Mascoutah Community High School - Mascoutan Yearbook (Mascoutah, IL)

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wmrazazcfanivz-rc2:'azff0z1mWrc2'azf7QnuTHE MASC0UTANMJUIUIAQKGWDHIEZIGIGKVDHEZIQCQI E E Q 9 s S S S Q is N QI g 'QI 5 N N Ei E a S 9 B Sl Q , p p SI Q Puarfzi 5' S N. .-.I Lou-u I 5 B E! 5 HISTORY qcontinuedy 'S From the record Mr. Auerswald left we know that in the first four N years of its existence pupils were graduated from the high school, but we .QI N have no complete record of the graduates' names. The first complete rec- Q E ord of a graduating class is found for the class that graduated 16 years 5 Q after the founding of the high school, in 1888. In that year 8 pupils g1'ad- gi E uated from the two-year high school course. Charles H. Kamman was E supervisor of the schools that year. From 1888 up to the present time Q we have a complete record of all the graduates of the high school. Q Q The first important change in the high school was made in 1894. D Q J. L. Landers was supervisor of the schools at that time. Under his sup- al E ervision the two-year course was changed to a th1'ee-year course. gi E1 For 20 years after 1894 the Mascoutah High School seemed to have EI Q had a very uneventful, though succes.sful, existence. In those 20 years N R many students graduated from the three-year course. These graduates Q Q entered many occupations, and all were, doubtless, better fitted for their Q E tasks by their years of high school training. Q But the high school was not yet through growing. In 1914 the course 'S U was again changed, this time from a three-year to a four-year course. The N curriculum was then completely different from that used in 1872. Many gl S of the original subjects had been relegated to the grade school, while new Q Eg subjects had taken the place of the old and had been added to improve the Eg Q, course until the four-year course cffered nearly all the subjects considered 'S to necessary for the education of high school students. gs 1914 is an important year in our high school's history, not only be- I S cause of the change in courses, but also because of the erection of the 55, new school building. In that year, a new, two-story, brick building was S Q built. This hou.sed the City School, both grades and High School, until gi 'G 1921, when the Community High School was established. Room in the Si city building was rented by the community district. Today, in spite of the N S fact that the high school has grown so much that it is cramped in the 5 5 part of the building it occupies, it is still renting part of thegrade building. E2 Q From 1914 up to the present time the history of the school has been Q E one of rapid developments. In 1915, a year after the establishing of the EI si four-year course, the Mascoutah High School was recognized by the bl Q iwwimmuwzawimmucpagyowaauopzawiml 9 3 0Il2ZJl2ZlQ!lJZl25Ql?'24llZl2JZlQ7'7Ql llZQ5Zl2El72g :Nine

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S7Z41CKll2IODZlI if2QIZUC7Zll ICKlK7OPflMTHE MASCOUTANUOUl ifK1K7DUI7ZI4ZGKVDU UZ' E Q 5 i E, S S 8 W E E ti' W S E 8 S E 'd N S, 8 E Q sl W E E IE .Q s N as K! S E tl Eight ' Qu . 5- I ZH isis 1- M-if - .f-Q,-V - We ...,-..gl.-, .-- -. .,-,,g. . , . V V 1 W 1 K v 1 . Q 1 A I IN 16014 Yi V 4 i M V History of the Mascoutah Community High School In 1856 the first school was opened in Mascoutah. The building used stood where the city hall stands today, the land having been donated for the school by John Barth. Jacob Frank was in charge of the school of 61 pupils, who attended school from April to September. Here they were taught reading, spelling, geography, and similar subjects. That is all we know of the first school except that it continued to exist until 1872. In that year Edwin Auerswald, who had been appointed superin- tendent of the school, was empowered by the Board of Education to reor- ganize the school, introducing an improved system of gradationj' and organize a high school. ' Mr. Auerswald in a written record states that up to that year the public schools had had no organized plan for teaching. The pupils. had been placed in classes according to their physical size rather than their mental abilities. No teacher knew what was being taught in any of the class-rooms except his own nor how it was being taught. The result of this lack of system was that when Mr. Auerswald took charge of the .school not one of the 450 pupils knew the difference between a transitive and an intransitive verb, nor did they know the map of Africa from that of South America except by reading the names. Under the new system reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and spelling were to be taught in the grades. The pupils were to-be divided into classes according to their abilities in arithmetic. Besides the grade school a two-year high school course was organized, the curriculum of history, grammar, composition, algebra, which included United States geometry, bookkeeping, botany and zoology, physiology, and natural phi- losophy. Seven of the subjects then taught in the high school are now taught in the grades, but after all, the high school organized in 1872 was the beginning from which grew our splendid, four-year high school. The growth was not rapid, for the close of this year marks the close of the fifty- eighth year of our high 'school's existence. But in spite of being slow, growth was sure. s, . Qr2Z2im20uUp2112:ZJ 1zUo21x20 l2Uo21l:aY0iH1 9 3 0lQEl lQflZl2 RllJZI2Dl QflJZDTlZiS

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?ZrcKiv.:v'0nLWic7.mszff0riiWrcK1zqfQz1uTHE MASCOUTANWQUf7 GiGlZI7QZll CKlZ7OHl lUGQ k B1 w E S E W E Q E H S E. E S E S s s E XGZVOEIZZCKZVO CKZVDHl C7 AQKlZ7OU GK70Zl lQEZ7DUf I HISTORY CContinuedJ state. That meant that the course of instruction, the equipment, and the teachers equalled the standard set by the state. Two years later the high school was accredited by the state university. This was a very important advance for the school, for as long as the school was accredited by the university, graduates could enter the university by the merit of the credits earned in high school, which eliminated the taking of entrance examinations. a The last important event in the high school's history was in 1921. In that year' the people of the community voted to establish a Community High School. With the establishment of the community high school, voca- tional subjects were introduced into the curriculum: namely, manual training and home economics. The curriculum of our high school has changed very little since the organization of the community high school. A music course has been added within the last two years, but only half-credit courses are given. ,Today our high school offers both cultural and vocational subjects to the students. Besides the curricular activities the school offers opportuni- ties to advance in many other subjects through extra-curricular activities. For musicians there are the orchestra and glee clubs. For those interested in public speaking there are the Gavel, a debate club, and the Expression Club. For the boys interested in athletics the school has baseball, basket- ball, tennis, and track teams. Our high school belongs to the Cahokia District High School Athletic Conference, which includes seven other nearby towns, the Southern Illinois Music Association, and the St. Clair County High School Association. These organizations offervopportunities for competing with students from other schools in extra-curricular activities. We of the present student body of M. C. H. S. are proud of the history of our school, and we appreciate what its growth means to us. We enjoy the present activities and advantages of our school. But all of us are looking forward to the future. Judging by its past history we expect our school to advance steadily. We hope that in the near future our school will be housed in its own build- ing, one suited to our needs and fully equipped for the physical and mental training of the students. Only in this way will we be able to keep the recognition of the state and the accrediting of the university. We are hoping that our high school will continue to be one of the best. ILDA JEAN SCHAFER. ik Mixnimllzooanifoimzouooralyolmiuoprawalm1 9 3 0lXlZf.24lQUDZll20l7ZOQUDfZll20l .ll2.UD2lD0l7Z4S Ten