Newport News High School - Anchor Yearbook (Newport News, VA)

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Wasting no time this past year, the his- tory department devoted twenty per cent of class time to current affairs, with reports on local, national, and international events. Heated discussions and debates followed these issues, which usually concerned racial problems and other vital topics. Government classes held honest-to-good- ness trials, visited the local courthouse, and got first-hand information on what makes the fire department tick by climbing over the fire engines and sliding down the poles at the fire station. That must have been fun, don ' t you think, Uncle Sam? The history department also sponsored two school-wide projects: An assembly speech by Dr. W. T. Squires, a noted his- torian from Norfolk, who told the student body about Stonewall Jackson ' s private life; and a film depicting life in colonial Williamsburg. Digging into the past and observing the present ke.ot all the history students busy! cM-iitosuf, NoieA, r l JeSie Zaby ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION of current topics, both foreign and home-front, make the several history courses more fascinating, as the students compare the happen- ings of the past with those of the present. GOVERNMENT STUDENTS find that the fire sta- tion is really the best way to get a first hand account of one of the city ' s public utilities. 26

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Inx+deA, Future machinists could be found out in the new shop annex. These students repaired the shop equipment and constructed some V-blocks for this equipment. Some of their other projects included making vises for home work-shops, and automobile parts. They even made alumin- um fruit juicers for their moms. Classes in auto-mechanics had twice as much space in which to work this year, as their shop had been expanded. Here the boys learned every- thing from dismantling an automobile engine to tighten- ing a bolt in the car ' s axle — all inclusive! This is one class that really prepares a boy for a job. Wood-shop workers have been striving to develop a knowledge of general wood work. To do this, they studied units in all phases of wood- working, both by machine and by hand. The articles that were constructed ranged in difficulty from serving trays to small tilt-top tables! The electricians working in that shock- ing subject, have been studying elementary electricity, which included everything in the field, from motor winding to the fundamentals of radio work. The industrial education department plays a large part in developing good and useful citizens. FUTURE CAR OWNERS will have no worries about any mec hanical difficulty with their machines, because our auto-mechanics classes taught the boys everything from changing a flat tire to assembling a car engine! WHEN YOUR NIECES AND NEPHEWS finish their me- chanical drawing courses they will be well fitted to step into important positions in our local shipyard ' s drafting rooms. ALTHOUGH THIS COURSE is called general metal, the students work with more than just metal. Out of plastic and metals they construct attractive jew- elry and useful household articles.

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7a Slw iltand And tyfxinCf, Colly, I hope I can get my certificate today. This is what you ' d hear among shorthand and typing students. Speed cer- tificates are required for a passing grade on both these subjects. Upon completion of two years of short- hand, the student must be able to take dic- tation at the rate of at least one hundred words per minute. The Typing 3 students are required to make their intermediate certifi- cate of forty-five words per minute for fif- teen minutes before they go into Typing 4. Lucky bookkeeping students did not have to bother with certificates, but they had to learn to balance a set of books! All of the shorthand students since 1942 that have wanted jobs have been placed by the department. Many of these students earned their basic experience by serving as secretaries to members of the faculty. The motto for these girls is practice and more practice. WE FOUND OUT, Uncle Sam, that you have to be practically a math wizard in order to master the course in bookkeeping offered at our high school. FROM CLASSROOM TO OFFICE is the story for many of our advanced typists, whose services are always in demand in local business concerns. 27