Mechanicville High School - Halfmoon Yearbook (Mechanicville, NY)

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4 yeo iAooJz, 1945 Yearbook Stall’ In the early part of June, 1944, Mr. Whitbeck nominated the following Seniors to be executives of the yearbook. Editor, Angeline Parente; Assistant Editor, Gladys Hughes; Business Managers, Peter Verdicchio and John Valetta. Other Seniors were chosen to be part of the staff. We had a meeting in June and selected a theme for our book and the staff was assigned to individual jobs so that they could get started during the summer. When school began in September, Julia Grozzo had all the sketches for the picture pages completed and the rest of the staff had their assignments started. In the early part of November, Louis Kurs took the individual pictures of the Freshman. Sophomore, Junior, and Senior classes. All these pictures had to be sorted and given back to the students. The staff worked fourth periods to get this completed. To finance our yearbook, the staff sold Christmas cards, and at the basketball games they sold soda and checked coats. In March, they sponsored a very suc- cessful St. Patrick’s Day Dance. Personal Cards were sold to the Seniors. The Business Managers did a splendid job obtaining ads. The Dramatic Club pre- sented two swell shows for the benefit of our yearbook, “Junior Miss” and the Annual Halfmoon Hysterics. The members in the picture are: Peter Verdicchio Helen Clark Catherine Parente Frances Brownell Shirley Fivel Julia Grozzo Margaret Casey Loyola Green Gladys Hughes Angeline Parente William O'Brien Mary Spohn Katherine Rentz David Silverman Mary Wixted John Valetta Ann Curran Dorothy Thomas Josephine Petronis Mary Petronis Helen Leonard Elsie Laurenzo Gloria DeCasperis

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cMalfmoan IjeaAMaoJz, 1945 Forworcl By Miss Ada Baker First Graduating Class, 1892 The first graduating class of the Meehanicville High School, the Class of 1892, consisted of six girls, Ada M. Baker, President; .1. Maud Hutchins, Secre- tary; Jessie E. Close, Mabel L. Hogle, Emiline A. Pattison and Carrie Waldron. All of these girls except Miss Hogle enrolled in the High School the first day the old high school building was opened in November 1888. Miss Hogle moved to the village a year later and became a member of the class. At one time there were several other members, including two or three boys, but they dropped out, one by one, until upon graduatioon there were only six to receive a State Regents Diploma, which was at that time, the requirement for graduation. The Commencement Exercises were held in the Assembly Hall which occu- pied the entire third floor of the old high school building and could seat about four hundred people on closely packed wooden chairs. At one side of the hall was a stage with a dressing room on each side, and wide double doors both in the front and rear of the hall leading to the stairways. The room was lighted by a huge oil-lamp chandelier in the center and smaller lamps on the side walls of the stage. The night of Commencement the front of the stage was banked with large jardinieres and baskets of ferns, daisies and peonies. In the rear of the stage was a small table upon which lay the precious diplomas. This first commencement was held on Friday evening, June 24th, 1892. The village was astir that evening as horse-drawn carriages dashed about bring- ing the members of the Board of Education, the high school faculty and the graduates to the high school. At the appointed hour, while Safford’s Band played a stirring march, the members of the Board of Education walked upon the stage and occupied chairs on one side of the table, and the high school principal, Mr. Lyman B. Blakeman and his two assistants. Miss Mae Blanche Doty of I lion. New York and Miss Harriet Massey of Meehanicville, New York occupied chairs on the other side of the table. Then from the rear doorway came the six graduates and following them the remainder of the school faculty.