Memorial High School - Reata Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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rf. ' feli- fc' f--39' ,Wg ,ave .Lp .,.4 i THESPIAN MEMBERS ARE, FIRST ROW: Linda Ewing, Sabrina Stuard, David Olive, and Paul Fromburg. SECOND ROW: Patti Mooney, Stuart Newburg, Doreen Stotler, Betty Jackson, Dirk Silva, Lisa Counts and Joe Corriere. STANDING: Diana Sitter, Kirby Lee and Rusty Marks. DRAMA LOOKS BEST when performed in a lying position, as Doreen Stoller exhibits. Doreen per- formed in several drama productions. Photo by Bill Montgomery. DRAMA rama. taught by Mr. R. L. Cook. helped two students. The student who wanted to develop self-confidence and the ability to work in front of peo- ple. and the student who was serious about going into acting. KNO matter which student one is. Drama makes them-a more appreciative public for a theatrical performance. said Cook. Studying various types of oral per- formances. the history of the theatre. how to read a play. developing a char- acter and basic acting techniques. and learning technical theatre Chow to light a show, make-up, set designs, costume designs, and publicity methodsj were things that went on in Drama I. Mr. Cook said that the students per- formed movement compositions, com- municated without sound. originalskit comedies which the students wrote, scenes from classical as well as modern plays. and improvisations. From all of this the students learned how to act. direct and design. The productions done on stage were separate from the drama class but the performers applied what they have learned from Drama I on stage. said Mr. Cook. Cook added that drama could be applied to t.v., the cinema. and stage work. There is good money in being a ticket manager or publicity manager and drama would definitely help with a business career where one must be able to communicate effectively, said Mr. Cook' 1 30 - Jonathan Lack FLUSHED FACE. dry mouth. uncont- rolled stam- mering and i vigorous knee- l knocking are i all symptoms of the pre- speech student. along with a space in the schedule that is begging to be filled by an easy course. Senior Janet Hacker confessed I hate getting up in front of people. and said she took speech because it's good practice for me to be in front of people. At the first of the year we did things to loosen people up. said Janet. These included speeches to tell the class about each other. and were mainly used to help the students feel comfortable around one another. After the preliminaries were over. Mrs. Edelweiss Ames began assign- ing a steady stream of speeches in order to acquaint the classes with the different types of speeches and what their purposes were. We had units - we did different types of speeches like speeches to inform. speeches to persuade. to sell things. and demon- stration speeches. said Janet. We did a tribute speech and I did my grandfather. I had to ask my mom a bunch of questions and I found out all sorts of stuff. That was one of my favorite speeches. Many of the speeches require extra research. but the amount of research actually done varies from student to student. She gives us a lot of time but we don't really use it. It depends on what the assignment is. We were debating on abortion and my partner and I had a whole lot of research. One of the highlights of the year was the mock trial. Everyone took it very seriously . . . it was like real, said Janet. There were lawyers . Defendants, witnesses and the judges even wore robes. I get embarrassed in front of peo- ple but not as much as I used to. said Janet. A sympathetic audience of similarly frightened people can make all the difference in the world. -30- - Sheqfl Sanders Speech, Drama I39

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SPEECH, DRA Takin life a ...M little ea ier Nervousness and practice Create change from podium to stage SPEECH earning communication, voice control, self-confidence, and pub- lic speaking arejust a few things taught in speech by Department Chairman Mrs. Edelweiss Ames. The course consists of two quarters of public speaking, in which the stu- dents learn the five types of speech: speech to persuade, convince, inform. inspire and entertain, and one quarter of oral interpretation, poetry, storytell- ing, humorous and dramatic interpreta- tionsf' said Mrs. Ames. Mrs. Ames also said that the class debated, researched, and learned how to break bad speaking habits and to cut out expressions of speech. Everybody at one time or another is going to have to get up and express themselves. They should get over stage fright and then apply the energies of a well applied speech and presentation, said Mrs. Ames. By the end of the course the students should be able to write a speech, research, have good appearance and good manners. Junior Melanie Chap- man said, I have learned to trust other people because they won't laugh at me when lim speaking. It helps me communicate with my friends and parents betterf' said Junior Steve McGaugh. Sophomore Matt Kenicott said speech helped him to pick out better speaking topics. Mrs. Ames said there is a future in speech for those who go out and seek it. Newscasting, radio, commentating, theatre, and movies arejust a few fields that speech will have an influence on. I want to be an actress or singer, said Freshman Sharon Nicles. It helps me in salesmanship because it teaches me how to sell, said Junior Green Shorts. PRACTISING ONE OF THEIR MANY ACTS, Sen- iors Rusty Marks and Lisa Counts come close to perfection. The stage helps make a realistic atmosphere. Photo by Kathy Epps. GIVING A SPEECH ON ABORTION Kyle Logan tells the class the negative side of abortion. Lis- tening patiently are George Robles, Barbara Gannon and Billy Denike. Photo by Judy Ander- ton. WITH A PERSUASIVE MANNER, Junior Mickey Searles speaks to his fellow students in his speech class. Speeches and persuasion, debates, and a mock trial were some of the stu- dents' assignments. Photo by Bill Montgomery. Speech, Drama 5 svn. 1 'Lk No........l--

