Minneapolis Vocational High School - Tradewind Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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one group pf the business girls and the electrical boys over to the East building. There, in what is known as the East Vocational School, these courses have flourished. A year later, the Tailoring course grew out of the need for soldier rehabilitation work, and a Woodworking course was also begun. In June of 1925. the hospital moved from the old building which had been in use into the two fine old homes which arc now occupied at 1700 and I7J0 Third Avenue South. Except for the two or three years after the war. the school has shown a steady, very solid growth. In spite of its poor housing and its meagre equipment, it has established itself as a real force in the city. Each department is working out its own problems, feeling its way more and more adequately into the needs of both the young people who need training and of the business of the city which needs trained employees. The prospect of the new building, which may be looked for by the fall of 1927. is giving added impetus to the work, and Vocational High School is looking forward confidently and courageously to the future. f)

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quarters, for. by this time, the school numbered over five hundred. The war conditions brought tremendous pressure. The power machine department moved into its present room, jumped from ten machines to forty, and began to take war orders. Red Cross pajamas, olive drab shirts, made by girls rushing in to get a quick training before rushing out again to take positions. were the order of the day. The telegraphy department was opened to prepare girls to take the positions being vacated by boys who were going into training in the camps. In connection with the Woman’s Christian Association. which turned one of its homes into an experimental hospital, a course for practical nurses was begun, and practical nurses were trained to help fill the gaps left by the nurses leaving for the Front, and to assist in fighting the terrible epidemic of influenza which was sweeping the country. Positions in all lines of work came faster than students could be trained to fill them. During the period of deflation following the close of the war. Vocational suffered as did all training institutions. Positions became scarce. Industries were trying to get back on a peace basis. Boys were returning to claim their old places. Girls were being thrown out of positions, and did not know what to do. Minneapolis and the Northwest was slow to recover from this depression, and is just now becoming reasonably normal. During these years, due to the great amount of war service contributed by the Dun woody Institute. only the more mature boys had been able to secure vocational training at that institution. 7’he younger boys were not having the advantages equal to those offered to the girls. In 1921. therefore, several courses for boys were organized in the Vocational High School. This meant a change in name, and from that time, the word “Girls” has been omitted from the title, and the school has been known as the Vocational High School. In the June graduating class of 1924. boys appeared as graduates from the Electrical course, the Automcchanics. Printing, and Telegraphy courses. The addition of boys made new demands on the already crowded space, so that, when the East High School students were transferred to the John Marshall School. Vocational moved

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I'HROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS Dear Inside Classmates: If you are anything like we were when we were back there at Vocational, studying hard and dodging the Scholarship Committee, you are probably looking forward with some curiosity to the day when, as Vocational graduates, you will start out on your first job. First jobs give you a thrill, to be sure, and it does seem fine to be a real part of the business world, but. just the same, you will never realize how lucky you really are to be in school until you leave it forever and run up against some of the experiences that we have encountered. Some of our experiences have been happy ones, and some— not so good. At any rate, we think that you may be interested to know of some of the things that have happened to some of us. and may be able to learn a little about what you may expect when you. too. get out on that first real job. The Outside Seniors.