Hermon High School - Microphone Yearbook (Hermon, ME)

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From the Principal's Office On the morning of April 4, 1952, Hermon High School and all its contents were com- pletely consumed by flames. The material loss was great. Much money will have to be spent to replace the building. All who have graduated from the school or who have been at all familiar with it will know that it is difficult to place a price on the value of the contents. Hundreds of dollars worth of equip- ment had been purchased through the hard work of students present and past. Some of this can be replaced, much of it cannot. In addition, there were many student belongings of practical and sentimental value lost in this early morning tragedy. Many memories of past accomplishments and dreams of things to come were personified in those material possessions both large and small. All that has happened. Much that has transpired will always remain with us. Out- great concern, though, must be with the present and future. We must all try during this period of transition to maintain our hisrh standards and to present a sound edu- cational program. As we look to the future our plans and our concerns must be for the best interests of the boys and girls in Hermon. We mav at times have to forget matters that are of great concern to us personally and evaluate them in the light of what is best for all. If we keep in mind the goal of attainin' what is best in all respects for our boys and girls and go ahead co-operatively, we shall soon see Hermon High School restored and with it its ideals and aspirations for the future. If we remember the best of the past and work harder for the future, we shall see a high school in which we can all take justi- fied pride. The Editor Speaks We of the editorial staff have found it slightly difficult to put out a “Microphone” this year. The loss of all our material was our major setback. Although our 1952 edition will be slightly smaller than those of past years, we feel that we have done our best under the existing conditions. Due to the short time remaining after the fire for re- writing, we have found it necessary to omit the traditional literary section. We have, though, a greater display of pictures. This year’s publication will be an attempt to write a record for the year. We wish to extend our sincere thanks to our advertisers for helping us to make our year book possible. We hope everyone will patronize our advertisers. P. A. W. Should Driver Training Be Made Compulsory? “Take it easy, son. . .” How often have we heard these exact words as the teen-age boy leaves his parents waving to him as he drives away in the family car. Yes, take it easy—it’s life or death. Every twenty-four hours ninety-seven lives are lost in traffic accidents. Twenty-seven per cent involve school-age drivers, a terrifying teenicide rate. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you, the parent, could pass the car kevs ovev to your son without a single worrv about his safety? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you couH just sit back and relax because you kn°w ho was a safe driver and a good driver? Wou’dn’t it be grand if you. the teenager, could ap- proach your dad and ask him for the car keys and not have to feel uncomfortable be- cause you know he doesn’t trust you and that

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Senior Statistics Name Favorite Saying Will Die of R. Bern is “No future in it” Skiing B. Bishop (???• •—!!!??) Tinkering W. Bishop “Can’t see it” Women B. Bridge “For crying out loud” Overwork M. Brown “Holy codfish” Old age J. Burgess “It is?” Talking E. Byers “Oh” No one to tease C. Harris “I got news for you” Staying home J. Hatch “You don’t know, do you?” Cheerleading C. Homsted “Think so” Refuses to die M. Kitchen “Oh yeah” Hurrying G. Overlock “Oh great” Being quiet J. Overlock “Oh! my gosh” Being noisy M. Phillips “Really” No place to go P. Porter “Crumby sakes” Shaving G. Shields “Oh for Pete’s sake” Not seeing Sonny K. Wilson “Right” Not working P. Woodard “Gee whiz” Sitting still Pet Peeve Ambition Identification Terriplane To be a secretary Skirts Home work To be a farmer Glasses Bases on balls To be a Republican Short haircut Teachers To be a dentist Red Buie’.; Basketball referees To be a nurse Stack of books Boys To be a private secretary Laughing Nothing to do To join the Air Force Flirting Waiting To get married Ballerinas Studying To be a telephone operator Red hair Detention To own a poultry farm Plaid shirts Stage fright To be a fisherman Long legs Staying .home To be a beautician Being pessimistic House work To be a telephone operator Long blond hair Washing dishes To be a housewife High heels Selling candy To be a sailor Whiskers Getting mad To be rich Dark eyes Exams To grow tall Wavy hair Bossy people To have a million friends Cotton dresses

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12 The MICROPHONE he will sit home and worry all the time you are away. There is one way to cut down this terrify- ing teenage rate. That way is through high school driver training. Police accident records show that the trained high school driver has up to seven times less accidents and ten times fewer traffic tickets than the untrained one of the same age. High school driver training has proven more effective than anything else in the history of the safety field in cutting accidents. Why then isn’t high school driver training made com- pulsory in all high schools? Opponents of compulsory driver training cite the following reasons: Its cost is too high. Schools already teach too many sub- jects that distract from their primary func- tion—reading, writing, and arithmetic. Teaching a person to drive is the respon- sibility of the family, the community and the police. In answer to this opposition: first, dual- control driver training cars are available without cost to every United States high school that has a trained teacher and can offer the course a minimum number of hours. The only costs are those of training an in- structor and the cost of books. Second, what could be of any more importance to a person than his life? If a person isn’t alive he cer- tainly doesn’t have to worry about reading, writing, and arithmetic. Learning to be a safe driver is of far more importance than learning to be an excellent speller or typist. Perhaps few people do make their living by driving automobiles, but what good is a job as manager or head of a concern if that person is killed or badly injured while travel- ing to his job? Few of us live within walking distance of our jobs. Therefore, we must travel by automobile. And if we all have to drive an automobile some time in our lives, why aren’t we trained to do so? Third, only from a trained teacher can one learn driving without picking up dozens of mistakes most older drivers make un- consciously, like incorrect parking, illegal turning of corners, speeding, and riding the clutch. The habits we form the first few times behind the wheel are the habits we shall continue to follow' throughout our driv- ing career. Therefore, why aren’t these habits made to be the habits of a good driver and not those of a trial and error driver? All of us are sick and tired of being ex- posed to the dangerous, careless drivers who cause accidents to themselves and others. And every one wants to cut down the 35,000 and over yearly death toll on the highways. Is compulsory high school driver education the solution? Edi tor-in-Chief Opportunity, Our Future Our future depends on us. It is up to us to make that future worthwhile. There are many opportunities for all of us, including the opportunity to live happy and successful lives. We have had the opportunity to re- ceive a very useful education. Perhaps at times we have considered the task a tough struggle. Perhaps we have become very dis- couraged with school, especially the week of term tests but all this discouragcipent and struggling has been worth that long-aw aited diploma. Our job may have been difficult, but what can we expect? We can’t expect to have our education passed to us on a platter trimmed w ith gold, can we? We have to work for what we get in this world. Per- haps w'e have considered this deal rough, but it hasn’t been so bad with the careful guid- ance w’e have received during our school days. Things will probably tend to be much more difficult now’ that wre shall have to dig things out for ourselves. Some day we shall realize what an opportunity this has been— if we don’t realize it now. It is a great opportunity to be able to go out into this world of ours after graduation and be able to get a nice job and earn an honest living. It is also an opportunity to have the right to vote, to do as we think just, and to own a business, a car, a home, and other necessary and enjoyable articles. Would we be able to do all the things in life w’hich are right without this great op- portunity of education? There w’ould be many things in government w’e w’ould not understand completely without the aid w'e have received in school. There would also be many things in our daily living that w'e w’ould not understand without this education. As we can see, education has much to do with the opportunities for us in the future.