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IOURNALISM STAFF - Takin lifea little ea ier One staff, tvvo publications creating a lot to live up to o one ever said it was going to be easy. From the time Adviser Mrs. Judy Anderton proposed the new com- bined staff ideas to the Journalism Department in the Spring of I977. there were mixed emotions among those who would work for the Anvil and Ream publications. Squawking about the extra work involved in pro- ducing 9 news magazines and a 320 page yearbook would only be a waste of time however. because this new staff had a lot to work for. a lot to live up to. In the past. there had always been an Anvil staff. consisting of reporters, edi- tors, designers, ad salesmen. and pho- tographers, who took pride in their achievements. which were giving their high school a nationally known. award winning news magazine. There had also always been a Reata yearbook staff. which combined the efforts of people with the same posi- tions and with just as high honors as the rival magazine staff. Basically, both staffs recruited the same type of dedicated Journalism I students for the same type of positions. So why not combine the two, to form one staff working for two publications? On April 29. 1977. Mrs. Anderton didjust that by announcing her staff at the Journalism banquet. With a hand- ful of JII students returning. she selected her editors, designers. and journalists from the fresh JI classes. Gala Holt. a returning JII student. was to be the Ream editor. while JI student D. Virginia Smith accepted the duties of Anvil Editor-in-Chief. The rest of the staff was divided into two classes. design and writing. to perform their jobs. A new dimension was added to the department when a television show produced by Marianne Penny was born to entertain students. As early as June. the staff set out to learn as much as possible at summer workshops. By the end of vacation, staff members had gained useful knowledge in high school journalism from workshops at the University of Houston. Ball State University in Mun- cie. Indiana. and Southern Methodist University in Dallas. As the school year opened, the real work began. Sure. there was time for birthday parties. designing a staff shirt. 140 J-Il and forming a staff baseball team in the beginning of the year. but a monthly news magazine had to be pro- duced. and Ream writing assignments crept up on the staff before they knew it. Designers depended upon the writ- ers to meet deadlines to give them enough time to lay out articles or pages of the yearbook, In short. a combined staff proved to be more than hectic. The writers were separated from the layout people. Virginia said. noting that often that was a problem. It's nicer because there's a lot more writers to choose from. though. It was fairly well organized. but we had problems with pictures and cap- tions, said Gala. I think it's harder for the writing staff than the layout because they have to write more for Anvil and Reala. At times assignments for the two publication overlapped, and a deadline may have been missed, but the days Anvils came out or a yearbook section was completed. the pressure was reduced. At some times it was a lot of work, and sometimes it wasn't.', said writer George Kiersted. I think it would have been better if I was just able to concentrate on the Anvil, but I'm glad I got to work for Ream After four years of advising thejour- nalism staff. Mrs. Anderton moved to Dallas to be with her husband whom she had married the previous October. I didn't want to leave, she said. But it was a rather bizarre arrangement. being married and living in two differ- ent cities. I would have given anything to have been able to finish the year but I knew I was leaving a staff which could carry on without me. They're the best bunch of young professionals I have ever worked with. But besides the respect I have for them there's an enor- mous love. I miss them so much. It was difficult to adjust to her absence even though Miss Lee Green took over her duties immediately. Gala Holt summed up the situation: The theme of our book really took on a new meaning. We had a lot to live up to. She fMrs. Andertonj expected us to succeed and carry on. When someone has that much trust and faith in you, there's no way you can fail. - 30 - - Suxi Woorllmms X FINISHING A DEADLINE, Reata Editor Gala Holt makes another page of the yearbook is completed. After meeting deadlines during the year the contents of the book were Taylor Publishing Company, and the book was produced rect form. Photo by Judy Anderton. LEADING A STAFF MEETING, Anvil Editor Virginia Smith p ents her ideas to the rest of the staff, Staffers went to gi lengths to put out the monthly paper. Photo by Judy Anderton