Lanier High School - Viking Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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236 distributive education

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Fixing Cars For a Grade and a Trade Banging, grinding, and clanking -this was the music heard inthe Auto Mechanics shop. With all this activity, Auto Mechanics was one of the most productive organizations in Lanier. Not only did it give you a trade to go into after high school instead of having to blow four years in college, but it was a challenge. It took a certain knack to be a good mechanic and in Auto Mechanics you could decide if that was your can of grease or not. Working on cars was as interesting to the guys in this course as batiking was to an art student or football to a jock. The people in Auto Mechanics worked on anybody's car, but the money went to Auto Mechanics and not to them personally. It paid for tools, like their new S1700 machine, and it paid their way to the many meets they went to. Coach Yoakum, Mr. Matthys, and Dr. Phillips were among the ones who had an opportunity to let the Auto Mechanics guys better their education on their cars. Lanier Auto Mechanics did very well in the District meet, and Ronny Smith and Rex Albrecht won second in State for their Corvair engine. Mark Bolles was also picked second in State for his engine head. Auto Mechanics was very rewarding for the people involved. It taught them a trade, gave the outstanding ones an opportunity to travel, and was exciting just in itself. The people who had been in Auto Mechanics found themselves ready to face the real world when they left school behind forever. Bill Pendleton and David Lopez appear very engrossed with their work on an engine. auto mechanics 235

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On the Job Schooling Most people blew DE. off as a group of students who stayed hidden behind the blue door with the gold diamond, and who were lucky enough to get out of school early and make money the rest ofthe day. Not so. To be in D.E. also meant to be involved in DE.C.A. - Distributive Education Clubs of America. DE.C.A meant Halloween and Christmas parties, 325.00 dues, a Carnival booth, bake sales, a car wash, calendar sales, candy sales. Area convention and competition, a banquet with employers, and a breakfast the first Wednesday of every month. ln fact, D.E.C.A was compulsory and brought the life into being a member of DE. DE students called their jobs Training stations, which were considered a part of the Trainees grade. Joe Coach Cole, Lanier DE. coordinator, kept a tight run on how the trainee did at work through communication with various employers at stores all over Austin such as Edison, Scarbrough's, Storehouse, Beall's, K- Mart, Sage, Sears, and Leon's. Although DE. aimed at sales training, some students learned warehouse receiving, credit procedures, stock work, recordkeeping, public relations, and phone orders. Students competed in sales demonstrations, manuals, job interviews, and merchandise display at Area convention in Arlington. Two Area winners qualified to compete at the State convention in Houston. Clifton Shirley won in sales demonstration techniques which he practiced at Beall's in Northcross Mall. Gary Lockhart, DE. president, wrote a winning manual on automotive techniques in conjunction with his job in the Automotive Department at Sage. Some DE. students got out of school early after first or second period, but half of them had to attend DE. class from 7:30 to 8:25 to get to work on time. The other half had DE. first period. ln these classes, students worked on individual studies of selling techniques, display, and stock work. At other times, they demonstrated selling techniques and designed advertising layouts. Discussions were held on job problems and solutions about employers, customers, and store systems. Sometimes, Coach gave lectures on employer-employee relationships, what Right: Gary Lockhart, chapter President, works on carlight displays at Sage Automotive Center. Gary wrote an Area winning manual on Automo- tive Technqiues using knowledge he learned on the job. DE. meant, communication, and how to get the most out of business. To the DE. student, a job meant much more than just earning money. lt meant learning business and how to relate to people within the business framework. For the student who was looking ahead after high school, it provided a pattern on howto earn a living and enjoy what one was doing at the same time. Coach Cole, in executioner's uniform gets some of his own medicine as he gets a shock from the DE. electric chair. A very popular event at the Carnival, the electric chair helped raise S50 for D.E.C.A. Clifton Shirley Cleftl, practices selling slacks at Beall's in Northcross Mall. Clifton's selling techniques won him an Area Title in sales demonstration, i 4 it'i sf.: is 1- I . -m . 1'-, 'Lt' , -ff . R X ax MJ, fs ' f .L ,Et , gig... ., ,.,, ,. , .cl iii' gf, vi 9 get ..., i if