Mount Vernon High School - Forum Yearbook (Mount Vernon, OH)

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THE FORUM sooiated with it. Many a man there is who still recounts his climbing' the creaking stairs to the dusty bell tower and lending a hand to the ringing of a victory bell or to the floating of class colors to the breeze. In reminiscing we are reminded of tales of other days: of warm radiators convenient for pungent cheeses, of an awesome skeleton, brought to light on special oecasionsg of triangular platforms in each rear corner of 17, where supervisor sat behind a tall desk, of daily chapel service with every teacher seated on the platform, the ladies in stiffly starelied and uncomfortable shirt- waists and heavy woolen skirts neatly touching the much-greased floor, of class newspapers really printed by upper classes, of annual spring displays of elass colors, the girls with yards of ribbon streamersg the boys, with variegated l ose- of all dav micnics bv llav-rig-fin' and night oyster suppers by bob-sled. l 1 f. l. . . hh :- The history f1'om 1925 to 15150 in this really new building will be much the same but very different, a not impossible paradox. I-ly that time we shall have built to the west and to the east, there will be a Junior High School to take care of seventh, eighth and ninth and our sophomores, .juniors and seniors will have room to spread. The history of the present besides high scholarship attainmeuts and n1uel1 hard work must record Music of many kinds, athletics of various types, Girl Reserves, Student Council, National Honor Society, Hi-Y's, and clubs galore, all functioning in well-lighted and ventilated class-rooms and in an auditor- ium of unassuming dignity and beauty, of which we may well be proud. il -Ji Z S ff b L4 Y' Page Forty-Two

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'1' H E F o R U M enior Class Organization This Senior Class experienced early in the school year a typical election procedure similar to regular elections of a national or state character. This pla11 for the Seniors to select and elect their class officers provided a two-fold opportunity for them, namely, a proper and fair method of choosing their class officials and a very appropriate means of comprehending the significance of one of the most responsible duties of citizenship. The preliminary development of this election began with the student who desired an office or who desired to throw his hat in the ring politically speaking, by circulating or by permitting the circulation of his nominating petition. This petition had to be properly signed by a required minimum of eligible voters and filed with a general board of elections at a fixed date pre- ceding the primary election. This procedure naturally divided the class 1nai11- ly into two groups, College and Commercial, and thus provided for the need- ed political factions and fervor to permit a typical party election. Individual campaigning 9l1l13,l1C6Ll the inclination of students to align themselves into definite party affiliation. The primary was held strictly in accord with state primary elections, with regular precinct officials performing the general duties and eligible voters voting according to party preferences. Wlieli the results of this primary were announced the strength or weakness of the party was plainly evidenced and a political scramble began now to win votes for the respective parties in the final regular election. A general mass meeting of all Senior voters was called in which the candidates were introduced and their platforms and policies made known. This afforded the voters a fair chance to acclaim their favorite can- didates in as much political enthusiasm as they desired to show. The regular election followed in due time. Again the opportunity was presented for the civic participation of all eligible members in the class in a vitally interesting, important, a11d privileged duty. ln this last step, the civic lesson of responsible voting was clinched. The Seniors now practiced their real experience of secret voting, marking of ballots, and rules concerning elec- tions. This class, therefore, may justly feel proud and grateful that they have all shared in an impartial method in selecting their class officials. By such procedure also, it is hoped, that each may have gained a worthy respect for the proper use of that civic duty which is his in whatever endeavor his fu- ture course may lead. LL. O. Page Forty-Three

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T H E F o R U M History of the Mt. Vernon School Mt. Vernon High School has been graduating classes of various sizes since 1861 when five boys received certificates. ln the second class there were two boys, E. C. Curtis and 1Vilmont Sperry. Mr. Sperry for many years was the oldest living alumnus, his death occurring only recently, in March 193-1. ln contrast to the first two classes, the class of 1863 was composed en- tirely of girls, eleven girls. .lt was Civil VVar time 211111 the principal l1ad tak- en all tl1e boys and gone to war. The classes also of '65, '66, and '67 were made up of girls. ln 1869 the number of graduates had increased to twenty, seven of whom were boys. During the two decades 1869 through 1889 that enroll- ment was 11ot exceeded. ln 1890, however, there were twenty-eight graduates, making the total 275 in thirty years. Through the nineties there was a steady increase to 35 with the exception of 1892 when Jennie Bell Roberts was the only graduate owing to tl1e fact that the course that year was lengthened to four years instead of three. Normal increase continued through the de- cades 1910 and 1920, but not 1111111 1921 did the list reach the hundred mark, with one hundred and six graduates. There were one hundred twenty in 1930 and in 1933, one hundred and twenty-six, the class of last June having been the largest by six of any of the seventy-three classes, making total alumni twenty-eight hundred a11d thirty-three, a number unwieldly for social good rimes such as were enjoyed by a very active association during the nineties, efforts, however, were made to reestablish an alumni association a few years ago which met with more or less success before depression days. Three times the High School has been affected by war, in the sixties, hoys were enlisting for the Civil War, in 1898, for the Spanish-American con- flict, and in 1914, for the WOI'lf1 Vtfarg in commemoration of our NVorld War heroes. a tablet in the corridor mentions those who left the senior class to train for service in France and died in service. ln the fall of 1918 to the gloom of war, were fourteen weeks of enforced vacation on account of the very seri- ous epidemic, influenza, supposedly brought from Europe. The splendid message that the armistice was signed helped, however, dispel a part of that autumn's gloom. The old building erected in the fifties and razed in 1925 performed some seventy-five years of good service to this community, for many years for both grammar grades and high school in its ten or twelve widely scattered recita- tion rooms. Commencement crowds soon outgrew the auditorium and exer- cises were held in old VVoodward opera house on the third floor of the build- ing on the southwest corner of Vine and Main streets. There were years be- tween 1870 and 1900 when every graduate had to forfeit much of the joy of Commencement Day by the delivery of an original essay committed to mem- ory. The last class to be so tortured was the class of 1899 when thirty-nine essays were somehow endured by long-suffering relatives on a hot June morn- ing. The long-condemned opera house was used no more and real Commence- ment speakers featured the exercises in the auditorium of 'tthe new High School. For twenty-five years pupils rushed from science rooms in basement of new building through annex and halls to the top floor of the slowly crumb- ling old building through seventeen to rear recitation rooms, and after forty minutes proceeded to reverse the process, down creaking, much-worn treacherous steps. Many teachers and maybe many pupils also were terrified when the spring winds blew and the very walls were declared tc- rock. It was with relief we watched that structure razed in spite of pleasant memories as- Page Forty-One