New Bern High School - Bruin Yearbook (New Bern, NC)

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77 5411! ma e you hee. Since words are the currency of thought, it is the con- viction of the English department that the more words we master the richer become our thought processes. Only those concepts belong to us for which we possess adequate vo- cabulary. Effort, then is constantly being made to help our boys and girls grow in word knowledge. Sometimes the method used is formal, sometimes it is a word game, but the result is always another deposit in the vocabulary fund. Perhaps one of the most valuable classes of the Eng- lish department is that of journalism. Here it is that the student gets the concentrated experience in writing that the crowded program of a regular class prohibits. This class, under the direction of Miss Lucie Hodges, publishes The Bear Cub, a monthly story of high school activities. Also under the auspices of the English department is The Bruin, New Bern High School's yearbook, a photographic record of school life, planned and published with the help and advice of Mrs. D. A. Roebuck. Approximately half of the English year is spent in the study of literature for the depart- ment staff feels that literature offers, in addition to a school of model composition, such greater values as: personality development, lasting plea- sure, intellectual challenge, a revelation of man's deepest humanity, and spiritual enrichment. ik Marshall Braddy makes a gallant start on his research paper by checking out a few research books. nf' 45. 'U' Writers' tools are words. Janice Messer and Nancy O'Neal are learning to respect them. Freshman English class use small dictionaries to look up big words. I I i 1 V I I 1 . 1 ai

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MSA? WOPJ 5461! Ina 0 cmsnuw glgllf 4 7' ' , ' . ::,z:i!5'-as AJ., 7 f-- , - ' . Q., . Stop giggling, girls! A business letter is a serious matter! Sonia Godwin and Judy Coburn dictate to Alice Dunn-all are members of the class in business English. Who me? just drawing a picture of a sentence! Lindy Dail is the artistg her critic-Lindsey Stokes. you fLinA anal fAe fAougAf The English language is a beautiful instru- ment of communication, and as such should be used with pleasure and cherished with pride. Such is the philosophy of the New Bern High School English Department. The teaching program, designed and executed with the hope of inducing students to subscribe to this philosophy, divides itself naturally into four fields-grammar, composition, vocabulary, and literature-each year's work being built upon a foundation from the preceding year. Thus, in the beginning, just as a doctor to understand the human body must in the course of his study dissect one, so do we English students take apart certain sentences and pile the words neatly aside to be studied in detail. It is in this process of dissecting a sentence that we learn parts of speech and syntax, becoming familiar with terms ranging from subject and predicate in the ninth grade to objective complement and retained objectsv in the twelfth grade-not to mention the unmentionable complement-of-a- linking-infinitive-having-a-subject. In the work of assembling sentences-com- position-we not only learn to think straight and to express ourselves logically and effectively, but we also learn the traffic signals of writing. Traf- fic signals? Certainly, a period says stop. An apostrophe signals a short cutg parentheses indi- cate a detour, and on through the punctuation symbols. Ill THF. 5- 6 an The colonial period of American literature lends itself to interesting bulletin boards for this group of juniors.

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ama 5fre55e5 ,aeecA ana! Sociaf poise x ' I I L I . Q x ,,,.,W-ai Ag 1 The chair recognizes Mr. johnson in a little matter of speech class business. 16 WWW. WJ, .9 The lights dim! Sudden silence prevails! And the curtains roll noiselessly, smoothly back. A sigh whispers softly throughout the auditorium as people settle back to enjoy the play-product of much rehearsal on the part of the cast, of much work and ingenuity on the part of the lighting and stage crews, and of the effective harnessing of the school's most valuable resources-time and energy. Long cognizant of the fact that drama can be a unifying force in a troubled world, Miss Hilda Gordon, director, saw her course as the means of ,promoting artistic discrimination, of developing co- operation, imagination, and ingenuity through group activity. Each year this department offers drama I, drama II, and a course in speech, which emphasizes parliamentary procedure as well as forensic fundamentals. All courses are elective and carry a one- unit credit each. Billy Biddle was coached by Jean Hudson in Mr. Jack- son's lines for The Florin Shop while Betsy Ferebee and J. A. Ipock cut the window glass to fit. Y ,Af Sherry Ann Wooten, Bobby John- , 5 iw., V 15635191 son, and Miss Gordon gave the set .ph I , . -'1-'i for Dear Ruth a complete paint job. ,. L - if l K, A E If S 'M kg. 'V f F Y A bf, , f t f' f I .uafj 55