Memorial High School - Reata Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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RAI YS BIECTS lood weat and tear rlarder suhiects challenge brains tn evels of deeper understanding 'C Urllilllled from 1661 People think '6Oh my God' when .you say you're in Spanish VI: if we had nother teacher it might be hardj' eirdre said. It's fun anyway. Some people expect fluency by the 'ixth year of language study. but ccording to Senior Karen Prescott, a rench VI student, it is not that easy. 'I'm taking French VI because I want .o learn to speak French fluently. They other peoplej expect you to be fluent, nut I'm not yet. The course encompassed French life n all aspects, according to Karen. 6'We cover the way the French live: current Lhings, what teenagers do for fun, slang anguagef' she said. They read Jimmy arter's interview in a French issue of layboy, had French dinners, and a ardi Gras party with the French Club. The third leg of advanced foreign anguage, German, was taken by only .wo students. Seniors Virginia Smith nd Kelly Truesdell. Taught by Mrs. ary Fox, students could either pre- mare for the advanced placement test or follow another program of literature. German VI is not a brainy course, Kelly stressed. People are often impressed when I tell them I'm in German VI, but I'm not fluent at all. Mrs. Fox explained the AP course's dif- ficulty. If one chooses to follow the AP course, a full year of reading - and it includes seven major late 19th and 20th century works, and a selection of German poetry - then it is a challenging but rewarding experience, she said. Forjuniors, brain power could be chan- neled into an expansion of American His- tory: AP History, similar to the German VI program. According to Nanet Ruzek, It fsubject matterl goes back before the explorers, then goes through our present history. Besides the history, Junior Eng- lish complemented the history in succes- sive periods in a pilot program to better prepare students for college entrance tests. lt's not hard if you study, Nanet assured. It seemed as if this was the stand- ard reply from the brains in the heavy courses. After all - it was only studying. -30- I WITH HER FEET PROPPED UP ON A DESK, Junior Karen Chadderdon attempts to find a comfortable position during her Advanced Placement American History class. Photo by Kathy Epps. IN ORDER TO POSSIBLY PLACE OUT OF A FEW COLLEGE COURSES, Juniors Laura Elkins, Hugh Hwerton, Katrina Heinreich and Stephan Parpart study for the AP Test. A special class was made to help students with the test. Photo by Kathy Epps. Advanced level courese 169

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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

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AFTER FINISHING HIS WORLD HISTORY PRO- JECT, Jack Donaho displays his French Revolu- tion newspaper. Worl History students were required to make their own newspaper to count as a major test grade. Photo by Kathy Epps. HISTORY j ARIS, E NNE TSS Blood weat and tears Skit, discussions, and projects keep history alive s images of Napoleon's IOO day march slowly faded in and out. stu- 'dents enrolled in World History tried once again to focus their attention on their books. Several admitted defeat and laid their heads on their desks and peacefully dozed away the remainder of the period. Difficulty of the course seemed to depend on the teacher. Sophomore Carol Rosenfeld said. The coaches taught a lot easier. if you had a teacher like Mrs. May Munn or Mrs. Gwen Roberts you had it a lot harder. To keep classes interesting. teachers involved students in skits and discussions. We did a skit on the beliefs of Socrates. Aristotle and Plato. said Junior Mona Cuenod. It was really fun. Projects were popular with the history teachers. note cards. and writing a paper were two of the major ones. Sophomore Anne Bartlett said. 'fPoIitical cartoons and 'on the scene' news reporting were an important part of our newspapers. Sophomore Joe Bonaparte said. I liked writing a newspaper but doing notecards is a drag. -30- - Katie Cranford AMERICAN HISTORY Maps. colors. lectures. and reports - that's what freshman American History was all about. Students studied the events that happened in history from the revolution to present day. The students did reports and projects for the class. The most popular project was where food was brought to the class. Texas chili. apples. and apricots were some of the goodies that were brought for a regular Texas feast. One time we got to do an 1 70 History extra credit report. and boy did I need the extra credit so I baked a pecan pie and before we got to eat it it fell on the floor. said Freshman Linda Hilton. A big part of the school year were the maps. Ah! The maps. They had to be pencil perfect. with colors unified like the rain- bow. Freshman Tom Ragsdale said. I liked the maps. It's the only thing I got a good grade on. It was fun to see how many colors the ocean could be. One of the main emphases was put on the Presidents. A big report with notecards and a paper was required of the students. I had Kennedy and he was easy I guess. but the notecards were a hassle especially when we had to turn them in everyday. said Don McClure. Freshman Kathy Hansen said. The Constitution was really fun. We played games with it. My teacher used our behav- ior to show us what the Constitution was all about. One guy threw a paper wad across the room and the teacher yelled that that was against the constitutional rights of the class room. Everyone started using those kinds of ideas when anything happened in the room. It worked because I got an A on the test. A variety of techniques and tools were used to teach the students. Among them were closed circuit television. Time maga- zine's current event articles and vocabulary games. Freshman Brad Cole said. I like the television the best because it was better than taking notes on the lectures. American History was packed with homework and research but also with fun and games. Freshman Greg Lohman said. American History will be somethin' I'lI always remember. - 30 - - K alie C rzmjord and Carol Rosenfeld WHEN RECEIVING HER FRENCH REVOLUTION PAPER, Ellen Wilkins reads comments from her' World History teacher. Stu- dents used information Irom their books and notes to com- plete the paper. Photo by Kathy Epps.