McCluer North High School - Polaris Yearbook (Florissant, MO)

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Science is very versatile The Science Department reported another successful year with over 60% of the student body enrolling in a sci- ence course. This didn't sound as im- pressive as the over 100% participation in the Communications and Social Studies departments, but when one consider that those two require three credits to graduate, and science only one, it was just as impressive. McCluer North had a large science department with 28 different courses offered in the physical and natural sci- ences. Included were classes such as Perplexed students like Wendy Allen know that they can count on teachers like Ms. Pope to explain the assignments. In this case it was a genetics problem. Working on a chemistry experiment, Dave Knickmeyer, Sandy Grace, and Jeff Hutsler know they must be careful to get the proper result. 198 Science Chemistry where one learned about atoms and ions, Field Biology where one learned about nature, and Astron- omy in which the solar system and oth- er steller subjects were taught. One could have learned how the land was formed in Geology, or why the weather was the way it was in St. Louis in the Nature of the Atmosphere class. “McCluer North had last year, and no doubt will continue to have one of the biggest and best science depart- ments in Missouri,’ according to Kathy Dombrink, chemistry teacher. STAND OUT STR ‘Regina Thornburgh stands out in my class because she is very interested and works hard at field biology,” said Vern LeClaire. ‘‘She’s the kind of student who understands the class and helps me and the other students in Field Biol- ogy.’ Mr. LeClaire commented that Gina had the ability to have a very successful career in a scientific field. Regina had sev- eral field related collections, and she worked on a track project to be shown in the natural science museum at Little Creek.

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Transcribing homework from the night be- fore is one major part of Shorthand. Rhonda Kramer and Mindy Biberdorf work diligently to finish their transcriptions. Assisting in the Day Care Center during third hour, Diana Plank offers some helpful hints to Matt Coyle and Julie Werdes. During Metal Machines class, Roch La- Bruyere works on his project with the drill press. At MN, academics was another area that stood out. There were courses in First Aid and 3-D Design. If foreign language was your main field of inter- est, there was Latin, German, French, and Spanish. The Science Department offered courses from Field Biology to Physics. If you were a math wiz, Calcu- lus, Computers, and Math CPU might have been on your schedule. English offered Humor in Literature, Mass Me- dia, Essay, Advanced Composition, and many more. If you were having trouble in a class, the Title VII aids were there to help. Day Care, Commons, Show Choir, Dixieland Band, Frontier America, Presidency, Literature Semi- nar, Jewlery — the list goes on and on. North even had programs where stu- dents only attended school for half the day. These included Dual Enrollment, Community Outreach, and Communi- ty Learning. For those rare students who found none of these classes satisfy- ing, there were individualized courses called CPU's. At MN, with almost 300 course offerings, it was almost impossi- ble for a student to complain about not being able to find a course to fit his needs. yr Academics Division 197

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Outdoor biology popular “IT like to make my class more than just field biology,’’ said Vern LeClaire “I teach all sorts of outdoor related sub- jects.’’ For example, he taught outdoor survival as one of his units. Also, the students learned how to identify wild edible plants, and how to use a map and compass. A typical day in late autumn started out with the students boarding a school bus at 7:45 AM for a 15 minute ride to Little Creek Wildlife Area on Dunn Road. Then they went to their wildlife classroom to get their assignments for the day and change into their work Field Biology offers you a wide variety of ex- periences in the great outdoors. In Animal Behavior, Kelly Klatch and Chris Hayes test their sense of taste. clothes. One group started a small campfire in the Indian lodge. Another group collected and broke brush for a winter woodpile. Some people fed the animals in the small barn. And yet an- other group was setting up traps to catch small live animals. There was also a group in the kitchen cooking wild plants. At 9:30 AM, the class -boarded the bus and rode back to McCluer North. Jim Maxwell said, “I like the class because I've learned so much about nature, and with Mr. LeClaire teaching it, Field Biology is a lot of fun.”