La Salle Peru Township High School - Ell Ess Pe Yearbook (La Salle, IL)

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AND ACHIEVEMENT HE local Township High School is what is called in professional circles a cosmopolitan high school, offer- ing all the courses of secondary education. It has been found that in cities of the size of La Salle, Peru and Oglesby vocational -or technical education of the intensive ty e is highly unpractical. With the exception, therefore, o the commercial department, which is vocational, and some aspects of the manual training department, the curricula of the school are purely educational and aim to prepare the pupils for home-making, citizenship, appreciation of the values of life and for right ethical attitudes,for success in life, and for earning a living. 11 The common elements of all trades and professions, of all vocations of life, are taught, and it is conceived that if these are thorou hlv learned, success in ever , S . , Y held throu h the ex erience of that field , d B P is assure . fl The people of the township in their support of the school have een very generous. Many citizens, and especially the members of the Board of Education, contributed lavishly of their time and services to the perfection of the standards, the efficiency and the equipment of the school. But the most conspicuous example of the generosity of the public has been that of the Matthiessen family, which, in 1903 gave to the school the old manual training building, cancelled many thou- sand dollars worth of high school bonds, contributed the building lots and mone for the erection of the social center buildi ing, gave the property and building of the Hygiene Institute, donated the athletic grounds of 11 acres, the outdoor swim- ming pool, gave money for additions to the Recreation Building and for the re- construction of the main school build- ings, donated the fine library of the school, established at a cost of 36,500 a year the Bureau of Educational Counsel, which is designed to give expert attention to the individual needs of the students, pre- sented many valuable oil paintings and etchings, and in 1926-1928, through the late Mrs. Adele M. Blow and through Mrs. Eda Matthiessen, culminated its munificence by the donation of S400,000 for the erection of a new model high school and junior college structure on the west side of Chartres Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets. l17l ll To this imposing list of gifts, Mrs. Eda Matthiessen during the last year has added an Aeolian pipe organ and a Stein- way grand piano and two original oil paintings. ll Numerous minor gifts have been made by individual citizens, but especiall to be recognized are the gifts of the gracihat- ing classes, which for thirty years annually have devoted all money gained in their activities and plays to fine gifts of various kinds for their alma mater. fl The Social Center, which is supported from the townshi hi h school funds, aims to extend tllie advantages of the high school equipment to the general public and especially to the youth of the community. The social center de- partment is conducted by a director and a man and woman assistant. To its ac- tivities several members of the faculty contribute part of their time. 11 The athletic department of the school is designed for the health and recreation of the students. It is the aim of the de- partment to bring physical education to all, to make health and sport and recrea- tion a means to an end, and neither to consider it an end in itself nor as that feature about which an educational in- stitution should be organized and to which everything else should be subordinated. It endeavors through football, basketball, volley-ball, swimming, tennis and a score of other indoor and outdoor activities to bring to all the students the social values, the civic values, the psychological values, and the recreational values of life.

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OUR PROGRESS HAT pure delight to float in the clouds of reverie, build our conception of Utopia and then live that ideal existence for a few fleeting moments. Those who are content merely to drift along the stream of fancy are not responsible for the vigor of La Salle-Peru today. A musing ecstasy of contemplation alone does not build mighty edifices. But those who see the vision and fight to fulfill the lofty ends are the heroes. They have torn down the barricade on the road to truth that we might browse on the uplands of knowledge. The inspiring word has been progrem. 11 The first session of the La Salle-Peru Township High School was held in Sep- tember, 1898, the construction of the orig- inal main building having been started in 1897. There have been three superinten- dents: Mr. Stratton D. Brooks, now Pres- ident of the University of Missouri, Mr. C. A. Farnam, and Thomasj. McCormack, who has been superintendent since 1903. Mr. T. C. Kohin has been assistant prin- cipal since the foundation of the school. 11 There were six teachers on the faculty in September, 18985 in the second year the faculty was increased to nine. In February 1930, the faculty numbered 52, exclusive of the superintendent and the office staff. The ofiice staff consists of the secretary of the board of education, the registrar and two clerks. One of the distinctive features of the instruction of the school is the employment of student assistants in office practice work. The number of students so employed is 52. From ten to fifteen students are also employed part time in the social center as assistants. This creates a flexible and contractible staff of employes for a vast number of activities. The janitorial staff, with fire- men, consists of seven people. 11 The increase in the attendance of the Township High School has in recent years been notable. At the start, as with all new high schools, the attendance remained stationary. The establishment of township high schools in Granville, Spring Valley, Tonica and other places for some years kept the local attendance almost station- ary. But from 1917 to 1923, the attendance increased 72 per cent and from 1915 to 1923 the increase was 100 per cent. In the last three years the increase has been very rapid, one hundred students or more having been added each year to the school I16l roll. In September, 1929, the enrollment was 946, and in February, 1930, it ex- ceeded 1000. A remarkable fact about the change in enrollment is that whereas for the first years there were twice as many girls as boys in the school, at present in each class the boys outnumber the girls. fl In 1924, in response to urgent solici- tation on the part ofithe public, the Townshi High School Board of Educa- tion estaliilished the La Salle-Peru-Oglesby Junior College, an institution designed to give to the young people of the local com- munity the advantages of the first two years of college or university training. The entering class numbered 32, the total number of students now enrolled generally averages 100. There are training classes for teachers and preparatory classes for nearly all the various vocations and gro- fessions taught in the universities. he college has been signally successful from the educational point of view, its grad- uates have done well at the universities which they later attended, and the report of the North Central Association of Col- leges and Secondary Schools complimented the institution upon its high standards, its careful work, and the success at the universities of its graduates. 11 The establishment of the Junior Col- lege meant a considerable increase in the number of teachers in the school for the reason that the number of classes and hours taught by Junior Colle e teachers is limited by the State ant? National authorities. But all these requirements have raised the standards of teaching in the high school. The Junior College is housed in the top floor of the new high school building.

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Jllllllllllllll PRINTING- In me all human knowledge dvvellsg The Oracle of oraclesg, f Past, present, future, I reveal, Or in oblivious silence seal. What I preserve can perish never- What I forego is lost forever. I speak all languages, by me The deaf may hear, the blind may see, The dumb converse, the dead of old Communion with living hold. All lands are one beneath my rule, All nations learners in my school. Men of all ages everywhere, Become contemporaries there. JAMES MONTGOMERY, 1776-1854 l ' l I i 1 T 5 v lv, . . . 5 . 1 , . ll all 1 3 4 lvl is J