James Whitcomb Riley High School - Hoosier Poet Yearbook (South Bend, IN)

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Of course one must glimpse that wonderful American institution — the study hall! January Resolutions Produce Studying is a full-time job for conscientious Riley- ites. Whether in a quiet room or on a busy tele- phone, verbals, tangents, and neuroses are the standard terms of scrutinizing scholars. The study hall, soon to disappear from Riley life, main- tains a steady whirr of mental gears until the heavy student eyelids begin to overpower the student determinism. Study, Study, Study The library carries on a lively business in all types of reference reading and also serves as a place for peaceful skimming through the lighter side of cur- rent and classical literature. And oh! those never- to-be-forgotten days before finals ... on to a less serious version . . . 20

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Tis the season to be jolly and the libn are Mary Anne Richardson, treasurer; Kar and Betty Sousley, president. staff is r naking It iollier. Decorating the traditional tree Slater, vie :e president; She rri Badman, assistant secretary;

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With feet propped up on desk , the back-row flunkie nonchalantly flips his gum wrapper toward the wastebosket in the front of the room. He thumbs through his collection of comic books, Mad magazine, etc., and yawns at the world in gen- eral. The semester wears on. With the ominous threat of final exams looming before him, beads of cold sweat appear on his forehead as his ever-present grin begins to waver. As he steps into the room on the day before finals, his dusty, mold-encrusted textbook is clutched in his sweaty paw. The chair rests on all four legs for a change, as he feverishly scribbles on scraps of paper the knowledge of a semester, and he laboriously assem- bles a set of beautiful crib notes. Research for my term paper? ' Course not, never do today wtict you can do tomorrow for something may occur to make you regret your premature move. These inventive students (names v ithheld on request) experiment v ith their new ■ T ' ' --. « method of cramming for finals ... bridge anyone? Note proper position for homework: back straight, knees bent feet flat down. After all it doesn ' t soy which side should b up! The next day a sly grin cracks his otherwise sleep-robbed countenance as he hunches over his paper like a miser examining his gold. By now the smile is beginning to droop at the corners as he reads down the list of questions searching for one he has answers for. His jaw hangs loosely in its sockets, and his wrinkled, dripping brow indi- cates our hero is a bit unsure of his performance. After masticating two pencils and seven fingernails, emitting a few groans, and scratching his skull until dandruff begins to obscure his blank test paper, another small-time cribster hits the dust. In the back rows of many classrooms this semes- ter we see small, crumpled, sobbing figures trying to figure out where their well-planned schemes went awry. 21