I C Norcom High School - Greyhound Yearbook (Portsmouth, VA)

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CONGR TUL TIONS MR. W. E. WATERS, A. B. , A. M. LINCOLN UNIVERSITY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY f 97 ff--2 1 -- PRINCIIPAUS MESSAGE Tis education forms the common mind, just as the twig is bent the tree is inclined. Pope Progress is a slow process, but it can be depended upon when it evolves from patience, experimentation, hardwork, understanding, mutual coope- ration, spiritual insight, and moral stammina on the part of individuals and of groups. In critical days, such as these, - frustrations, conflicts, confusions doubts, and fears often confound youth and set them off their course. Since they are the hope ofthe future, every person, group or agency working with them, must be sure that they are undergirded with devotion to God and Man, the best possible education, a postive approach to life's problems, and an unquenching faith in the present and the future. H. W. Beacher has wisely statedthat we should so live and labor in our time that what came to us as seed may go to the next generation as blossom, and what came to us as blossom may go to them as fruit. This is what we mean by progress. I. C. Norcom High School has attempted to reflect the interest of school officials, principal, and teachers in the advancement of education for the Negro populace in Portsmouth. There has been constant effort to articulate problems in teaching, curriculum, guidance, and administrative practice as they relate to educational levels below and above the high school, for this is basis to curriculum improvement. Our role has been to Specify the pupil, his environment, his capacities and his ambitions, for we believe that: 1. learning should be adjusted on a basis of individual differences 2. learning should be motivational 3. learning should be meaningful 4. learning should be experiential 5. learning should lead to improved behavior and attitudes. The American secondary school occupies a strategic position in the country's educational design. The Negro secondary schools stand in the shadow of a transition which is bewildering, yet extremely challenging. It indicates a need for redefinition of goals in terms of the demands of the times and of the future. What are these demands? They are as follows: 1. to achieve academic thoroughness 2. to acquire physical and moral soundness 3. to accomplish cultural advancement 4, to attain spiritual gowth and refinement 5. to accept the obligation of civic responsibility. These can be accomplished through competent leadership, adequate school facilities and materials of instruction. Working in new and challenging ways in the improvement and appraisal of teaching, developing wholesome parent-community relationships, endeavoring to improve the curriculum in ways which promise to enhance the quality of learning for the gifted, average or slow pupils, and continuing guidance services in the areas of testing and personnel work help pupils more adequately adjust to school experiences and experiences beyond the school, To the Sponsors and the Graduating Classes of 1959, who are responsible for this yearbook, we express our deep appreciation. This book represents an activity which will depict in a pictorial way the teachers, students, and various groups engaged in the serious business of providing for, belonging to, and participating in activities which assure wholesome development for successful living in these perilous times. To our graduates we extend a fond but sad farewell! Take with you the wise words from an old English Prayer: Give us, Lord, a bit o' sun, A bit o' work and a bit o' fung Give us in all the struggle and sputter Our daily bread and a bit o'butter Give us health, our keep to make, An' a bit to spare for others' sake Give us, too, a bit of song And a tale, and a book to help us along Give us, Lord, a chance to be Our goodly best, brave, wise and free, Our goodly best for ourself, and others, Till all men learn to live as brothers.

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MR. ALF J. MAPP SUPERINTENDENT The I, C. Norcom faculty and students are to be congratulated upon their initiative, enterprise and resourcefulness in once again publishing a yearbook. The school paper informs the student body, faculty, and friends of current achieve- ments, coming eventsg it gossips, philosophizes, crusades, is read avidly at the time, quickly cast aside and generally forgotten. The school literary magazine gives the creative writer a medium ofexpression, is read critically by contributors and would be contributors, agonized over by editors and advisers and soon finds refuge and rest on an inconspicuous library shelf. Not so with the yearbook. Its coming is eagerly anticipated months in advance of publication. The editorial staff spends countless hours in selecting a theme and many more tryinghours in decidinghow the theme can best be interpreted. 'The business staff agonizes over securing sufficient funds to finance the grandiose ideas of the editorial staff, for each edition must be different from any of its predecessors. It must portray the personality of the senior class. But once the yearbook becomes a reality, good or bad, it becomes the senior's most prized possession. Autographs are cherished and a laudatory inscription by a favorite teacher or campus hero has value beyond compare. Once properly autographed, the yearbook is given the place of honor among one's most prized possessions, to be thumbed through and dreamed over in all the years to come. When young men and women leave home to establish one of their own, things of greater material value may be left behind, but the yearbook is carefully wrapped and transported to another place of honor to be studied and enjoyed by another generation. The 1958 - 59 edition of THE GREYHOUND, too, will be accorded a place of honor in many homes. Mr. Alf J. Mapp, Superintendent

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VO GRATULATIDNS - Mr. A. T. Edwards, in B. S., M, s, I' gf Lfifb z,fZf' '-IX ASSISTANT PRINCIPAUS GREETING We extend congratulations to the pupils and staff for a banner year in the life of Norcom. Our athletic teams have brought glory to our school, but other cul- turalactivities of our school have not been eclipsed by athletics. All other organizations have won the highest award or loomed near the top., We are rapidly coming to the realization of our dream of a well balanced pro- gram second to none. This year we have seen a rise in academic achieve- ment as evidenced by a larger number of our students placing higher on state and national testing instruments in our accelerated testing program. For all this we are deeply grateful. Congratulations to the seniors and sponsors for' your untiring efforts in producing this fine edition of The Greyhound. Upon the pages you have recorded your activities and rich experiences that will afford all of us much joy as we reflect upon them in the future. HAMPTON INSTITUTE C ORNE LL UNIVERSITY