all the pupils passed the college board examination, and last year this percentage was raised to almost ninetyffive. Past records of other schools are not entirely available, but from confirmed reports the record which Warren Harding has made in the past two years has been exceeded in only one or two cases, and in those instances by private preparatory schools. Une of the outstanding features of the examination last year was the passing, by the preliminary group, of one hundred per cent of all examinations. A record is being kept of all pupils who pass all of the pref liminaries and the finals. To date, one pupil, Francis King, has succeeded in accomplishf ing the task. Fourteen pupils out of a pos' sible twenty have passed all of the prelim- inary examinations, The school has receivf ed many letters of commendation from col' leges, complimenting it upon the fine record in the examinations and also praising highly the record of the pupil who entered col' lege. To date, no pupil who entered col' lege from Warren Harding has been dis' missed due to failure in his college work. The teachers and the school look with pride to this record and know that in the future, when this new system has been thoroughly established, even more wonderful results will be obtained. justin Ricker, director of the College Preparatory Dept. The purpose of the wellfequipped, propf erly-administered school library of tofday is threefold in its relation to the activities of the school. In the first place, it meets the teaching work of the school at all points and serves as a central laboratory for sup' plying to the various departments additional apparatus in the way of books, periodicals, pamphlets, clippings, and pictures. Next, it furnishes a working laboratory for the inf dividual student, where he may exercise his ability to search out and follow up informaf tion, and where he is taught thorough, definite library instruction, or how to search intelligently for such information. And furthermore, it provides for the student an environment of carefully selected books and

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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

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STYL 5 magazines, in which he is free to explore and discover his individual reading tastes In our three years of organization the aim has been to build up within the school a library which embodies this threefold ser' vice. We now have a carefully selected col' lection of more .than four thousand books, chosen to meet the curriculum needs of the various departments of the school, and also to meet the recreational needs of the stud' ents. XVe receive regularly throughout the year about forty different magazines, each representing the best in its particular field of information, and we have collected a large iile of pictures and clippings for class' room use. Our attendance records show that over onefthird of the entire student body uses the library daily, and during each period in the day the librarian, the assistant librarian, and one teacher are at hand to help these students, through guidance and suggestions, to find the material they need. All iirstfyear students are given instruc' tion in the arrangement of the books in the library and in the use of certain important reference books as sources of information. Also, during the year a reading contest is held, with the cofoperation of the English Department, for the purpose of encouragf ing the reading of interesting biographies and other stimulating stories of personal ad' venture. Many of the duties connected with thc daily routine of our library service are taken charge of by student assistants, who have organized themselves into a Library Squad, and whose interest in this school service and feeling of responsibility toward it help to in- still a similar' spirit among the other stud' ents of the school. lt is by means of this co-operation of students, teachers, and lif brarians that our wellfequipped library plant functions as an active, living force in our school life. Hazel Erchinger, librarian When Warren Harding opened in Septem' ber, 1925, there were 250 students enrolled in the Commercial Department. This enroll' ment has shown a steady increase each year, until today there are 362 students taking com' mercial work, or forty per: cent of the total school enrollment, exclusive of classes one and two. In September, 1925, there were only 65 boys taking the commercial courseg in 1928 we have 101 boys enrolled, an inf crease of fiftyffive per cent. This is en' couraging, for the demand each year for boys who have completed the commercial course has been much greater than the num' ber graduated. To encourage boys to enter the commercial course and to meet this def mand of the community, the commercial cur' riculum has been materially changed. Dur' ing the past year two new subjects have been added, business organization and advertising. It is also possible for students who may want to go to some higher institution to elect physics, chemistry, a foreign language, or mathematics, and thus meet the entrance re' quirements of many colleges. In the annual state contest held by the Connecticut Business Educators' Association on March 17, our entrants won first place in the 80-word shorthand contest, second place in the 100fand 120-word shorthand conf test, and second place in the advanced book' keeping contest. Miss Mildred Keegan's transcript in the 80'word contest was graded 100 per cent. Miss Elsie Stirk won second place in both the 100fand 120fword contest, while Alfred Del Vecchio won the second place in the bookkeeping contest. The department now has 78 graduates. A survey of the employment of graduates is made each year. The surveys show that of