Metropolitan Community College - Sunburst Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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occasion. Many old graduates and former teachers attended. For the last time they wandered through the halls and looked into their old classrooms. Soon after- wards the old school with its tower and its observa- tory dome was gone, and the building that so many had loved was only a memory. junior College graduates have been unusually loyal, and hundreds of them have kept in touch with their former teachers. One example of this loyalty is the Lillian Miller Sosnow Scholarship established in 1963 by Dr. Louis Sosnow in memory of his wife, Lillian Miller, a junior College graduate. In 1953 Dean Swanson retired, and was replaced by Mr. Miles G. Blim. At this time Mr. Howard N. Monnett became assistant dean. The school that had grown large and strong under Dean Swanson's able management continued to move forward rapidly. One of the first changes under Dean Blim's adminis- tration came in the fall of 1954. It was in that year that integration came to Kansas City. Lincoln junior College was closed, and its 97 Negro students came to junior College. From the first, Negro students have been fully integrated into every phase of the curricular and of the extracurricular program. Over a period of years during the 1940's and the 1950's an excellent school paper, The Collegian, was published by the newswriting class. In addition to reaching the homes of the college students, the paper was sent to all alumni whose addresses were available. Throughout the whole history of Junior College, under the administrations of President Bainter, Dean Swanson, and, Dean Blim, a very important policy has been followed that has done much to bring about the continuity of achievement in teaching and of good teacher-student relationships. This policy is the wel- coming of outstanding graduates of Junior College back to the school as teachers. Their knowledge of what the school stands for has had a stabilizing effect, and it has also brought about a spirit of co- operation among some departments, so that, for instance, yearly excellent programs have been given jointly, in which the departments of art, music, drama, physical education, and home economics participate. On May 26, 1964, the people of Kansas City voted to establish an area metropolitan junior college, in- dependent of the Kansas City Board of Education. This area included the 400 square miles ofthe school districts of Kansas City, North Kansas City, Center, Raytown, Hickman Mills, Grandview, Ieeis Summit, and Belton. The school's enrollment in September, 1964, was about 5000 for both the day and evening divisions. Thus the fifty-year-old xlunior College is now launched on a new venture, reaching out far 'X A f Ls beyond the bold dream of Mr. Bainter in 1915. junior College students have risen to the top in every field of endeavor. For instance, Virgil Thompson became a great musician and music critic, Richard Lockridge, a writer, Martha Scott, an actress, Edgar Snow, an editor, Hal Boyle, a newspaper corre- spondent, Glenn Darwin, a singer, Maxwell Taylor, a general and ambassador, Stewart Chaney, a stage artist, Gladys Swarthout, a singer, William Powell, an actor, Lewis Rodert, flight engineer and inventor, George Landes, professor at the Union Theological Seminary, Frederick fames, an artist, jack Benson, an archeologist, Frederick Michaelis, Captain of the USS Enterprise, Ameja White Wehlau, an astrono- mer, and james HazQett, Superintendent of Schools in Kansas City. And so the saga of junior College goes on. As the school completes its fiftieth year, it can look with pride to the hundrecs of young men and women who, by the excellent performance of their chosen work and by their faithful devotion to high ideals, are a living tribute to Kansas City7s Junior College. .sg6,?-,fm V- . f ...f I. W- -! iffy, ,f t , - e or . xll5Sw.hl1llCllt'k Ben taught at ,Inn- 2 V ior holly-gc lroin its opening in ' 1915 llllllll1CI'l'Cll1'tl1'IL'I1l in 1957. .Ks 21flCl'Il1l1ll, l'lllgliHll.1llltl I.utin Lf--1 pf, 4 if instructor. she Co-uullmorcfl ele- 19 , A.ff f f p g J' , ncntzlrv school language .intl -We X 1' QI'llI11I111ll' books und was oncol' 2 - -. 1 1 . V I 'KW ilu, founclcrs oi the Cold Star ,X fwcliolarslnp. Lurrenllx' she is un i n f' - . , 21 c I i vc inein ber of the Collegi- U I? , , . .2 V4 . , Club :ind is occupied bv llurwork Q ..-, , I U on in lznnily geiicalogv, V ,V fail, as . fx' I .f f fx' A 2 . M A K A A ws 1

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school. For a time the foreign language classes gave foreign plays in the assembly period. The junior College has stood for high standards of work, scholarship, and integrity. As it grew, its splen- did reputation spread to all parts of the nation, and its graduates were welcomed everywhere, because Junior College students that had preceded them had established by their fine performance a shining name for the Kansas City Junior College. Mr. Bainter retired in 1936 and went to his new home in Encinitas, California, where Qater the beauti- ful iron gates of the Junior College building at Eleventh and Locust were placed in a new setting. The presidency of the college passed to the able hands of Mr. A. M. Swanson, who as vice-president of the school had been working with Mr. Bainter. Mr. Miles C. Blim now became vice-president. In 1942 the days at Eleventh and Locust came to an end, and the school was moved to 3845 McGee street, to the building that had been Westport Junior High School. At the new location Junior College and Teach- ers College were combined, and Mr. Swanson was now Dean ofjunior College, and Mr. C. Bond was Dean of Teachers College. In 1944 the Teachers College was discontinued, and the students who wished to have teacher trainin went to the Universit f 3 Y 9 Kansas City. Mr. Bond became principal of Paseo High School. if Q riff As the years went by, new features were added to the school. In 1942 junior College had offered a summer school in the Westport high school building. In 1943, when junior College was established at its new loca- tion, the summer school was held in its own building. It became a permanent feature and was well attended. An important addition to the school program was the Lecture-Concert series, that began in 1946, consisting of eight or ten programs a year. Distinguished lec- turers, musicians, actors, and dancers have always been brought to Kansas City for these programs. Most of the performances are given in the morning, and all have been open to the public. After the close of World War II many veterans came to junior College to continue their interrupted studies, or to make a beginning toward a university degree. In the early fall of 1952, when it was learned that the old Iunior College building at Eleventh and Locust was to be torn down, alumni of Iunior College and Central high school planned a reunion. This building had also been the home of Central High School, for only two years after the end of the Civil War in 1867, Kansas City built its first high school on this ground and called it the Central School. Central was at Eleventh and Locust from 1867 to 1915, when it moved into its new building and the Polytechnic Institute took over the location. The reunion on September 7, 1952, was a festive

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