Minnehaha Academy - Antler Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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CATALOG, MINNEHAHA ACADEMY PRESIDENT'S PRIVATE OFFICE Alumni Association The first class that graduated from Minnehaha Academy t1914i had 14 members. The class of 1920 numbered over 100. The graduates of the school have organized an alumni association to keep in touch with each other and to promote the interests of the school. It has a membership 110w of about 450. The annual reunion is held in connection With the Commencement festivities in May. The devotion of our graduates to the school is a constant inspiration. Not less than 125 of them are already Helping Hands. Class Memorials The graduating classes of Minnehatha Academy have es- tablished the beautiful custom of presenting a farewell gift to the school. This expression of their devotion to the school is valued all the more when one considers that most stu- 14

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CATALOG, MINNEHAHA ACADEMY dates back to 1884, when Rev. E. Aug. Skogsbergh founded a school in his own home 011 Eighth Avenue South, Minnea- polis. Swedish immigrants were thronging into the North- west at this time and the school was designed to give them an opportunity to learn the English language, study the Bible, and fit themselves for practical life. The number of students was large and increased from year to year. The school was moved several times but was located in the Swe- dish Tabernacle most of the time. On January 11, 1905, seventeen men met in Minneapolis and began a new chapter in this history. Led by D. Magnus, they organized a school association and purchased the ground on which Minnehaha Academy is now located. In 1910 this property and a considerable sum of money were presented to the Northwestern Mission'Society, the organiza- tion uniting the Swedish Mission Churches of the North- west. The third chapter in the annals of this movement begins in 1911. At the annual conference of the Northwestern Young Peoples Covenant, held in the summer of that year on the school site, the so-called Corps of Collectors was formed under the leadership of A. L. Skoog. This organiza- tion gathered a sum of over $27,000, by means of which the school building was erected. The first school year began September 15, 1913. Helping H ands Early in 1914, at the suggestion of the Board of Directors and under the leadership of Mr. A. L. Skoog a group of loyal friends of Minnehaha Academy formed an organization which bears the unpretentious but beautiful name of Help- ing Hands. This is an association whose members pledge to the school the sum of five dollars or more annually for a period of five years. The purpose is to defray as far as possible the current expenses of the school. Beginning with only a handful the membership has grown rapidly, and now exceeds fifteen hundred. A quarterly bulletin published in the interests of the organization is sent free to all the mem- bers. Any person who realizes the importance of Christian education and Wishes to have a share in it'as centered at Minnehaha Academy is invited to enlist in these ranks. Blanks for membership will be sent on application to the schooL 13

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CATALOG, MINNEHAHA ACADEMY THE LIBRARY dents have very limited means, especially at the end of a course that has meant toil and sacrifice throughout. The class of 1915 presented a sanitary drinking fountain installed complete; the class of 1916 an educational filing cabinet for the Business Department; the class of 1917 a filing cabinet and a stenographeris desk for the office; the class of 1918 a sixty-foot metal flag pole erected in front of the school; the class of 1919 an electrically operated delineascope; and the Class of 1920 a very high grade'and complete mimeo- graph. 9 Student ACthltleS The work of the students is not confined to classrooms or textbooks. Among the organizations offering opportunities for a broad and wholesome deveIOpment along various lines are the following. . THE PRAYER BAND This is an organization of students who meet at six o'clock on Tuesday evenings for prayer. Is is one of the fin- 15