Lanphier High School - Lan Hi Yearbook (Springfield, IL)

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EDlTOR'S CT- 'N 0 Us Ns. 5 HOME GUEST H0 For a year, people complained and griped about situations and events at school. lf we had stopped and thought about how ridiculous we sounded and acted, a lot of needless complaining and suffering could have been prevented. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors put down the name Lanphier-Edison Complex to no end. When asked what school we attended, we probably answered, Lanphier High School anyway. No one was hurt by the dual name, after all, what's in a name? lt's the quality of the people that counts. The eighth and ninth graders were subject to se- vere criticism from the upperclassmen. Actually, we mature and big, grown-up high school students were the childish ones with all our unfair remarks. The junior high students didn't enjoy being a com- plex any more than we did. But we were thinking only of ourselves in condemning everyone else. Key Club, an organization for males only, was subject to attack from a small group of female protestors. The majority of the students felt that Key Club should remain limited to male membership, but the protes- tors forgot about the numerous clubs and organiza- tions for girls only that existed at Lanphier this and past years. The behavior of some students was outrageous this year. We went from having an unexcused ab- sence list to an excused absence list because cut- ting classes was such a popular pastime. A special security guard, armed with a gun, had to be hired to protect the students, faculty, and property on the school grounds. The teachers' strike drew many varied opinions from students. Most thought it was great, it gave us an excuse to skip school. We simply told our par- ents that it was too dangerous to go to school and they let us stay home. Neither we nor they stopped to realize that it is extremely difficult for a small group of administrators and substitute teachers to effectively control and teach two-thousand stu- dents at one time. Those teachers and adminis- trators cared enough to come to school, and should have been commended, not criticized. There were good things occurring at Lanphier this year. A new Pep Club revived the fading school spirit of the students. We had very successful ath- letic teams. The school gained a new mural to re- member 1977 as a special year. Assemblies were excellent, drawing large, interested crowds. Many other good happenings and developments com- bined to make 1977 an outstanding year in that respect. The students and faculty must realize how much growing we all have to do. Many times this year we have been outstanding as human beings, but also many times we've all acted very much less than our ages. At any rate, we survived the tragedies and cel- ebrated the victories. Lanphier-Edison wasn't all bad, but we could have done a little more of our share to make it better. OTES l 0 0 L 3 jj X l

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THE C Ass QF 77 TTTT?TY TYTYTY? Lliaiiii

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l l C-EDY STRIKES AT LH l yff kEvi N SMITH If N , fly X NVAX X Nyc l Q NR N lt During the summer, a Lanphier student was criti- afwf 'wks l cally injured in a service station holdup. Kevin Smith X l ,Aff g X NX ll was a B average auto body repair student, mechanical 05,1 f ' I . YV drawing buff and a wrestler. He would havecbeen a f 1 i I if tmp tm l 1 - J X , lj 'fl txt ll V ul' jljjl, He was beaten and left in a back storeroom of the l l' 'Al station where he had worked for a week. Besides leav- ,I l X A ll fjlf- ing Kevin for dead, the attackers got a total of 5548.40 ' , l 9,455.3-s,., 'jj'-N ll and six cartons of cigarettes. Only days later, they ll jg -f 'jjlxk ll were in jail and Kevin was struggling for his life in the fy, Ill, jj' l hospital. He suffered severe brain injury and under- Al, ily ' .' j i M1 i jjll 1 went surgery several times. He fought hard, but he lost l X ' jj l 'j,q ,l'l ' l his battle. He died during the early morning of Octo- X ber 13, 1976. . X llvlany local groups and individuals raised and do- nated money to help pay for Kevin's surgery and other ,' li -6 medical expenses. A- ,The 1977 Lan-Hi Staff would like to express our con- cern and sympathy to Kevin's family. 1 I rvlifrvloialufvl NED BURGE Mr. Ned Burge came to Lanphier as a custodian in 1968. He was here for eight years. A man of great abilities, friendliness, and cheer- fulness, he was admired and liked by all those who knew him. He died at age 67 on july 29, 1976. cARLos HANDLER On May 19, 1976, Carlos Handler, who was an ex- change student at Lanphier last year, was killed in an au- tomobile accident. He had stayed with Diane Skufca's fam- ily from December, 1975 until February, 1976. He was a high school student in Chichigalpa, Nica- ragua. 11