Julia Richman High School - Spotlight Yearbook (New York, NY)

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rcbuollslzer Miss MARION D. JEWELL, Principal Miss Marion D. Jewell, Pulnlislier ol HlVlid-Century Newsf, came to Julia Richman in 1941. A graduate ol Schenectady High School and Cornell University, witll graduate worlc in social studies and pulnlic law at Columbia University, she taught in Cambridge, New Yorlqg Uticag Atlantic City, New Jerseyg and Boys High School, Brooklyn and served as head of tlle social studies department at Vvasliington lrving. Miss Jewell enjoys music, is interested in antiques and has travelled extensively aloroad. Keenly interested in world affairs, Miss Jewell lias faith in tlle proc- esses of Democracy and in the aloility of liuman loeings to solve tlie prololems confronting us. Slne says: The riglit lcind ol education in our Democracy will send out young people witli tlie training and qualities tllat will speed tlle approacli ol: tlie world we Wantf, 4 ' m l

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c!itoM'alfCy Cgpea ing The newspaper world is a world of its owng yet it plays a vital part in the affairs of the world at the Mid-Century. Un a smaller scale, Julia Richman, like many a newspaper, has made for itself an important place in the life of our community. Throughout the world, the spotlight is focussed on events ol international significance. National elections, lahor disputes, the Cold War, rehabilitation oi devastated areas, the future of the U. N. and control of atomic energy are matters of foremost importance. ln its news stories and editorials a newspaper mirrors the happenings in the world. The yearhoolc also reflects the happenings in our high school world. For this reason, the Staff has chosen as the theme of the June 1950 Spot- light, HlVlid-Century Newsf' ln the following pages are recorded events of special importance to the seniors of this Mid-Century class. You will find in words and pictures information aloout the principal memloers of the administration and faculty, yourwclassmates, the various organizations to which you have belonged and momentous and trivial happenings around the school. As you turn the pages, you will read loetween the lines to recall a thousand details characteristic of your life in 1950: the short hair cut, straight slcirts, Capezio slippers, :Some Enchanted Eveningf, the water shortage, the coal strilce, history Regents, the Red Letter Day show and the Senior Prom. You will rememloer how in l.950 television antennae sprouted from the roots of apartment louildings. You will rememloer your husy days as a senior. According to a Spot- light poll of J.R.H.S. seniors, the typical school day for the Mid-Century girl is as follows: six hours attending classes, twenty minutes standing in line for lunch, ten minutes eating, one hour and a half travelling hacli and forth hy lous and suhway, two hours extra-curricular activities, thirty min- utes eating supper, half an hour washing dishes, four hours history home- worlc, two hours answering telephone calls, one hour studying Hamlet, trigonometry, first aid, chemistry and all other suhjects, one hour watching television, one hour setting hair and talfing a shower and finally four hours of uninterrupted slumher. Qur memories of high school include many happy days as well as serious ones. We have even experienced some tragedies which at the time loomed very large. Nevertheless, all of us are aware of the fact that as school-girls in the United States of America we are among the most for- tunate young people in the world of today. We are grateful for the oppor- tunity of attending a fine, democratic high school where the faculty share our worlc and our play and where we may develop into responsihle' citizens. 3.

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y ear ofleagues of tfze - entury ews - The world in 1950 seems very different from the world of 1900, not only in material and technological ways but also in political, social, eco- nomic and moral standards. Qnly two generations separate them, hut the differences in the two eras are more startling and revolutionary than the differences that developed in the nineteen centuries that preceded. Last weelc, on her one hundredth loirthday, a woman flew from California to New Yorlc. ln her lifetime she had seen the heginning of the railroad, telegraph, telephone, automohile, suhmarine, aeroplane, radio and television, hydro-electric power development, and the terrifying and thrilling potentialities of the atom and hydrogen homlos. She had seen nations and empires disappear. She had seen a revolution in the status of women and in the concept of government organization and responsihility. ln l950, creative American talent is hailed throughout the world in every field,-history, politics, science, fiction, poetry, loiography, drama, husiness, industry, and the professions. ln 1900, the cultural loaclcwardness of America was still sending many of our intellectuals and artists aloroad where their talents were stimulated and developed lay a more ljavorahle climate of appreciation. The organization of business, of lahor, of society today is very different from that of 1900. The complex organization of government to meet its increased activities and responsibilities is almost heyond the comprehension of the average citizen. Nations and empires, that in 1900 seemed to possess an inherent strength that was unassailahle, have disappeared. Changes in morals and manners, and in our ethical and spiritual values, are hoth alarming and inspiring. We are strengthening our democracy hy the exten- sion of civil, political and social privileges to those of our citizens hitherto denied them, hut we are huilding, too, a bureaucratic system in our Federal Government that tends to limit our democratic practices. A great war always speeds up technological and material changes. It also raises emotions to a pitch that cannot he sustained permanently. Adaptation to the changes and return to emotional control are difficult. Essential values for living and high standards of conduct seem to have heen completely altered,-and often lowered. It is the tasli of education to teach us that the principles oi iustice, of truth and honor, of integrity and respect for human heings, and of heliel in the reality of a spiritual life, are eternal. It is your taslc to help your generation and succeeding ones to har- monize the changing mode of life that man,s genius has lorought ahout, with these fundamental truths. Aflectionately yours, . 'B , O