Memorial High School - Reata Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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I , 5 .lv RH A SHOWING HOW lT'S DONE, Calculus student Elenor Coldren completes a problem on the board for her classmates to check, Teacher Mrs. Gladys Wood awarded any students who did a problem with two free points on a test. Photo by Kathy Epps. FORCED TO MUSTER UP THE STRENGTH of all his facial muscles in order to catch a glimpse of an elusive antibody, Senior Tom Rivers struge gles with a Biology ll lab, as Maria Perez waits for her turn to eye the marvels of science. Photo by Kathy Epps. ,' ,N Q N- , 2' ,ii x' X ' ' H. H ls4fz21,q'3' tMt , ' Q T T fi f, if L T we if ? iiA vg '57, 4 2,: .,i.,w j' gs' ' K' V' f 995 5. N ' 7 X . .:'3'gf,q xl X ' 7-,I Advanced level course 167

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BRAINY SUBIECTS Blood weat and tears Harder subjects challenge hrains to levels uf deeper understanding By Virginia Smith rain-strain pains afflicted many students taking Calculus. Biology ll. Chemistry II. Physics Il. and the sixth level of Spanish. French. or Ger- man. Most. however. felt the courses were not beyond their capabilities. Calculus students. according to teacher Mrs. Gladys Wood. covered basic methods of integration and dif- ferentiation. as well as preparing stu- dents for the Advanced Placement Test. Senior Karl Hood felt it was not difficult. It's all formulasf, he said. All you've got to do is memorize them. Classes consisted mostly of note-taking. and Mrs. Wood was fondly described as the bionic armf' She also gave suggested homework problems, according to Karl. with stu- dents putting problems on the board during class for two points on their six weeks average. Most of the students survived the year with the well worn battlecry HCALCULUS - FAIL! For those interested in pursuing a medical career orjust studying biology in depth. Biology II took a deeper look at the study of life. I want to go into medicine. Senior Diana Prince explained. and it's the only s ience I wanted to take. The course 'xpanded Biology I. she said. covering physiology. animal and plant phyla. genetics. and plants and how they grow. The entire third quarter was spent dissecting. It's not hard. Diana said. because there's very little outside work. Sheis fteacher Mrs. Carolyn Schofieldj got everything planned. She makes learn- ing more fun than most teachers do. With lectures two to three times a week. guest speakers and filmstrips thrown in. both Biology II classes C30 students over alll reached the end of the year a little wiser for the wear. If anyone desired more than a Chemistry I view of test tubes and lec- I66 Advanced level courses tures. Chemistry II teacher Mrs. Doro- thy Rae held class every day third period. It's a riot class Senior Les Kallos described. It's the same as Chemistry I. but more in depth. You don't cover as much. but it's much deeper. Topics covered. according to Les. included electron configurations. acids. bases. solubility. and molarity. The class size of 22 hindered students to a certain degree. When we have to work in labs. it's difficult. Senior Heather Hindman said. It's also diffi- cult to keep order. Physics ll. with ten enrolled. offered students the intimacy of a small class. Senior Martin Chenevert said he took it because l've had Chemsitry II: I'm interested in math . . . physics has lots of mathematics. The course. accord- ing to Martin, covered applying math to laws of nature and doing problems involving motion. expansion. and nuclear decay. Mr. Mike Saathoff taught, but it was almost completely independent. Martin said. It doesn't require all the memorization that other sciences do. Class clown Senior John Lee kept everyone amused until he got all the fun out of it he wanted. accord- ing to Martin. Students who studied a language two years in junior high and managed to stick out three years in high school could reach the foreign pinnacle of lan- guage in Spanish VI. French VI, or German VI. Spanish VI students read literature. plays. novels. and newspapers. accord- ing to Senior Deirdre Happe. She is in the class. she said. because I'm inter- ested in pursuing it probably in college. It's not hard. Spanish VI students spanned the entire day of Teacher Mrs. Winnifred Coterillo. Due to schedule conflicts. one student took it second period. eight third period. and four fifth period. ffonlinued on page I 691 is 1 i l AFTER TAKING LECTURE NOTES, Senior Les Kallos still needs Mrs. Gladys Woods' help to complete his Calculus assignment. Calculus was a college-level course that was offered as an elective to seniors. Photo by Kathy Epps. BIZARRE PARTICLES OF AIR seem to shock Senior Charlie Stern as he examines them in his Biology II class. For many students, the high point of the course was the dissection of fetal pigs. Photo by Kathy Epps.

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BEDROOM SLIPPERS AND A BATHROBE com- bined with dramatics won second place for Sophomore Gil Agnew in Spanish play competi- tion. Tri-ad was held in April providing competi- tion in Spanish, German, French, Russian and Latin. Photo by Scott Waughtal. IN PREPARATION FOR THE AP TEST, German VI Seniors Virginia Smith and Kelly Truesdell read books by modern German authors. Teacher Frau Foxx discusses the novels. Photo by Kathy Epps. SPANISH PLAYS PRODUCED ELABORATE COS- TUMES, from hoop skirts to big hats, for compe- tition in Tri-ad. Second place was won by Sopho- mores Melinda Hail and Mary Welch. Photo by Scott Waughtal, , THOUGH SHE never really thought ' , 1 about class - rank, valedic- fi --be ' torian Kris Tita ' triumphed over her 579 class- , mates with a schedule heavy in sciences. math. and foreign lan- guage. Kris said she took all the K courses she could. including Biology I and II. Chemistry I and I . Physics I. fourlyears of English. four of math Sinclu ing Calcu usg. and four of rench. though she ropped French VI after the first quarter. People's reactons to her rank var- ied from l'really and you're kid- din to Can I touch you? gl'he said nothing really very con- crete. ,Kris said. T ere was nothing really unpleasant or exceptionally funny either. She had not thought of it much. she said. and receiving the news on the first dag back from summer vaca- tion was a ig surprise. I thought a little bit about it. like 'I wonder who it's going to be.' fbutj it was such a sudden shock. she explained. It was a good way to come back. As with all winners. Kris felt pres- sure to stay on top after the first quarter. I did worry a little bit. she admitted. People tended to expect me to do well. and tsomej said vin- dictive sort of things. I didn't want to lose my rank. Everybody wants to knock off number one. h She refused to be labeled a book- worm and spoke distastefully of the stereotype. I wouldn't sa it's fthe rankin iso much brains - Iam not one of those bookworm type . . . I try to do my ggmework every night tthoughtj. - - D. Virginia Smilh l68 Advanced level courses